You are invited to join Teachers Without Borders for a webinar on Peace Education!

Topic: Alternatives to Bullying and Intolerance
Presented by: Laurie Woodward
When: Monday, December 19, 2011 at 10:00am Pacific Standard Time
Where: Web Ex
Cost: FREE!
Sign up here.

Webinar Description: The goal of this presentation is to explore the idea of expanding roles for teachers to include the facilitating of empowerment of children; as well as providing at least two lessons participants can bring to their own classrooms. Using the Dean and JoJo Alternatives to Bullying and Intolerance DVD, which tells the story of one man’s friendship with and advocacy for a wild bottlenose dolphin named JoJo, as an opener, strategies to promote compassion in children are introduced. When children view the scenes of the dolphin being attacked by bullies or Dean cradling the injured animal, they immediately can relate the experience to their own lives.

This gives students the opportunity to find positive ways to resolve conflict while encouraging healthy dialogue amongst them. They learn to accept differences, improve listening skills, break the re-active cycle, and learn to disagree without animosity. This builds confidence in recognizing win-win solutions, helps them process anger and other emotions, and solve problems.

One activity tilted Peace Cards empowers students to use art as a means of communication if they have a disagreement with a classmate. The webinar also features student volunteers in their role as Dolphin Ambassadors for Peace using the skills they had learned along with the Peace Cards, DVD, and a script specifically written for the program these children go into other classes to teach their fellow students how to use the program to resolve conflicts peacefully.

About the Presenter:
Before becoming an elementary school teacher, Laurie Woodward earned a social work degree and worked as a coordinator for a rape crisis agency. In addition to being bilingual in Spanish and English, she is CLAD certified and Montessori trained. She has always believed in creating a positive environment and redirecting her students to make good choices, but it wasn’t until she teamed up with Dean Bernal two years ago to collaborate on his Alternatives to Bullying and Intolerance DVD, that she was able to share her ideas with other teachers. After a featured article in 2010 about her work, Laurie received a Care and Share grant and used the funds to bring the program to all Santa Maria schools. She currently is leading a strategy team for peace resolution in the classroom. Laurie also recently completed the TWB Introduction to Peace Education online course, in conjunction with the National Peace Academy.

If you have questions about this webinar, please email stephanie@twb.org.