This morning, I was
disposed to finish the session of Story-Writing with the 3rd grade
students, but it has been impossible because of a big conflict between two of them.
They have started insulting each other, and almost have come to blows. I was
alone in the class as the teacher had to attend another group, so I didn’t
know what to do. I’ve tried to speak with both kids, but only one of them has listened
to me, and has stopped insulting the other. But, the other kind was very nervous and has
continued threatening him. Some of
the classmates were also encouraging him to continue with this attitude. Finally,
I’ve managed to stop the insults, but it was obvious that the conflict had not disappeared.
After this incident,
I really think that we should have at least a subject during the degree about
conflict resolution, as I’ve been unable to do absolutely nothing. We are
working with kids who are coexisting more than with their families, so it’s
totally normal that conflicts like this emerge, but we have to be prepared to
take advantage of them to teach students respect and tolerance values, as schools
are the perfect scenario of life. Teachers are too much focused and worried
about meeting the objectives and finishing the contents, and they forget one of the main aims of schools: SOCIALIZATION.
I’ve been in
three different schools during the Practicum experiences of my degree, and in
any of them the conflicts were treated properly, but just avoided. So, I
haven’t had the opportunity to learn how teachers treat real conflicts at
school. For this reason, I decided to search information on the Internet about
some effective strategies, and I’ve found 4 very interesting ones that I want
to share:
- Role playing
Role playing can bring a level of levity to
conflict resolution. When students are placed in opposing roles than what they
may play in a real life situation, it teaches them empathy and forces them to
look at actions from another point of view.
Role playing may also provide insights into just
where the conflicts are arising from. Rather than having conflicts rise with
statements like “Well, how would you like it if I did this to
you?” Conflicts can be looked at from more objective, role playing standpoints.
- Tracking
As an assignment, have students observe and
track various conflicts that they either witness or are involved with over a
period of time. These can be tracked in a journal, and should be written
without the specific identities of the participants. In this case, the
identities are not as important as the activity they witness and the
reaction of those involved. Let students know to be on the outlook for
situations where conflict resolution would help. This will also set a baseline
for just how severe the problem may be.
At some point students should voluntarily share
their observations in their journals and students can discuss the positives and
negatives of the involved student’s reactions. This allows students to discuss
specific incidents, without “outing” offenders.
Over the course of the school year, this
assignment may be done several times, and teachers can make observations as to
the progress their students are making in effective conflict resolution.
- Listening
Many conflicts start because of
misunderstandings and miscommunication. Teaching students good listening habits
can be an important tool.
You can start with a classroom discussion
about conflicts that may have occurred to students recently. You are likely to
hear things like “He wouldn’t listen” or “They didn’t understand what I was
saying.”
This is a good opportunity to let students
realize the power of listening. It also lends itself to teach “how” to
listen.
Teach them to:
- Look directly at the
speaker and make eye contact.
- Let the speaker talk
without interruption.
- Ask questions.
- Don't give advice or
offer suggestions.
- Give the speaker positive
reinforcement by nodding or smiling.
- Repeat what you have
heard in your own words.
Teach students the power of careful listening.
- Writing about the conflict
If there are conflicts in the classroom, having
the involved students sit down to write about it serves a couple of purposes.
First, it serves as a time-out or a cooling off period. It also makes them
reflect on the incident in an academic, learning way.
When you have students write about the conflict,
have them include how it made them feel, and what other, better choices they
may have made during the conflict. Offer them suggestions like “list 3 things
that you would do differently now that you’ve had a chance to think about
better options.”
Try to get your students to understand that
conflicts are also a learning opportunity, and use the incident to do just
that.
I hope it can be helpful!
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