Conflict Resolution & Social Problem Solving Curriculum Materials

A school-wide program for 6-8th grade students

By the time they are in middle school, adolescents have learned a variety of responses to conflict from observing and interacting with family and friends. This process usually takes place without much reflection or conscious awareness. Learning how to deal with frustration and anger, communicate effectively, and respect others’ viewpoints are topics that often are not “front and center” for most middle school students. The Working Together to Resolve Conflictcurriculum and Peer Mediation Training manual provide a constructive focus on conflict, introduce helpful ways to respond, and provide students with positive experiences as they learn how to get along with others.

Our curriculum consists of the following five units:

• Understanding Conflict
• Effective Communication
• Understanding Anger
• Handling Anger
• Peer Mediation

In each of the first four units, there are three lessons (each designed for approximately one class period) with progressive, interrelated content. The fifth unit, Peer Mediation, contains one lesson designed to introduce students to the concept of mediation and what they might expect if they sought mediation at their school.

The curriculum can be presented by (a) teaching the lessons within each unit consecutively or (b) teaching one lesson from each unit to introduce each topic area to students within a group of five lessons.

Each lesson includes suggestions for teacher-led activities, student practice activities, and overhead transparencies (or hand-outs). Lessons are “teacher friendly” and can be expanded or condensed, depending on time available.

Samples in PDF format:
Introduction
Teacher Page
Student Page
Overhead Page

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Student & Teacher Version

This set of material for training students to be peer mediators includes a manual with or without teacher instructions. You would need one manual with teacher instructions for each instructor and as many student manuals as there are participants.

The training is designed for a minimum of 10-12 hours, usually accomplished with a two-day workshop. The manual is based on an understanding of conflict resolution concepts as provided in the conflict resolution curriculum but includes some review of these concepts before focusing on the structured mediation process. Concepts and skills include the following:

• Understanding Conflict
• Confidentiality
• Effective Communication
• Listening
• The Mediation Process

Also included is a Peer Mediation Agreement form to document mediation activities.

Samples in PDF format:
Teacher Version Page
Teacher Version Table of Contents
Student Version Page

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Teaching Students to Problem Solve

An anger management curriculum for upper elementary students

This 26-lesson curriculum is designed to help upper elementary school teachers establish a positive, cooperative classroom atmosphere. Tools for Getting Along enables students to become more self-reliant, effective, proactive problem solvers as they encounter the social challenges that are part of their developing years. Its instructional focus is on understanding and dealing with frustration and anger, since anger is a frequent correlate of disruptive and aggressive behavior and is often preceded by frustration. The lessons help students learn how to recognize and manage anger, how it may lead to or exacerbate social problems, and how to use problem-solving steps to generate, implement, and evaluate solutions to problems students face every day.

Teacher friendly and self-contained, Tools for Getting Along lessons include concepts and skills related to anger management and problem solving and incorporate direct instruction, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and skill generalization. Five lessons are devoted to practicing learned skills through role-plays, and there are six booster lessons to assist in the generalization of learned skills.

Samples in PDF format:
Introduction
Table of Contents
Lesson & Overheads
Tool Kit

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An anger management curriculum for 6-8th grade students

Take CHARGE! provides teachers a means of helping middle/jr high school students address many of the social challenges that are part of the critical developmental transition from childhood to adulthood. It is designed to help them become self-reliant and use a contructive approach to situations that may produce strong emotions, such as anger and frustration, rather than acting impulsively. Take CHARGE!provides students with concepts and skills that enable them to be proactive social problem solvers.

This 26-lesson curriculum is teacher friendly and self-contained, and consists of lessons about recognizing frustration and anger, calming down and engaging cognition, and working through the steps of social problem solving, such as generating alternative solutions and evaluating outcomes. Take CHARGE! also helps middle/jr. high school students to practice learned skills through booster lessons that specifically focus on generalizing the concepts and skills learned in class to situations the students encounter in their own lives.

Samples in PDF format:
Table of Contents
Lesson
Student Worksheet
Role Play
Power Practice