by Mary Wilson, mwilson@jcadvocate.com
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has selected
Grandview teacher Amy Cameron to serve in the 2017 Peace Teachers Program. The
Peace Teachers Program is rooted in the conviction that educators can be
pivotal in bringing peace themes into their classrooms, schools and
communities. At a time when violent conflict regularly dominates headlines, USIP
believes that teachers are the key to helping young people obtain the
knowledge, skills and perspectives to envision a more peaceful world and their
part in creating it.
The Peace Teachers Program selects four outstanding American
middle and high school educators each year to receive training, resources and
support to strengthen their teaching of peace. Over the course of a school
year, these teachers develop their understanding of international conflict
management and peacebuilding through online coursework and other USIP
opportunities; discover new ways to teach about conflict and peace, and
identify concrete actions for integrating these concepts and skills into their
classrooms; build connections with like-minded educators and with USIP through
monthly virtual meetings; and serve as ambassadors and models for global
peacebuilding education in their schools and broader communities by sharing
their experiences and strategies on USIP’s website, at conferences of
educators, and in a special closing program in Washington, D.C.
“We are thrilled to work with these four outstanding
educators this coming year. They have each excelled at bringing a global
perspective to their teaching, and they have exciting ideas for integrating
issues of conflict and peace into their students’ work,” said Megan Chabalowski,
who manages the program for USIP’s Public Education department. “We know from
working with previous groups of Peace Teachers that they are going to have a
great impact on their students’ growth as peacebuilders.”
The program is part of USIP’s public education work.
Grounded in the Institute’s original mandate from Congress, public education
serves the American people, providing resources and initiatives for K-12
students and educators, as well as others interested in learning about and
working for peace.
Cameron wrote curriculum for her high school British and
World Literature students using the book What
Is the What, written by Dave Eggers, which is based on the life of Valentino
Achak Deng, a Sudanese child refugee who immigrated to the United States under
the Lost Boys of Sudan program. Last school year, after the students read the
novel, Cameron invited a Lost Boy from Sudan to come and speak with her
classes.
“The conversations we have while reading this book are
great,” said Cameron. “Our kids are global citizens now. When I’m teaching
them, we study South Sudan and the conflict.”
Throughout her research for the curriculum, Cameron came
across an essay contest through USIP. Having been listed as the sponsoring
teacher for student submissions over the years, Chabalowski reached out to
Cameron to find out what was happening in her classroom.
“I told her that in our World Lit classes, we talk about
conflict being everywhere and that we can’t isolate ourselves from it,” said
Cameron. “In Grandview we can’t be isolated. I want my students to feel like
they are part of a bigger picture. The South Sudanese just lends itself to such
a great study of conflict.”
With many of the Lost Boys from Sudan ending up in the
Kansas City area, Cameron’s students are able to relate to their stories.
Chabalowski, after hearing from Cameron about her curriculum, convinced her to
apply for the Peace Teachers Program.
“If I had read the other teachers’ (who were previously
selected) submissions, I probably wouldn’t have done it. But I did it and I was
just humbled when I found out that USIP had selected me,” said Cameron. “I
couldn’t believe it.”
Cameron’s essay focused on how she applies lessons of peace
in her classroom in order to help her students feel more connected and to feel
that something else is more important than them. Next semester, Cameron will
include a project-based learning design in which students will study how to
become peacebuilders in the world.
“I’m going to let them run with it. There are a thousand
different avenues that they can explore,” said Cameron. “It’s all high-interest
with the kids. The relevancy now, when there’s so much conflict, a lot of our
kids can relate to these things personally.”
While doing an activity that coincided with the International
Day of Peace this year, Cameron and her students discovered that 162 nations
are currently in some sort of conflict. Each country in conflict will receive a
colored tack on the map in Cameron’s classroom, eventually filling most of the
map.
“The idea is to show that they are all in conflict,” said
Cameron. “We’ll focus on how to be a peacebuilder in the classroom and how that
translates to the community and the world.”
As part of the Peace Teachers Program, Cameron has received
a number of resources to help her incorporate peace building into her everyday
teaching. The other teachers selected for this year are from Montana, Florida
and Oklahoma, and the four speak monthly to discuss what may or may not be
working in their respective communities.
“Grandview is on the map for this,” said Cameron. “I’m
really psyched for it. The attention between Washington D.C. and Grandview that
we’ll receive, to me, is huge.”
As one of the four high schools in the country being
represented in the Peace Teachers Program, in December, USIP representatives
will visit Grandview High School and speak with Cameron’s students.
“This is so relevant right now. With our kids, a lot of times
they are reflecting what is happening at home,” said Cameron. “Their concerns
should be our concerns. The kids have definite opinions, but they also feel
hopeless. Hopefully there will be a time in our lives when we won’t have 162
countries in conflict, but that won’t happen until it happens everywhere, when
people feel like they have a say; when we feel more secure in our own
communities.”
Cameron is excited to see what direction her students take
with the peacebuilding lessons. Every day, as Cameron teaches World Literature,
she explains to her students different perspectives and that the world is much
bigger than the community they live in. Her classes will begin reading What Is the What in February.
