How the course will work
Introduction
Units 1 - 8 will work as follows:
Each unit takes approximately one to two hours to study and contains some key practical tasks for participants to try out in class during the following week. It is recommended that you study one unit per week and complete the course within one school term. Through the tasks, we will build on our learning each week, and keep the learning momentum going over time, providing opportunities to practise what we learn and reflect on this learning.
This course works on two levels: 1) You and your own personal development, and 2) Your teaching and how you practise your ideas in the classroom.
A peaceful teacher is a reflective teacher. Nobody is perfect and we ask you to approach this course with compassion for yourself as well as your learners! We are all human and we all make mistakes. Learning about positive peace does not mean being perfect. It means being able to accept that we are all on a journey and if we know where we want to go, we also accept that it will probably take a long time to get there.
There will be many opportunities for you to share your thoughts and learning as we go through the course. We look forward to learning from you as well as sharing our learning with you. Working together, we can learn better and grow stronger.
This course works by thinking about what we currently do as teachers, seeing examples of something new, planning to introduce something new into our own practice, trying the new thing out in the classroom, and reflecting on how we practised the new way of working in the classroom. This includes how the learners respond to the new activity as well as how you, the teacher, felt about doing the new activity. The cycle of learning that we practise throughout this course will help us to grow stronger in our learning, understanding, and in our pedagogy (teaching skills).