Teachers Teaching Nonviolence

This volume reflects the understandings and experiences of 18 K-12 teachers trained in the histories, philosophies, and practices of nonviolence, after intensive 2-week training at a residential institute coordinated by the Ahimsa Center for Nonviolence at Cal Poly Pomona. These educators, from all over the United States and representing diverse grade levels and subject areas, returned to their educational settings and communities to continue the work of nonviolence in their teaching practices. The stories they tell in this volume illustrate the powerful impact that nonviolence education can yield in the lives of students as well as teachers, as they navigate schools plagued by physical violence and regimes of standardized curricula and assessments. The book emphasizes the ways teachers can act of agents of nonviolence social change through curricular experiments and pedagogical innovations, shifting attention toward nonviolence as a viable way of life, in opposition to the ways violence has been normalized nationally and globally. This book could be included in the following kinds of courses and programs: peace education; teacher education; multiculturalism, diversity and equity courses; literacy; curriculum development; mindfulness.