“Our stu­dents’ first expe­ri­ence of the Mosaic Project’s pro­gram was when two won­der­ful Mosaic Project teach­ers came to their 3rd grade class­rooms. They used drama and music to teach tol­er­ance, com­mu­nity build­ing and con­flict res­o­lu­tion. They encour­aged our stu­dents to be lead­ers in work­ing for peace and under­stand­ing within our school com­mu­nity. Our stu­dents could hardly wait to go!”— Kate Gallagher, Teacher

In-School Project

In order to deepen and sus­tain the impact of The Mosaic Project’s out­door edu­ca­tion expe­ri­ence, we offer the Mosaic In-School Project. Mosaic’s inno­v­a­tive Outdoor School is out­stand­ing in pro­mot­ing peace, mutual under­stand­ing, and con­flict res­o­lu­tion among its 4th and 5th grade par­tic­i­pants. The In-School Project ini­tia­tive allows us to delve even deeper in explor­ing these themes.

We intro­duce our research-based cur­ricu­lum in kinder­garten and con­tinue Mosaic lessons through­out the grade lev­els, set­ting the stage for and rein­forc­ing lessons learned at the Outdoor School. The in-school sup­ple­ment also infuses Mosaic val­ues and skill sets into the over­all school cul­ture and improves the cli­mate of our part­ner schools.

The fun, musi­cal, and expe­ri­en­tial qual­ity of Mosaic work­shops is what sets us apart from other SEL/character development/social jus­tice edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives. Our inno­v­a­tive, active cur­ricu­lum sup­ports stu­dents in deep­en­ing their appre­ci­a­tion for diver­sity and jus­tice, while cul­ti­vat­ing empa­thy, team­work, con­flict res­o­lu­tion skills and a more inclu­sive class­room and school-wide com­mu­nity.

Mosaic Blasts

The stan­dard Mosaic In-School Project includes two “Mosaic Blasts” a year.  A Mosaic Blast includes a school-wide assem­bly, in-class work­shops in every class­room grades K-5, a par­ent train­ing, and a teacher train­ing all cen­tered on the same topic. The Blast model allows an entire school to explore one cur­ric­u­lar theme simul­ta­ne­ously in a devel­op­men­tally appro­pri­ate way. This sin­gu­lar school-wide focus sup­ports teach­ers, admin­is­tra­tors and par­ents in col­lab­o­rat­ing to rein­force the theme across grade lev­els through­out a semes­ter.

The fol­low­ing cur­ric­u­lar themes can be addressed in a Mosaic Blast:

  1. Appreciating Differences and the Mosaic Values
  2. Anger Management
  3. Empathy/ Being an Ally
  4. The Mosaic Conflict Resolution Toolbox
  5. Teasing/ Spreading Peace and Spreading Poison (Put Ups/ Put Downs)
  6. Assertiveness
  7. Teamwork and Cooperation

The Mosaic In-School Project includes:

  • 30 hours of facil­i­ta­tion which is gen­er­ally dis­trib­uted as fol­lows:
    • 2 all-school assem­blies (one to accom­pany each Blast)
    • 2 Mosaic Blasts (24 in-class work­shops includ­ing 12 in the Fall and 12 in the Spring)
    • 2 90 min par­ent train­ings (one to accom­pany each Blast)
    • 2 90 min teacher train­ings (one to accom­pany each Blast)
  • 1 copy of our pub­lished cur­ricu­lum guide
  • Teacher sup­port pack­ets as needed
  • 6 sets of posters (4 each)

See how our In-School Project meets California Academic Standards.

Outcomes

By the end of three years of par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Mosaic In-School Project:

our part­ner school’s com­mu­nity will be infused with The Mosaic Project’s core cur­ricu­lum

  • teach­ers, stu­dents, and par­ents will have a shared vocab­u­lary and under­stand­ing of key Mosaic top­ics such as con­flict res­o­lu­tion, diver­sity, and com­mu­nity
  • the school cli­mate will be more inclu­sive and appre­cia­tive of diver­sity among stu­dents, par­ents, and teach­ers

stu­dents will have devel­oped a mul­ti­tude of con­crete socio-emotional skills


includ­ing:

  • recog­ni­tion, man­age­ment, and healthy expres­sion of emo­tions
  • vocab­u­lary and capac­ity to talk about chal­leng­ing issues
  • team­work and coop­er­a­tion
  • empa­thy and appre­ci­a­tion for the per­spec­tives of oth­ers
  • resilience and self-care
  • com­mu­ni­ca­tion and con­flict res­o­lu­tion tools, includ­ing:
    • lis­ten­ing
    • effec­tively nav­i­gat­ing con­flict non­vi­o­lently
    • under­stand­ing and iden­ti­fy­ing pas­sive, aggres­sive, and assertive behav­ior and demon­strat­ing the abil­ity to be assertive
    • being an ally to oth­ers and know­ing how to pre­vent and stop bul­ly­ing

stu­dents will value diver­sity and have devel­oped con­crete skills to thrive and act justly in an increas­ingly diverse soci­ety


includ­ing:

  • under­stand­ing and being able to iden­tify stereo­types, prej­u­dice, and dis­crim­i­na­tion
  • rec­og­niz­ing and respect­ing each person’s unique­ness and inher­ent value
  • being inclu­sive of oth­ers
  • build­ing rela­tion­ships across lines of dif­fer­ence
  • under­stand­ing fair­ness, priv­i­lege, and human rights

stu­dents will have devel­oped their self-efficacy and com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing pos­i­tive social change

  • have height­ened self esteem, self respect, and self expres­sion
  • under­stand our inter­con­nec­tion and impact on one another
  • have cul­ti­vated a sense of agency and capac­ity to be an agent of pos­i­tive change
  • be more com­mit­ted to work­ing towards build­ing peace­ful, inclu­sive com­mu­ni­ties

Read more details about our Middle School pro­grams.

For more infor­ma­tion about either the Mosaic In-School Project or the Mosaic Professional Development Project please con­tact our Curriculum and Training Director, Serian Strauss at 510–452-3377 or at serian©mosaicproject•org  (Serian©mosaicproject•org)  .