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It is brought up in chapter one how traditional punishments are ineffective and counterintuitive. In this article there are some alternatives to the traditional punishment of taking away a child's recess time.

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Today, we’re here to make the case for recess!  Learn 10 positive discipline strategies that are alternatives to removing recess as punishment for negative behavior.

By now, most of you know that we’re big advocates of free play, movement, and sensory motor exploration here at The Inspired Treehouse.  Sometimes it’s disheartening to see how infrequently kids are able to get up and move during the school day when our training and experience as therapists tells us that movement and sensory exploration are the very foundation of healthy development and learning.

As much as we love using movement breaks, active learning games, and fidget toys with our kids at school, there is simply no substitution for good old-fashioned play in an open space  when it comes to promoting developmental skills for kids.  This is where recess comes in!

But, we’ve noticed a trend.  Because recess is the most beloved and cherished part of the school day, we often hear of it being taken away as a punishment for negative behaviors in the classroom.

Today, we’re here to support teachers and administrators in thinking outside the box about behavior policies that result in the elimination of recess for kids.

The Case for Recess

The American Academy of Pediatrics says it best in its Policy Statement entitled, The Crucial Role of Recess in School: “On the basis of an abundance of scientific studies, withholding recess for punitive or academic reasons would seem to be counterproductive to the intended outcomes and may have unintended consequences in relation to a child’s acquisition of important life skills.”

The bottom line?  Kids need movement and sensory input to learn, attend, and regulate their behavior and they get these movement and sensory opportunities at recess.

It has been hypothesized that some problem behaviors are directly related to a lack of participation in the very activities kids participate in during recess and other outdoor free play. “Repeat offenders” – kids who frequently demonstrate disruptive, fidgety, inappropriate, or inattentive behaviors in the classroom (and frequently end up standing to the side during recess as punishment) are likely the ones who need recess the most.

This can mean getting caught in an extremely negative cycle that is detrimental to kids’ learning, development, and self-esteem.  It looks something like this: kid struggles with regulating behavior in the classroom > kid loses recess (and valuable sensory and motor experiences that can help him regulate his behavior and attend) > kid continues to misbehave in the classroom > kid loses recess.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  Yep.  Us too.

So, we have a choice to make.  Do we continue to take away recess as a punishment, or do we come up with other options to give kids more not less of what they need to regulate their bodies and behavior at school?

10 Alternatives to Taking Away Recess

We believe that unstructured free play is the most ideal way for kids to spend their recess time.  But when discipline is necessary, there are alternative punishments that can still provide opportunities for kids to move and get sensory input rather than standing or sitting to the side during recess.

Here are some ideas:

1 || Walking laps around the track or playground with the teacher.

2 || Cleaning up 10 pieces of litter or wiping down slides on the playground before being allowed to play.

3 || Raking leaves or pulling weeds in the school garden.

4 || Complete 10 designated motor or sensory activities to complete before joining friends on the playground.  Check out this visual choice board for brain breaks.

5 || Participate in a job that incorporates movement (e.g. stacking chairs, helping in the library or cafeteria, delivering items around the school, sweeping floor, wiping tables, washing a window) before going out to play.

6 || Losing a specific (favorite) piece of playground equipment or a specific playground activity (e.g. no football today, no jungle gym today).

7 || Losing screen time instead of recess time.

8 || Designate a recess “break space”.  Draw a large rectangle on the ground with sidewalk chalk. Inside the rectangle, draw lines/paths/shapes. Instead of standing/sitting, kids can  walk/run on the paths or jump/hop from shape to shape.

9 || Earning a recess reward!  Instead of taking something away, what about having students work toward earning a special outdoor recess game, toy, or even extra recess for completing work or staying on track with behavior?

10 ||  Be the leader!  Turn that negative behavior into something positive.  Have the student come up with 2 games involving movement and have them lead the entire class (a unique game of tag, an obstacle course, etc).

Check out these other great resources about the importance of recess:

The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance

Recess Rocks! – Colorado Legacy Foundation

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Claire Heffron is co-author at The Inspired Treehouse and a pediatric occupational therapist in a preschool/primary school setting. She began her career with a bachelor's degree in magazine journalism but quickly changed course to pursue graduate studies in occupational therapy. She has been practicing therapy for 10 years in public and specialized preschool/primary school settings. She is a mom to three funny, noisy boys and relies on yoga, good food, and time outside to bring her back to center.

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Positive Discipline: 10 Ways to Stop Taking Recess Away - The Inspired Treehouse

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Learn 10 positive discipline strategies that are alternatives to removing recess as punishment for negative behavior.

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Although short, this video is very thorough and makes very good points on what you can do as a teacher to take a step back and analyze what your students are actually going through.

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Research-Backed Strategies for Better Classroom Management

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In this article students give an insight as to what they believe is effective on their behavior. While not all points are relatable in an elementary setting, it serves as a good idea to take students' feelings into account while deciding how to run a classroom.

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There are plenty of books and articles on classroom management, but some of the best advice I've received on the subject has come from students. They're quite familiar with what works and what doesn't in the classroom, so I asked some of my current students for classroom management ideas. Here are eight of the helpful tips they shared.

1. Be Ready to Go

We understand that you have to take attendance, collect phones (if that's your thing), and answer e-mails," Lena told me. "But if you aren't ready to go when the bell rings, we won't be either." Getting down to business means there's no time to get off task. Some teachers put a prompt or question on the board for students to answer while attendance is being taken or other administrative tasks are handled. Ths helps activate student interest and engages your class immediately.
Further reading: 5 Classroom Management Tips That Seem Counterintuitive
2. Strive for Maximum Engagement

If the activities and learning in your classroom are passive, your students are sure to be as well. "I don't know a single kid who likes a lecture," Danny told me. "And no student likes to copy notes off a board," Sari added. "If students aren't involved in their learning, they'll become disinterested and bored." Creating activities and lessons that are hands-on and involve the entire class can go a long way toward ensuring that students are engaged. "If there's no place to hide, you're kind of forced to take part, and it's usually a lot more interesting and fun that way," Dana said.

3. Avoid Busy Work

"By the time we're in third grade, we know what 'busy work' is," Samantha complained. "And, to be perfectly honest, we will probably put as much effort into busy work as the teacher who created it did-it's just not fun or meaningful for anyone." If students don't see a purpose in the work they're doing, they won't put forth their best effort, and they'll be distracted or noncompliant.

4. Be Firm on Phones

Phones are a tricky subject for most teachers. They're almost always a major distraction in the classroom. At the beginning of the second semester this year, I bought a hanging pocket chart for cell phones. It was the best $20 I ever spent. "I didn't like it at first," Dom said. "But now I have to admit that it makes me less tempted to look at my phone, and that means I'm less distracted in class, and I can focus on my learning."

5. But Show Some Flexibility

Since I ask my students to put their phones in the pocket chart at the start of class, I always give them at least two minutes at the end of class to do a tech check. "Since we know we're getting this time, it makes it easier to give up our phones in the first place," Jorge explained. Two minutes of classroom time is not so much to give up when you realize the return is 74 minutes of uninterrupted student attention.

6. Know What Kids Know

"We like teachers who know what's up," Bazi said. Building relationships is at the foundation of all classroom management. If you have strong relationships with your students, they'll be less likely to act up. Honoring youth culture and affirming your students' identity is the best way to create bonds with them. So stay informed about the music, television shows, YouTube videos, fashion, language, and sports that are so important to your students, and use them as conversation starters and topics for discussion. When students see that you value their interests, they will return that respect to you.

7. Have Open Discussions

Students want to talk about the issues in life that affect them, and almost every student told me they love having discussions on topics that are important to them. If there's something significant going on in the world, your town, or your school, taking some time to listen to your students' concerns is worth it. The day after the election, for example, my students needed to talk. They had a great deal of anxiety and fear. As long as the conversation remains respectful, students appreciate the time to voice their opinions, ask questions, and review topics that are relevant to them. Providing students with this time will go a long way toward creating a community in the classroom, which will, in turn, help with classroom management.

8. Use the Broken Record Technique

"I'm not going to lie-it can be kind of fun watching a teacher and a student argue, but it gets annoying after a while," Jackson said. "Teachers give up power when they get into a showdown with a student." The "broken record" technique is a trick I learned from Richard Lavoie, a nationally known expert on learning disabilities and classroom management. With this technique, the teacher merely repeats the instruction or desired behavior three times. Say, for example, a student won't put away his phone. The teacher says, "Rafael, please put away your phone." The student argues: "Sue has her phone out" or "I just need to answer a text." Rather than debate with the student, simply repeats the instruction, calmly and evenly, three times: "Please put away your phone." I can assure you that by the last instruction, the phone will be put away; this technique is magical. Students told me they'd much rather see a teacher use this strategy than waste time arguing with a student.
Further reading: How to Earn Respect in the Classroom
Culling classroom management ideas from your students can be extremely enlightening. Listen to your students and ask what ideas they might contribute to this list.

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8 Classroom Management Ideas from Students

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There are plenty of books and articles on classroom management, but some of the best advice I've received on the subject has come from students. They're quite familiar with what works and what doesn't in the classroom, so I asked some of my current students for classroom management ideas.

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This article explains how getting to know your students' personal backgrounds and using their knowledge from home can really enrich the classroom setting.

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Ice breaker activities are a creative and fun way to get to know students and so that they get to know you. This is a good starting off point to building a comfortable relationship with one another.

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Creating a safe and welcoming classroom is one of the most important things as an educator. This article provides a short but important list of reminders of what you can do in order to create a great environment for students.

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How to Ensure a Safe, Inclusive Classroom Environment | UNT Teaching Excellence Handbook

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This video (although I don't completely agree with all of the rules presented) serves as a great example of how you can present classroom expectations without making students feel like they're being told what to do. You can get super creative while creating classroom rules and this is a really good example of how that could be done.

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Nonverbal signals are a great way at allowing students to have a voice while also not causing chaos within the classroom. These also have a tendency to work for students who are more on the "shy" side (I was very shy as a child and loved using hand signals!).

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This article is helpful because it makes sure to note that the rules you initially create can be fluid. Students contributing and having a say in what rules they will all follow can be a jump start in creating a welcoming classroom environment.

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Getting Started with Establishing Ground Rules | Center for Teaching Innovation

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Establishing classroom norms sets the tone of a class, provides clear guidelines on how to behave, decreases instances of incivility, and enables students and lecturers to feel safe expressing their ideas or points of views. Below are just a few techniques instructors have used when establishing and…

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This article goes into depth about what student agency is, and how you could go about building it within your own classroom. Chapter four of Better Than Carrots or Sticks mentions how agency statements are important, and I think this article plays into this idea very well. It could be helpful to those who are new to the idea.

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It was my first trip after a year and a half of isolation, and my first time flying in the post-2020 era. I braved the tension at the airport and had an uneventful flight. I jumped in my rental car and was all set to trek to where I was staying, a rural address about two hours outside of the city. As I pulled away from the airport, I realized I had just one problem: I wasn't getting a cell signal, so GPS wasn't going to be any help.

Determined, I followed the big green road signs and made my way through traffic on a Sunday night. There were 14 lanes of cars and trucks, an ocean of tail lights with each pair going their unique way. Admittedly, it had been a while since I'd been on a trip like this without GPS. As I continued on, I was pretty sure I was heading to the right place, but not entirely certain. I had to trust myself, even as I got more and more frustrated by the gridlock around me. The route wasn't working for me, and I wanted options, but I chose to stay in the traffic jam-feeling powerless-because I wasn't sure if there were any alternate routes.

For too many students, this is what learning is like: a tedious slog on an unfamiliar path toward an unclear destination. Too often, we create situations where they don't have enough options or choice in how their own educational journeys go, leaving them in learning traffic that doesn't let them move as fast.

Agency is partially about having choice, and partially about knowing what to do with that choice. It's about developing and holding onto the sense that one can set achievable goals, persevere, solve problems, overcome obstacles, and find success. When we don't have agency, it leads to a lack of purpose, confusion, indecision, or feeling like there aren't any choices. On that Sunday night stuck in traffic in an unfamiliar city, I didn't have my phone to offer up options, or to lead me back if I went too far astray.

Agency is partially about having choice, and partially about knowing what to do with that choice.

When we shepherd students through curriculum without involving them-that is, when we act as learner managers instead of learner empowerers -we miss the opportunity to let them find their own way. When we act as road signs, we miss the chance to be their GPS. Student agency is critical to effective learning and one of the most important skills we can offer them on the road to adulthood.

What we get right

The good news is that teachers today are already doing a tremendous amount of work to support student agency and give their learners opportunities to "take an active role in shaping their future," as Larry Ferlazzo noted in a 2019 opinion piece in EdWeek. Consider how much has improved since we were in school! Teachers are now creating learning systems that are increasingly personalized for each student. They're leveraging rigorous content standards, adopting research-informed practices, and considering their students' social and emotional learning needs.

We see teachers having powerful goal-setting conversations with their students and using data to identify next steps together. We see them giving effective feedback to their learners that helps them better understand their own needs. We're shifting from thinking of learning as a thing that happens through statements to instead understanding it as a process that happens better through questions. Even in the pandemic era, we see teachers working within distance limitations to put their students in the driver's seat. Still: more must be done.

What do we mean by "student agency"?

If we're going to have a systemic effect on building and improving student agency, it's important to pause to define what we mean.

When we shepherd students through curriculum without involving them-that is, when we act as learner managers instead of learner empowerers-we miss the opportunity to let them find their own way.

Let's start with the idea that student agency is "giving children the power to act in their own learning." That means that we need to give students both the option to make choices to direct their own learning and the information they need to make strong choices. (The term "voice and choice" comes up a lot around student agency, and I'd update that to "voice and informed choice.")

The term "student agency" often overlaps with language around assessments because many of us use assessment data as a foundation to help build student voice and choice. John Hattie's work shows us that when students have agency and efficacy within their learning and understand their growth and mastery of academic content, they are assessment-capable learners. My colleague Erin Beard has written extensively about how we can leverage student agency to promote assessment empowerment here in Teach. Learn. Grow.

These are fantastic entry points to understanding student agency, and we must also position student agency as an idea that permeates all student learning interactions.

Getting started: 5 quick tips for building student agency

Creating student agency doesn't happen overnight, but there are simple practices you can adopt to refine your approach.

1. Set clear expectations for autonomy and how you'll check in with students. Teacher clarity is key, and it's easier for students to engage when they know what is and isn't going to work. For example, if you've got a reading program where students can pick their own books, let them know what choices they'll need to make and when you'll connect with them to be sure the book aligns with their needs.

2. Make sure students understand why they're learning what they're learning. "Because it's going to be on the test" is the wrong answer here! Consider how you're presenting big ideas in your lesson planning. Do your students know how it will connect to their daily lives? Are they clear on where the learning path is going?

3. Build community through culturally responsive practices. Consider your current learning unit. How are you connecting it to your students' cultures? By adapting culturally responsive teaching practices, you create an inclusive environment for learners that helps them connect with the material. One easy way to get started: bring a story problem from a school text to your students, and ask them which parts they relate to the most. Then, ask them: How can we rewrite this question so it makes more sense in our current context?

4. Use formative conversation starters to build student agency within content areas. Too often in mathematics classrooms, ELA classrooms, and other disciplines where the amount of content to cover and master is steep, we just push students to plow through the content. When we do this, we miss critical opportunities to engage and ignite a sense of open-ended possibility that is at the heart of the important content we teach. For example, developing a question-and-answer strategy in your classroom that is primarily used to reveal students' thinking about a topic or concept, with the purpose of guiding your next instructional moves, will help you and your students move agency and understanding forward dramatically.

5. Share what works for you with your colleagues. I can't stress this enough, and Hattie's meta-analyses couldn't be more clear: collective teacher efficacy is a game changer in learning. Said plainly, when we share our practice with our colleagues, when we calibrate and plan intentionally to maximize the impact of our lessons, units, and daily teaching practices, student growth and mastery move in big ways. This is even more critical when it comes to developing student agency; when we align-when we, as teachers, lean in together to set the conditions, practices, and protocols for student agency-students have a more coherent learning experience that reinforces the types of agency, efficacy, and empowerment that every student needs and deserves.

Where do we go from here?

Building student agency will be a lifelong endeavor for all of us, and the results are crucial and worthwhile. When we empower students to drive their own learning-when we show them the destinations, let them chart their own courses, and help them reroute on the way-they build their sense of self-efficacy. They develop not only the skills and knowledge required, but also the confidence from knowing they found success themselves.

If you're interested in learning more, I invite you to listen to the latest season of our podcast, The Continuing Educator. In each hour-long episode, we talk with teachers, school leaders, researchers, and other experts on the most pressing issues facing them today and how they're making powerful ideas like student agency real.

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How to build student agency in your classroom

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Student agency is critical to effective learning and one of the most important skills we can offer kids on the road to adulthood. Try these five things.

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This video explains the ways in which classroom circles can be beneficial. I liked this video because it gives examples as to when to use them. This video also shows what some of these circles could look like in action.

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Restorative Circles: Creating a Safe Environment for Students to Reflect

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Chapter four essentially overviews the importance of student voices being present. This article gives a list of the things that a teacher can do to create a space where students feel that comfort in. I like how this article mentions using students' personal interests, like social media, to gain that comfort and voice.

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8 ways to empower student voice in your classroom

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We help educators around the world use technology to solve tough problems.

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Although it seems slightly outdated, this video does a wonderful job at explaining how a victim-offender dialogue can be ran. It even shows one being played out with an adolescent. In this video you see many of the same types of questions that are posed in chapter five. It really shows the importance of that dialogue this chapter mentions.

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Restorative Justice: Victim Offender Mediation Overview by  Mark Umbreit

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Suspensions or expulsions are at the very bottom of the list of how a child should be disciplined. This article shows what you can do instead of taking those drastic measures. It also goes into the benefits of informal conferences.

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Every expulsion or suspension must have an end date. That is the latest date the student should be going back to school.

Our state discipline rules now require schools to consider, for each individual student, whether it is possible and appropriate to reduce the number of days a student is out, and have them return to school earlier than initially planned.

In each case, school and district decision-makers should be ready to consider what their goals are with the suspension or expulsion. For example:

What do they hope your child will learn from the discipline?

What safety concerns do they have if your child were to return to school?

If a district can ensure safety and help a student learn and be ready to show appropriate behavior with less time out of school, then they should consider having students return early.

What are the different options for challenging a suspension or expulsion, or returning to school early?

There are several possible routes for a student to get back to school before the original end date of a suspension or expulsion. These include:

Informal Conferences with the Principal after a Short-term Suspension - the principal can decide to shorten a short-term suspension;

Optional Conferences with the Principal after a Long-term Suspension or Expulsion - a principal could decide to shorten a long-term suspension or recommend shortening an expulsion;

Discipline Appeal Hearing - a hearing officer could decide that a suspension or expulsion should be overturned or shortened;

Manifestation Determination Meeting for Student with a Disability - if a student's behavior that led to the discipline was caused by, or directly related to a disability, then they generally cannot be kept out of school for more than 10 school days for that behavior. Check out our page on Supports for Students with Disabilities, or OSPI's Special Education page for more information about manifestation determinations and discipline for students eligible for special education services: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/special-education/guidance-families-special-education-washington-state/behavior-and-discipline.

Reengagement Planning after a Long-term Suspension or Expulsion - the school, district and family could agree to a plan that would allow a student to return early;

Petition for Readmission-a district could grant a student's petition to be readmitted early after any suspension or expulsion; or

Behavior Agreement -a district could decide to reduce the length of a suspension or expulsion based on a student's participation in counseling or treatment services, or completion of a drug or threat assessment.

A family can also request to transfer to another school within the same district, or submit a non-resident student transfer application to another district. Districts can consider a student's discipline history in deciding whether to grant a transfer request, but that does not necessarily mean a transfer request would be denied.

What are possible benefits of requesting an Informal Conference to discuss a suspension or expulsion?

For short-term and in-school suspensions, the first step in the appeal process is the informal conference with the principal.

For long-term suspensions or expulsions, families can request an optional Informal Conference with the principal.

These optional conferences provide an opportunity for the student to share their perspective, for the student and family to hear from the principal and the school staff involved in the incident, and for everyone to talk through other possible responses or consequences that might be appropriate and effective to deal with the situation.

These optional conferences also allow educators an opportunity to review their decisions - often made quickly, with limited information - and consider whether the proposed suspension or expulsion is truly necessary. This can be a time for educators to hear from families, and to reflect on whether bias might have influenced the decisions leading up to the suspension.

At an informal conference, you can t ry to reach understanding about:

For long-term suspensions or expulsions, students and families can still go through the formal appeal process, whether or not they ask for the optional conference with the principal.

What is a disciplinary appeal hearing like for long-term suspensions and expulsions?

When a student is given a long-term suspension, an expulsion or an emergency expulsion, the student and parent have the right to request a formal hearing.

The hearings are held in front of hearing officers. The school and family each get an opportunity to present evidence, including documents and witnesses. The hearing officer makes a decision based on the evidence at the hearing.

Check your school district's policy and procedure, review the discipline notice, and look up the state rule on appeals for suspensions and expulsions to find more details about student and parents' rights in discipline appeal hearings. You can find the state rules online at: https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=392-400&full=true.

Preparing for a Disciplinary Appeal Hearing

If you decide to request a disciplinary appeal hearing, be sure to also request copies of the evidence the school will use at the hearing, including a list of witnesses.

Students and parents have the right to inspect the district's evidence before the hearing, and should receive a copy no later than the end of the school day before the hearing.

You can seek out legal advice or representation if you want to have an attorney help you prepare and represent you at the hearing.

While having an attorney for a discipline hearing can be helpful, it is not required. Many families go through discipline hearings on their own. As someone who knows your child, and cares about their education, you can be a strong advocate.

If you are going to be on your own at the discipline hearing, here are some steps to help you prepare:

Think about your reason for challenging the discipline:

Do you believe the school got the facts wrong about what happened, or what your child did or didn't do?

Do you believe that the proposed punishment is unfair or inappropriate?

Make notes for yourself about the points you want to communicate to the hearing officer.

Think about what evidence you can present to support your points.
Evidence can include documents (like school records, emails, screen shots of social media), and testimony from witnesses.

Review the district's evidence and think about whether there are questions you want to ask about it, or ask of the witnesses.

Be sure to bring extra copies of any evidence you want to present at the hearing to give to the district and the hearing officer (at least 3 copies total so you can keep a copy for yourself).

You can also review general information and tips on how to prepare for a hearing in OEO's guide on How to be an Education Advocate You can find that guide on our website, www.oeo.wa.gov, on our publications page, here: https://www.oeo.wa.gov/en/about-us/publications-and-resources-families.

Taking time to prepare, writing out your main points and your main questions, can help keep you calm and focused during the hearing.

If you disagree with the hearing officer's decision, you can appeal to the school board or disciplinary appeals council. The hearing officer's decision should give you instructions about when and how to appeal.

The next step of appeal after a school board would be to superior court.

Are disciplinary appeal hearings different from Manifestation Determinations?

Yes. If a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan is removed from school for more than 10 school days for behavior, the school will have to schedule a "Manifestation Determination Meeting." This meeting is to decide whether the behavior that led to the discipline was caused by, or directly related to, the student's disability.

Students with an IEP or 504 plan, and their parents, also have the right to request a disciplinary appeal hearing to challenge whether the discipline was appropriate (regardless of whether it was a manifestation of a disability or not).

Check out our page on Supports for Students with Disabilities, or OSPI's Special Education page for more information about manifestation determinations and discipline for students eligible for special education services: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/special-education/guidance-families-special-education-washington-state/behavior-and-discipline.

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Getting Back to School after Suspensions or Expulsions

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Every expulsion or suspension must have an end date. That is the latest date the student should be going back to school. Our state discipline rules now require schools to consider, for each individual student, whether it is possible and appropriate to reduce the number of days a student is out, and have them return to school earlier than initially planned.

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This article explains the ways in which you can create peace within the classroom. This essentially gives an overview of the many things that were discussed not only in this chapter, but all the ones prior to it.

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As 2015 draws to a close, we hope for a new year where cooperation and empathy supersede violence and suspicion. For our final article this year, Usable Knowledge asks: Can education foster a more peaceful world?

According to Silvia Diazgranados Ferráns, an instructor and doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, it can. Her research on peace education reveals a complex field that seeks to help schools build communities that foster peacemaking and citizenship - to encourage students to become empathetic, inclusive, critical thinkers who have the skills to live peaceful lives.

The Goals of Peace Education

The goals of peace education vary widely across the world. In developing countries, where there is no specific enemy or conflict but a general lack of human rights, peace education seeks to elucidate sources of inequality to promote a more equitable, stable future. In areas of intractable conflict between specific groups, as in Israel and the Palestinian territories, peace education seeks to promote alternate narratives of the conflict to encourage mutual understanding, respect, and collaboration.

In areas where there is no active conflict or violation of human rights, peace education seeks to promote individual skills that reject the use violence and create stronger communities.

Peace Education in Action

For U.S. educators, a successful peace education program focuses on helping children develop the skills they'll need to get along with others, solve conflicts in nonviolent ways, contribute positively to their communities, respect intergroup differences, and value diversity. Young children need to learn and practice these skills in relationship to their peers, teachers, and family members, Diazgranados Ferráns says. As they grow older, children need opportunities to practice these skills in the context of their broader community and to reflect on their potential global impact.

Diazgranados Ferráns notes that peace education lessons will only take root if peace education is a schoolwide effort that goes beyond a particular subject, embodied by every adult in the building and demonstrated throughout the school day. She outlines several ways that teachers and school leaders can incorporate peace education into their work, teaching students how to be empathetic, responsible, and active learners and leaders:

Model kindness and empathy
Teachers, principals, and staff throughout the building can model how to love and care for others through their interactions among each other and with students. Adults should get to know students individually, appreciating the unique strengths and needs of each student and member of the school community.

Repair, don't punish
When students commit an offense, use models of restorative justice to help them understand the effects of their actions and how they can repair any damage done. Instead of punishing or excluding offenders, facilitate conversations on what would need to happen to restore balance in the community. The end goal is for children to understand the impact of their actions and to learn to take responsibility for them.

Create a democratic space
Involve student voices in establishing and revising school and class norms. Create classrooms where children are encouraged to share their ideas. Share power with students and give them the space to question authority. Great injustices, inequalities, and atrocities take place when people either are uncritical of authority or aren't given the appropriate space and courage to question and resist it, says Diazgranados Ferráns.

Use experiential learning
Arrange lessons so that students learn by doing. Give students assignments that promote creativity and critical thinking. Whenever possible, instead of lecturing material, allow students to grapple with and debate it, to conduct experiments, or to participate in projects.

Give a voice to the excluded
On a micro level, this means encouraging students who are commonly excluded to speak up in class. On a macro level, this means incorporating into lessons the narratives of people who have been historically discriminated against or excluded. Have students think critically about why the knowledge and experiences of some groups of people are privileged over the knowledge and experiences of others.

Encourage collaboration in diverse groups
Emphasize collaboration and teamwork and deemphasize competition and self-interests. Structure long-term projects that allow children from different social or ethnic groups to work together toward a common goal. Opportunities in which children get to know one another as individuals, says Diazgranados Ferráns, "may help break prejudices and establish caring relationships among members of different groups."

Discuss controversial issues
Facilitate discussions about divisive civic and ethical issues for children of all ages. These debates teach students not only about viewpoints different from their own, but also that it's okay to disagree with authority figures and peers as long as it's done respectfully and in a safe environment.

Integrate service learning
With younger students, this can mean identifying and solving problems within their classroom. With older students, it can mean creating service projects that help their school, community, or people across world. "Children need to practice, from very, very early on, how to take action, to solve the problems in their community, to have a positive effect," says Diazgranados Ferráns. "They don't need to wait until they grow up to change the world."

Additional Resources

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As 2015 draws to a close, we hope for a new year where cooperation and empathy supersede violence and suspicion. For our final article this year, Usable Knowledge asks: Can education foster a more peaceful world? According to Silvia Diazgranados Ferráns, an instructor and doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, it can.