On August 9, the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) along with our partners for the Domestic Harmonizer Program, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), held a workshop for educators at Andrew Carnegie Middle School. This training marked the second year of implementing the program at Carnegie, and offered WPDI and CSUDH the opportunity to explore core conflict resolution concepts further with all attendees. This training was special because it enabled the teachers to exchange ideas on how to improve this academic year based on the successes and lessons from last year. The training was also a key moment because it invited teachers to learn from each other based on their knowledge and experience of implementing the Domestic Harmonizer Program last year. In fact, teachers commented that they liked this year’s training more because they had prior experience with the program, and knowing both WPDI and CSUDH provided the training with a more relaxed learning atmosphere.
During this training, educators had a chance to hear extensively from each other and exchange ideas about what worked well for them last year with the program, and what they would have done differently. Teachers reflected on various aspects of the curriculum and their subjects of expertise, whether it be social studies, English, math or science. We could not have had this free flow of ideas and experience-sharing had it not been for the teacher’s great implementation during the last academic year.
This year, the program features modifications and improvements to the curriculum based on feedback provided by Carnegie’s teachers last year. Moreover, this year, the revised curriculum will be accessed by the students digitally via LAUSD-issued iPads as opposed to hardcopies that WPDI provided last year. This will make the workbooks more readily available to the students, and in a format that is more engaging for them. Also, we are providing the entire school with posters featuring key conflict concepts and processes. These attractive posters will be featured in classrooms and throughout Carnegie’s campus, and will hopefully serve as educational tools and reminders of how to peacefully resolve conflicts inside and outside of class.
This year will be our second out of our three-year pilot project conducting the Domestic Harmonizer Program at Carnegie. The goal of WPDI and CSUDH remains to build a program that is well-tested and run at Carnegie so that we can expand to other schools in California and across the nation in the coming years.