Peacemaking Conference

	Before October 23	October 23 - October 30	After October 30
Public	$50	$60	$70
Students	$15	$25	$35

8:00 - 8:45 a.m. Light Breakfast and Registration (register by mail in advance to get the sessions you desire)
9:00 a.m. Speaker: Colman McCarthy
10:00 a.m. Morning Session
11:30 a.m. Lunch and personal networking
1:00 p.m. Speaker: David Smith
1:45 p.m. Afternoon Session A
3:30 p.m. Afternoon Session B
5:00 p.m. Conference ends

Resources for Peace Classes: What Works? M-1
For new or veteran teachers of peace classes, this roundtable discussion encourages the sharing of resources related to teaching peace in schools. Participants are encouraged to bring their course syllabi or resource lists to share. The moderator will also share his curriculum.
Bob Wojtowicz is chair of the English Department at St. Timothy's School, Baltimore and a former Peace Corps volunteer.

Putting the Peace(s) Together M-2
Creating the climate of peace is essential to helping children cope with conflict in peaceable ways. Those working with youth will learn to give children the tools to handle conflict in a creative, nonviolent way by exploring the foundations, strategies and skills needed to truly “keep the peace.”
Claire J. Salkowski is the founder and head of Free State Montessori School, and the director of Mediation and Education Programs at Sheppard Pratt Health System.

Teaching the Great War M-3
In this workshop, we will present a discussion topic or lesson that can be integrated into a US History course in high school or college. Students discuss Wilson’s decision to ask Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. Questions include: Did the costs of the war outweigh the benefits? If the U.S. had stayed out of the war, would a possible German victory have posed a threat to U.S. security?
Nicholas Fessenden, PhD, teaches history at Friends School of Baltimore.

Promoting Peace Through Literature M-4
Learn about a bibliography for children and young adults that promotes peace and social justice. This initiative, sponsored by the Friends Council on Education Librarians’ Peer Network, will become an annual award. Participants: come prepared to share and discuss books that should be included in the resource list.
Sandi Morton, a retired librarian from Friends School of Baltimore, works with the Friends Council on Education.

The U.S. and the Islamic World: A Historical Perspective M-5
Participants will examine how we have arrived at the present moment in which the West is at war with the civilization that played a crucial role in the rise of the West.
Dean Pappas is a physics teacher at Friends School of Baltimore, adjunct lecturer at Maryland Institute College of Art and sits on the steering committee of the Baltimore Chapter of TIKKUN.

From Bullies to Buddies: Teaching Conflict Resolution to Elementary School Children M-6
Teaching conflict resolution in elementary schools starts with building self-esteem, educating and empowering children. This workshop will help give teachers strategies to reduce conflicts in their classroom setting.
Jacquelyn Clayborne LCSWC, ACSW, is the lower school counselor for Friends School of Baltimore.

Math Literacy and Civil Rights Through Student Activism M-7
The Baltimore Algebra Project is a democratic, student-run and organized program focused on peer-to-peer math tutoring and equal education advocacy. In this workshop, participants will learn about Advocacy and Civil Rights; experience the Five steps of Algebra Project Pedagogy; and be encouraged to support youth-led advocacy strategies for equal education.
Presented by students from the Baltimore Algebra Project.

Mediation as a Tool for Peacemaking Within the Family M-8
The process of mediation and interpersonal styles of dealing with conflict will be explored. The group will practice the techniques of compassionate listening, containing intense emotion, and creative problem solving – essential skills for a successful resolution of conflict.
Terry McGeehan (tamcgeehan@gmail.com) LCPC, Mediation Services of Baltimore and The Counseling Center, is a family mediator and licensed psychotherapist.

America’s Oil Addiction: Peak Oil and Global Warming as Opportunities for Peacemaking M-9
Short clips will be shown from two movies: “The End of Suburbia” and “We’re All Smith Islanders.” A panel from the Stony Run/Homewood Friends Unity with Nature committee will discuss how fossil fuel consumption violates the earth and how our appetite for energy is causing world conflict over shrinking reserves.
Paul Phillips is co-clerk of Stony Run/Homewood Friends Unity with Nature committee.

Walking the Labyrinth: a Peace Pilgrimage M-10
The spiraling course of a labyrinth leads into the center and back out again. The experience may be seen as a metaphor for a personal or spiritual journey reflecting the process that winds and unwinds as you walk on the path of life. Explore your personal pilgrimage toward peace both within yourself and with others.
Amy R. Rakusin LCPC, ADTR, is a licensed psychotherapist and dance movement therapist.

Visioning a World Without Violence M-11
Key proponents of nonviolence and their accomplishments will be reviewed. The focus will be on envisioning how various aspects of society would look if only nonviolent methods were used to resolve conflict. The goal of the session is to create a renewed vigor and interest in pursuing a peaceful society in all arenas.
Ramona Buck is public policy director of the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office and works for Maryland’s state dispute resolution office under the Judiciary; Gary Gillespie is co-director of the Baltimore Urban Peace Programs of the American Friends Service Committee.

Reflections on Spirituality and Peace Work M-12
Participants will examine the relation of spiritual experience to peace action.When we consider the worship experience, sense of divine guidance, and living in harmony with this guidance, how are we led to act?
Don Gann, M.D., former chair of the American Friends Service Committee, has been an active Quaker for more than 55 years.

Military Outreach and Conscientious Objection M-13
The presenter will discuss military outreach in our schools, malls, and the mail, and analyze the likelihood of a draft in the near future. The current legal definition of conscientious objection will be examined and the procedure for draft-age youth to document and declare conscientious objector (CO) status will be detailed.
J. E. McNeil is a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Center on Conscience & War.

Full Afternoon Session A you may select one of the following
1:45 - 5:00 p.m.

Session A-1 has been cancelled

Reducing Conflict in the Classroom: Developing Character and Self- Esteem Using the CARCl Method A-2
Participants will experience innovative approaches to creating an optimal classroom environment using Communication, Agreement, Responsibility, Choice and Integrity. Through participant interaction, lecture, video presentations and a guest speaker from the College of Notre Dame faculty, teachers will learn to instill character development and pave the way for students to treat each other with dignity, freeing them to learn.
Taft Utermohle is author of “A Return to Civility: Techniques for Classroom Management” and is an elementary art teacher in Baltimore County Public Schools.

Sociodrama: A Laboratory for Peacemaking A-3
Sociodrama is a method of learning in action. It is particularly relevant in the classroom as a hands-on approach to teaching and can be adapted to use with all ages from pre-schoolers to adult learners. In this workshop, participants will learn the basic structure of Sociodrama as a way to work with issues of peacemaking and to bring collective problem-solving to bear.
Patti Desert LCSW-C, CP, is a psychotherapist, trainer and educator. She is a board member of the Middle Atlantic Association of the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama.

International High School Exchange Programs A-4
An introduction to AFS International and its contribution to world peace. What does this program offer to the American student going abroad and to the host family? Featuring a panel discussion of young Americans who have participated in AFS programs and an activity designed to simulate intercultural learning.
Megan Shook is a trained volunteer with AFS. She is the sending coordinator for the Baltimore/Carroll Chapter of AFS.

Make Peace With Your Fears A-5
Peace is the opposite of fear. From this simple realization comes the notion that if we teach each individual how to make peace with their own fears, we would have a world at peace. A scientific, sociological and spiritual look at fear. Participants will learn to face and analyze fear and use it constructively.
Heidi Thompson is a volunteer facilitator with the Community Conferencing Center, Baltimore and a Workshop Leader with the Second Presbyterian Church. If you have questions about this session,
please email Heidi at hpthompco[at]aol.com

Deep Listening as an Instrument of Peace A-6
Deep listening and meaningful conversation have given way to strident presentations of points of view. This workshop will introduce participants to techniques from Compassionate Listening that foster empathic understanding. Participants will learn and practice methods that create a “meeting ground” rather than a “battleground” when in conflict or when discussing controversial issues. Small groups will work together to craft the models for specific populations (students, faculties, etc.)
Phil Fratesi is a consultant and workshop leader. Amy R. Rakusin, LCPC, ADTR, see previous biography. The presenters are trained in the Compassionate Listening Model.

Half-Afternoon Session B you may select one of the following
1:45 - 3:15 p.m.

Educating for Peace and Social Change B-1
This workshop will offer an understanding of the Multi-Track Diplomacy view of peacemaking as a living social system, along with ideas for bringing this perspective into one’s teaching. Participants will create a small “living social system” of their own, share information and gain inspiration for teaching peace and social change.
Bernadette Odyniec M.Ed., is the program coordinator for the William Penn House, a Quaker center in Washington, D.C. that sponsors Teachers of Peace seminars for middle and high school teachers.

“At Peace with Nature” Program for Children B-2
By encouraging children to live peacefully with wildlife and nature, we provide a solid foundation for tolerant and peaceful adults. Core elements for an education program will be presented.
Joseph Murray left a successful career as a commercial pilot to learn from native elders. He has designed and run three wilderness schools; Robert Fireovid helped create the Interfaith Coalition for the Environment. His writing on nature conservation and land development has appeared in the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post.

Examining Class and Race: An Exercise B-3
Friends School students will conduct an exercise developed by Violence Prevention Educator Paul Kivel. The students participated in the exercise with Kivel during a Student Diversity Leadership Conference and then returned to lead their school peers, faculty and staff in similar exercises that challenged assumptions about class and race.
Elaine Kwon, Beth Schiffman and Kara Woo are students at Friends School of Baltimore. Lisa Countess is a teacher at Friends School and advisor to the Black Awareness Club.

War Prevention Works B-4
Using the book War Prevention Works: 50 Stories of People Resolving Conflict participants will learn about a variety of modern conflicts where conflict resolution strategies averted, lessened or stopped violence. Common elements of conflict resolution used throughout the world will be examined and ideas raised in the Carnegie Commission’s “Preventing Deadly Conflict” will be discussed.
Kelly Causey is a former clerk of Stony Run Monthly Meeting’s Peace and Social Order Committee and a fourth grade teacher at Friends School of Baltimore.

From Community Conferencing to Daily Rap: The Power of Participatory Conflict Resolution B-5
Learn techniques that have been effectively used to help Marylanders peacefully and collectively resolve conflicts for themselves within schools and communities. Review case histories to see how the process works to create peaceful outcomes.
Val Tavai is the assistant director of the Community Conferencing Center, Baltimore.

The Many Faces of Peace Activism B-6
All too often the peace movement is predominantly white while social justice issues typically attract a more diverse community. Join this panel of community activists for a stimulating discussion on bridging the gaps within the many faces and communities involved in peace and social justice issues.
Panelists include: Gary Gillespie and Dominique Stevenson, co- directors, Baltimore Urban Peace Programs of AFSC; Jamal Mubdi-Bey, director of community outreach, Sojourner-Douglass College; Jill Wrigley and Michael Sarbanes, community activists; and Sally Robinson, Women in Black.

A New Strategy for Peace B-7
This presentation will identify four key obstacles to peace: the differences between peoples; the admiration of aggressiveness and belligerence; our approval of a foreign policy adverse to peace; and the hate and hostility nurtured by our society. The strategy to overcome these obstacles taps into man’s natural goodness to create peacemakers who adopt reconciliation over retaliation.
Michael I. Phillips is the author of “Boycott Money and Save Your Soul: Launching the Goodwill Revolution.”

Prayer: A Spiritual Approach to Peacemaking B-8
This workshop will share ideas on praying for peace from the perspective of Christian Science. Examples of how prayer has transformed conflict will be given. Participants will learn effective ways of praying about personal or community concerns so that each may be part of the peaceful solution to these issues.
Barbara M. Fife CSB, is a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science affiliated with First Church of Christ, Scientist in Baltimore.

Techniques of Nonviolent Conflict B-9
As a follow-up to his speech, Colman McCarthy will go into further detail and discussion of nonviolent strategies of conflict resolution.Colman McCarthy, please see previous biography.

Understanding Conscientious Objection B-10
This workshop will be an opportunity for students, parents and other participants to discuss the legal, moral and personal aspects of becoming a conscientious objector (CO) under the current draft law. Other forms of conscientious objection not currently recognized by the government will be included. Participants will learn the documentation and application process of becoming a CO.
Sam Legg, a WWII Conscientious Objector, is a member of Stony Run Friends Meeting. Fran Donelan is a former draft and military counselor, American Friends Service Committee.

Parenting Peacefully B-11
Creating the family atmosphere and teaching the skills needed to live in a peaceful way is one of the arts of parenting. This workshop will help parents identify strategies and skills they can adopt in their own interactions with their children as well as methods for teaching such skills to their children for use at home and in the world.
Claire J. Salkowski, please see previous biography.

Half-Afternoon Session C you may select one of the following
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Healing from a Decade of Civil War: Quaker Peacemaking Work in Burundi C-1
A presentation on the conflict in Burundi and Rwanda, Africa. We will discuss programs that Burundi Yearly Meeting has sponsored, including: Trauma Healing and Reconciliation; Alternatives to Violence; HIV Clinic for Women; Peace Primary School; and Widows’ Group.
Elie Nahimana is the general secretary of Burundi Yearly Meeting of Friends, a Quaker group with over 13,000 adult members. A bridge- builder by trade, he now builds bridges across the ethnic divide in Burundi.

The Quiet Voice of Peace in the Classroom C-2
For teachers with little or no opportunity to overtly teach peace in their overfull curricula. Through the voices and stories of educators who are building peace, and through a meditative consideration of five testimonies that are basic to Quakerism, this session will help you on your road to becoming a teacher of peace.
David Heath is a teacher at Friends School of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University. Martha Barss is a teacher at Roland Park Country School and has also taught abroad.

Using Art to Create Peace C-3
This workshop will explore ways in which artistic expression can bring challenging topics into the high school classroom for discussion. Examples will include public projects, performance art and filmmaking. High school students will share their experiences.
Julie Stovall Lauver is an artist, social documentarian and journalist. She teaches art at Towson High School.

Creating a Peer Mediation Program C-4
Teaching students to mediate their own problems is a gift to any school. Specific skills can be taught to all students or selected peer mediators. This workshop explores the many uses of mediation in the classroom and highlights the steps and stages of establishing a peer mediation program.
Claire J. Salkowski, please see previous biography.

Dreaming Your Dream of Peace C-5
Designed to reacquaint individuals with core concepts of peacemaking and encourage further discussion on personal commitment to peace. The session combines meditation, discussion, music, and a craft-making segment.
Chuck Michaels is co-founder and volunteer coordinator of Pax Christi Baltimore, a Catholic peace and justice advocacy organization and former producer of “New Earth Radio” and “WorldViews” weekly TV programs.

Addressing Conflict in Your Community C-6
This workshop looks at the functions of conflict in our lives. Through hands-on exercises, participants will consider their perceptions of conflict and learn strategies for harnessing the opportunities in conflict. Come ready to laugh, move and learn.
Tracee Ford is director of training and outreach for the Community Mediation Program.

Empowering Youth to Build a Peaceful World C-7
An introduction to projects developed around the world by young people. As adults we are challenged to find different ways of relating other than the expert/student model. The presenter will share her experiences with youth leadership training in Ghana, West Africa.
Harriett Nettles PhD, teaches courses in education and psychology at various institutions and works with young people on international peace building efforts.

Growing the Next Generation of Peacemakers C-8
For parents, teachers and others who would like to share practical ideas for encouraging peaceful ways of living and a dedication to peace activism among young people. Participants will discuss the use of trade books for teaching peaceful approaches and practice meditation techniques.
Gail Gann is active in Stony Run religious education and with other Quaker activities; Nancy Moore is a retired public school teacher with curriculum writing experience; Joan Thompson is a teacher at Friends School of Baltimore Lower School with experience teaching meditation techniques to children.

Lobbying 101 C-9
This session will take the “fear factor” out of lobbying. Following a short lecture on lobbying tips, participants will walk through the steps to prepare for a visit to a public official’s office and will role play a visit.
Suzanne O’Hatnick is a consultant for grass roots organizations engaged in international programs; Barbara Brocato is a lobbyist at the state level; Karen Hanscom PhD, is executive director of Advocates of Survivors of Torture and Trauma.