What a beautiful day, with sunlight everywhere, a little warmth in the air and no snow on the ground. Days like this make me ask myself the reason for not moving out to a place which is like this year round. On days like this I go a few minutes earlier then pick up time so I can catch a glimpse of Saumya in the playground. And what did I see today? Saumya had a rose in her hand and was standing face to face with a six year old, D, and was saying something which I couldn't obviously hear. Then D took the rose and said something. And then Saumya took the rose back and went away. But there she is standing face to face another six year old girl, P. And the same thing goes again. IS this done? No, after P she went to C and there the whole thing took place again. What was going on there????The rose Saumya had in her hand is called "Peace Rose" and it stays in her classroom. Whenever anyone comes up to the teacher with a complaint about another child, instead of jumping into the Q & A of who did it? etc etc., the teacher asks the complainer if she would like to use the peace rose. The grieving person (A) goes back to the person with whom (B) she had a tiff. Seeing the peace rose, both get ready for communication.
A (Holding the peace rose) : B, you did(fill with whatever she/he did) and it made me sad or angry or upset......
In the playground when I couldn't hear, It seems the older girls didn't want to play with 4 year old Saumya and shouted at her, so Saumya was saying D you shouted at me and that made me very very sad.
The peace rose goes to the other person now.
B(Holding the peace rose): I am sorry, I didn't know it will hurt you or make you sad....I will not do it again.
And the peace rose goes back to its place.
What purpose does this serve?
First of all, no one ever gets hurt by thinking that the teacher did not take their side. Kids, as young as 4 year old learn to tackle their own problems. They are not afraid to approach the older kid because they have a peace rose in hand, a symbol of patching up, of mellowing down, of letting go and most importantly of being friends again. Instead of answering back violently, they learn to solve their problems with communication. Which seriously, we all can use some!
pic. courtesy www.cctheo.org
That's a good way to solve the problem! Why didn't anybody sent a Rose to Bushy! ;D
ReplyDeleteIt's getting warmer here but rained for 4 days non-stop but we need the rain! :)
I am sure Bush could have used some!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are already in the 60s, I am jealous! Reaching beyond 45f here is a time to rejoice! really, I wish I could move to a warmer place.
That's a nice tactic! I'll share this with my teacher friends. :-)
ReplyDeleteBindhu, it enables the child to develop problem solving capabilities independently and then nothing can match the proud feeling of tackling something, including a tiff, all by themselves!
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful idea!! :) It helps them put their feelings to words and communicate them!! Beautiful!!
ReplyDeletewoa! We get to learn so much from children sometimes....
ReplyDeletethey are much more experienced in their innocence than us in our so many years of education...