|
|
Conflict
Resolution ~ Lesson Ideas
Here
are some lesson ideas to support your creativity as a teacher.
You, of course, know your own class's learning styles, needs
and interests better than anyone, so please use what is helpful
and modify or disregard the rest. Depending on your teaching
style and your students' pace of learning, each lesson step
could last one or several days. In "Download
Options" you can find a downloadable version of this unit
and sample student handouts.
Part
I: Introducing the steps.
Because
these lessons aren't directly academic, I have tried to keep
them to about half an hour each. However, if your students
connect deeply to the content and have lots to say, you may
want to extend the class discussions. To speed up the lessons,
I create student worksheets for each lesson so that we don't
waste time with students forgetting instructions or copying
questions from the board. You can find examples of these
worksheets on the page of Download Options.
| |
Discussion: Read Penduli by
Jannel Cannon as powerful yet fun example of the vicious
cycle of name calling. Guide a class
discussion about the book. As a class, trace the circles
of insults on chart paper and discuss the reasons each animal
gave for offending the next animal (attempting to increase
their own self-esteem by putting other down). Individual: Students
write their personal connections to the book (worksheet). Have
you ever had your feelings hurt by someone else? Have you
ever
hurt
someone else's feelings? Guide another discussion. |
Step#2
(Be
Aware) |
Orientation: Review
the insult circles from the previous lessons. Guide students
in discussing Penduli's role in
breaking the cycle.
What did she do? Present the 4 steps for Respectful Resolutions.
Explain that to be able to confront a problem effectively,
the first
step is to be able to recognize that there is a problem.
We need to Be Aware of the conflict, our role in it and how
we are feeling about it. Guide a student
discussion about different clues their bodies give them when
they are angry. Remind them that each person reacts in a
different way. Individual: Students
draw and write about the clues their body gives them when
they are angry (worksheet).
Class discussion. In the upper grades, you may want to guide
a
discussion and
worksheet activity about other feelings that can get in the
way of "working-it-out" (jealousy, fear, sadness). |
|
Orientation: Review
previous lesson and explain that in a conflict your first
priority should be to Take Care of yourself and others
around you. For example, when you are angry, you need to
find a way to cool off so that you don't hurt yourself or
others. Guide discussion about different ways students find
helpful to cool off. Individual: Students
write down their own cool-off plan (worksheet). Discussion: Guide discussion about how
to take care when you have other strong feelings. For example,
it is hard to be strong and stand up for yourself when you
are feeling sad or afraid. |
|
Staying
safe is part of the conflict resolution step of "Take
Care." As
many of our students often encounter unsafe conflict
situations in
their
lives,
this
could be
a good
time to discuss appropriate strategies
for staying safe when students encounter bullies, gangs or
domestic violence. The depth of your class discussion will
entirely depend on your students' situation and need.
If you are new to your school, ask other teachers, community
leaders, students or parents about the safety challenges
your students may be facing. Even if you are not teaching
in a neighborhood you generally associate with these sorts
of problems, once you start investigating, you may be sadly
surprised by some of the realities of your students' lives.
I HIGHLY recommend the book, It Doesn't Have
to Be This Way published by the Children's Book Press.
It is a powerful, age-appropriate story about a young
boy who gets pulled into gang life. In my class, students
share books in groups of 2-3, discuss the book together
as they follow a reading guide (wrksht). Although the
story itself is short, I allow at least 2 days to read
the book, to nurture deeper thinking and class discussions. |
|
Orientation: Review
previous lessons. Explain that the first two steps act
to keep students physically and emotionally
safe while
preventing
them
from reacting rashly, which usually escalates the conflict.
The last two steps deal with how to work out the problem.
In the step "Prepare" students plan what they are
going to say and do when talking to the person with whom they have the conflict. Introduce the elements of
an I-Message and demonstrate how it is fundamentally
different
from a
You-Message.
Present
a few situations and guide your class in using the I-Message
sentence frames. Supported: In
pairs, students work on developing appropriate I-Messages
to imaginary situations (worksheet). Discussion: Share
student I-messages. Finally,
guide a discussion on the importance of planning how and
where they are going to approach the person to
be able
to have a successful conversation. |
Step
#5
(Listen
and Share) |
Activity: Discuss
the importance of good listening skills in finding
a respectful resolution to a conflict. Put students in
pairs. One will be the talker and the other the listener.
Give the
talkers a topic to tell about and instruct the listeners
to do everything they can without leaving their seats. One minute or less should suffice. Switch.
Guide a discussion about the bad listening behaviors they
came up with. Have they ever encountered this type of behavior
before? How does it make them feel? Repeat the role playing
with a new topic. This time the listener should try everything
possible to be an excellent listener. Have a demonstration
with one of your students to set the tone before
students work in pair. Share and make a class list
of respectful listening behaviors. Individual: Students
reflect on experiences they've had with respectful and
disrespectful listeners (worksheet).
|
Step
#5a
(Listen
and Share)
|
Sometimes
giving a well-constructed I-message and being a good
listener is enough to resolve a conflict. There are times when students need to find creative solutions to a conflict and be ready to compromise. Discussion: Give
an example of a conflict that would need a compromise plan, e.g.
2 groups of students who want to use the same ball at recess. Divide
students into two groups and describe the situation.
Then
instruct them to brainstorm positive resolutions within their
group. Share. Write down each group's ideas one at a time
(no comment
from the other side.) Finally, instruct each group to huddle
and decide how they feel about each option - great, so-so
or no-way. Guide class in choosing the best compromise for
the role play. Extension: In
small groups, have students practice all the steps with new
situations. (See Porrp's book.) |
Part
II: Implementation
Once
students have learned the main steps to create respectful
resolutions to conflicts, the next step is using them. Following
these
four simple steps can be a big challenge during a real conflict
situation. Some teachers may want to put
in place a way for students to formally request teacher support
in working towards a respectful resolution with someone.
If this doesn't work with your classroom management or schedule,
I recommend at least leaving up the posters you developed
as a class for each step so that students can refer to them
in moments of "crisis." I particularly found it
useful to make a big poster of the I-Message sentence frames
to leave
up during the year. In this way I could easily point
it out to students who were at the brink of trying to resolve
a conflict with harsher words. |
Lesson Ideas