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Preventing conflicts is the work of politics: establishing peace is the work of education. —Maria Montessori Education and Peace, p. 24. Can you imagine if we all just came together and concentrated on that which we have in common, rather than on our differences? We would find peace. That’s the hope and message of the Sing Peace Around the World Campaign , held annually to coincide with the United Nation’s International Day of Peace (or World Peace Day) . Montessori Peace Education: Singing Peace Around the World on World Peace Day On September 21, schools around the world, Montessori and non-Montessori alike, will gather at their assigned times to sing Shelley Murley’s song, “Light a Candle for Peace.” The song moves around the world throughout the day, starting with children singing in New Zealand and ending 24 hours later with the Hawaiian Islands. When Murley began the project in 2009, approximately 80,000 children from over 35 countries participated. Last year, Sing Peace Around ...

We have all been there. All of a sudden, the noise level in the classroom gets so loud, you wonder how anyone can possibly concentrate. Normally, it just takes a quick walk over to the ‘noisy table’ and a quiet word to help the students settle back down. Now, however, it seems like the whole class is noisy. What can you do? My favorite way to quiet and bring calm back to a disruptive environment is to not do anything at all. I don’t mean I ignore the situation; I meant that I allow my own calm presence to set the tone. I started doing this as a public high school teacher over 20 years ago. I had a particularly boisterous twelfth-grade literature class right after lunch that really had trouble coming in and settling down. Instead of getting mad or angry, I would calmly pick up my book, sit down at my desk, and start reading. After a few minutes, the students would realize that I wasn’t trying to get their attention, and they would all start to quiet down. It worked like a charm! It kept...