Classroom Corner: June 5
With the school year winding to a close and summer on its way, DCPEACE facilitators led their concluding workshops for grades 3-5, discussing with students what they had learned and what to take with them into the future.
Fifth Grade
During this final workshop, students took time out from rehearsing for their big graduation to reflect on their year long experience. Students were asked to write letters to themselves about what they want to remember about peace and take with them to middle school. These letters will be sent to the student's home address in six months and will hopefully serve as a reminder of all we have learned about peace throughout the year.
Fourth Grade
As a concluding workshop for the 4th grade, we wanted to find a creative way to look back on what we have learned as a group about peace and conflict resolution. Initially, students gathered together and shared different strategies they had learned throughout the year to resolve conflicts and these were captured on the board for all to see. Then, the class was split into two groups to do an activity called "Conflict Resolution Machine". Each student came up with their favorite way to resolve a conflict and additionally created a movement that they felt demonstrated that strategy. Each student and their individual strategy was a part of the machine. With each student standing in a line, a hypothetical conflict was 'fed into' the machine. Each student then visually represented and stated their strategy for how to resolve this conflict and tagged the next person, so that by the time the conflict reached the last person in the "machine", it was transformed. Some example strategies shared by this group included: "hugs", "tell the teacher", "talk to them", "walk away" and "ask questions". Students then performed their conflict resolution machine sequence for the other group and received a hearty round of applause for their peaceful performances!
Third Grade
After briefly recapping what we did in weeks prior, students then broke up into small groups with facilitators to begin the activity portion of the workshop. As a warm up, each student shared one thing they love to do that makes them happy and they then performed this one thing for the group. For example, some students shared their love for football, dancingl, or singing and each had the opportunity to bring these ideas to life with short performances in their small group. Then, students shared different strategies they learned throughout the workshops about how to resolve conflicts. From these personalized strategies, each student was able to be a part of the "Conflict Resolution Machine". With each student standing in a line, a hypothetical conflict was 'fed into' the machine. Each student then visually represented and stated their strategy for how to resolve this conflict and tagged the next person, so that by the time the conflict reached the last person in the "machine", it was transformed. Example strategies from this group included "tell the teacher", "walk it out", "ask questions", and "talk it out". Students then performed their conflict resolution machine sequence for the other groups and received a hearty round of applause for their peaceful performances!
In Section: Programs - This article belongs to category: Classroom Corner
DCPEACE
Equipping teachers, youth, and families with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively serve as peacebuilders in their communities.Final Evaluation 08-09
Results
➢ 100% of educators and administrators participating in the program reported an increase in their students' ability to manage conflict.➢ Educators reported that improvements in student behavior and decreases in the number of classroom conflicts increased their ability to successfully deliver lessons in reading and math by an average of 75%.
➢ Based on internal testing results during the past three months, there were improvements in both language development skills (13%) and literary text competencies (38%) among the students participating in our program.
➢ School administration reported a 40% decrease in conflicts resulting in physical disturbance as a result of our program.
➢ In the classroom which previously had the most visible physical disturbances, during the pre-assessment 46% of students reported using violence (pushing or hitting) as their way to address a conflict scenario. The results of our mid-program survey reveal that after four months of our programming, only 13% chose violence (pushing or hitting) as an option to address a conflict - a 33% decrease in the use of violence to address real life problems.
➢ 92% of educators surveyed felt that students at their school would benefit from learning conflict resolution skills.
➢ 100% of educators surveyed felt that teachers would benefit from learning conflict resolution skills.
➢ The perception among administrators and educators that violence is a problem at the school has decreased.
➢ According to school administration pre and mid point surveys, there have been improvements in the creation of a welcoming and positive school environment.
➢ “The fifth grade classes have been greatly impacted by the Skills for Understanding workshops.”
-School Principal
➢ “Students are more attentive and eager to learn. Self esteem is on the rise, and their attitudes towards school are promising.”
–5th Grade Teacher
DCPEACE Video
Michelle Rhee
"DCPS must completely rethink its approach to preventing school violence… by teaching students to manage conflicts before they spiral out of control.”
- DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee
Conflict Resolution Poll
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Why Elementary Schools?
“Violence is a learned behavior. The values, attitudes, and interpersonal skills acquired early in life play a key role in the development of violent behavior. Because a person’s violent or nonviolent tendencies may be set in early childhood, preschool and elementary school-age children are often thought to be ideal participants in interventions that promote nonviolent values and enhance conflict-resolution skills.”
Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Sourcebook for Community Action. 2002. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
