Over the summer, I had the privilege of attending the WISSIT summer institute for teachers held at the Washington International School. To say that the learning experience was inspirational, would be an understatement. I was surrounded by some of the best educators from around the globe. Each day, I soaked in the messages of hope, peace, kindness, empathy, inclusion, and community. When the week concluded, I continued to reflect on the following questions:
- “What stories are we telling?”
- “Whose stories are missing?”
- “How can we create a community of peace?”
- “How can we create a community of kindness?”
I knew that I had to find a way to better utilize our Health and Wellness time to think about the stories we tell, whose stories were missing in our community, and how we can take those stories and create a more peaceful and kind community together.
Following my inspiration from “Reflection of Peace” by Ellen Lafferty and “Telling the Untold Stories of Black Joy through 100 Languages” by Marla McLean, I set out to find ways to inspire our learners at The Village school to reflect on what peace and kindness look like, feel like, and how they can spread peace and kindness to each other.
In our Adventure middle school studio, we listened to the stories of Unsung Heroes like the story of Alie and how one person’s friendship impacted her life. We examined the photographs taken by Thomas Holton, another WISSIT inspired activity, and asked ourselves about the emotions the family was expressing and whose story was being told. The learners were challenged to share their own stories of bravery, joy, handship, challenge, accomplishment, etc. We thought about how each of our stories contributes to the knowledge and impact we all have on each other. Each of us brings something special, something of value and importance to our community.
Similar activities were shared with our Discovery elementary learners. As we explored peace and kindness, we had one big question left to answer: How do we want to be remembered? The learners thought about, 20 years from now, when a studiomate of mine opens the yearbook and looks at a picture of me, what do I hope they say? What do I hope my impact is?
At the end of session 3, after 10 weeks of diving deep into the stories of others and the impact that being kind and peaceful can have, our learners each created their own stamp to represent what peace or kindness means to them symbolizing the mark they hope to leave behind on our community. They started with a brainstorm about experiences, images, and colors that represented peace or kindness. Then, they created a symbol. Now, it was time for the hard and meticulous work of transferring their symbol to a linoleum block. Each learner hand carved their design, painted, and stamped them onto canvas. As our Guide team watched the learners excitedly working, they became inspired as well. In one of our afternoon professional development sessions, we each created our own symbols with the help of some of our older middle school learners. The culminating piece was a short video message for parents and fellow studiomates to hear so they could learn more about what each symbol represents.
There were symbols connected to nature, animals, friendship, the ripple effect we have on others, reading, family, and so much more.
One of our Adventure middle school learners, Vivien, created a heart with olive branches, symbolizing peace and shared “a peaceful world is one where everyone is valued”. Other quotes from our learners that we found inspiring were:
“My symbol is a ripple, like a ripple of kindness. Kind of like a stone being thrown into the water. I think of it like my bunny’s feet. How I am going to spread peace and kindness is doing small things to be peaceful and kind and I think that will help because little things everywhere makes one big thing. “ – Ivy, Discovery Learner, age 10
“Kindness means holding my heart.” – Spark Learner, Age 5
“Kindness is a note to somebody, like a thank you for being nice to me.” – Spark Learner, Age 6
“Peace and kindness means that people love us and help us.” – Spark Learner, Age 4
“A truly peaceful world would look like no wars and everyone getting along with peace and harmony.” – Adventure Learner, Age 12
Our learners have told their stories and they are the stories of hope, joy, challenge, achievement and inspiration. Each of their voices are valuable and have brought more peace and kindness to our community.
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