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This section of the site is focused on providing practical information and resources that teachers, teachers-in-training and teachers-of-teachers will find useful. Use the sidebar menu to explore specific areas of CRE practice.

Teacher with Class

Classroom Activity Suggestions

Here's a few activities for classroom use that can help infuse conflict resolution ideas into the learning environment. These originally appeared in a Teacher's Conflict Resolution wall calendar that featured activities for each month of the year.

More examples can be found in the activity collection archive.

Videos of Possible Interest

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Related Conference Presentations (viewable online)

Effective Ways to Motivate Change in Youth Using Restorative Justice Practices

  • Presented by: Keysha Myers, Summit County Juvenile Court; Myron Lewis, Summit County Public Health
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Experiential and Service-Learning Models for Undergraduate Conflict Resolution Education

  • Presented by: Ned Lazarus, Molly Tepper, Linda Keuntje, George Mason University
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Connecting Schools, Communities, and Families through SEL

  • Presented by: Linda Lantieri, Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

School Conflict Management Training

  • Presented by: Jennifer Batton, Director, Global Issues Resource Center, Cuyahoga Community College
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Fairfax County Public Schools Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Training 2010

  • Presented by: Joan Packer, Swaim Pessaud, Kristen John
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

Conflict Resolution Skills for Youth and Adults – Incorporating Traditional Teaching and RJ

  • Presented by: Ellen Kyes, The University of Notre Dame
  • View Presentation and Abstract: Click Here

View More Presentations Here

Sample Catalog Resources

Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.

Resource Title Description Links
Teach Peace Secondary Pack The U.K.-based Peace Education Network is pleased to release this second edition of their Secondary Level curriculum. The Teach Peace Secondary pack is aimed at 11–18-year- olds and follows on from the success of the Teach Peace Pack for primary school pupils aged 5–11. It considers themes around children and human rights education, decolonising the curriculum, local, national and international examples of peace in action. It brings together practice from throughout the UK and asks young people to consider the very big questions of peaceful practice. Copies of the lesson materials are also available online at:  http://bit.ly/teach-peace-TES or www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/peace_edu_network_uk
Using WebQuests to promote integrative thinking in conflict studies Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 1, Number 4 , (Nov/Dec 2000), introducing WebQuests which, "are online curriculum modules which engage students in learning about an authentic topic or problem, generally, WebQuests are cooperative activities where students assume different roles relative to an authentic problem."
UNESCO: Mainstreaming the culture of peace 26-page pdf created by UNESCO which "defined the Culture of Peace as consisting of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. The 1999 United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (resolution A/53/243) called gor everyone – governments, civil dociety, the media, parents, teachers, politicians, scientists, artists, NGOs and the entire United Nations system – to assume responsibility in this respect. It staked out eight action areas for actors at national, regional and international levels:" Those 8 action areas are: Fostering a culture of peace through education; Promoting sustainable economic and social development; Promoting respect for all human rights; Ensuring equality between women and men; Fostering democratic participation; Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity; Supporting participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge and Promoting international peace and security.
National policies on education for democratic citizenship in the Americas: Analytic report 48-page PDF report with the goal of "address[ing] the gap in the literature on national policies in citizenship education in the Americas, providing an initial “mapping” of these policies, at the formal and non-formal levels. To that end, the analysis focuses on national policies and standards, the school curriculum within which citizenship education is embedded, places and age levels where citizenship education occurs, and the extent to which citizenship programs are evaluated. Twenty-five countries participated in this study. Selected demographic characteristics of the countries are reported in Appendix 1."
Evaluation of respectful conflict resolution and peer mediation program 35-page pdf report of project whose "primary purpose is to provide data for schools and their surrounding communities to become more peaceful by empowering teachers, students, parents, and community leaders to constructively address conflict and violence in their families, schools, and communities through integrated, sustainable, and comprehensive respectful conflict resolution skills programs ... a total of seven schools were visited for this study, seven administrators, six parents, and twenty-nine students participated, interviews were conducted with school administrators and focus groups were conducted with parents and students."
Preventing and countering school-based harassment: A resource guide for k-12 educators, rev. ed. 76-page PDF guide which "is the result of two conferences on racial harassment and numerous training-of-trainer administrator workshops conducted during the past eight years by the Equity Center (formerly the Center for National Origin, Race, and Sex Equity—CNORSE) where the intersection of the issues of racial and sexual harassment have been made clear by educators in the field. Although much national attention has been focused separately on the issues of racial harassment and sexual harassment, the reality is that when one form of harassment occurs, the opportunity exists for all types of harassment. Focusing only on one type of harassment can allow another type of harassment to go unchallenged. This guide addresses the more comprehensive issue of school-based harassment by capturing similarities in cause of, type of, and remedy for all forms of harassment while also addressing the unique and legal aspects of racial and sexual harassment, as appropriate. The hope is that the material will help school staff, families, students, and communities to create a safe and bias-free learning environment."
Educational discipline using the principles of restorative justice 15-page pdf article which "shows how restorative justice techniques can be used with students in correctional and alternative education settings. The simple principles of restorative justice are outlined and their suitability for offenders is illustrated through actual prison incidents that have been dealt with using these principles. A protocol is suggested for teachers and administrators who might consider adopting this approach."
Bullying behavior chart Pdf document in table form which outlines three types of bullying, (physical, emotional and social), as well as levels of severity, with behaviors in each section, adapted from, "New Jersey cares about bullying."
Peer mediation programs: An end to school violence? On-line journal article which "focuses on the ineffectiveness of PMPs [Peer Mediation Programs] to combat higher-levels of school violence, part I discusses school violence, both past and present, part II explores the shift from traditional methods of discipline to more proactive and education-based methods that are used in many schools today, part III addresses the fundamentals of peer mediation including what it is and how it is implemented, part IV examines which students PMPs should be targeting and why PMPs fail to prevent them from committing violent acts on their schools, finally, the conclusion recommends ways to reduce conflict in schools."
Curriculum in mediation, A: Lesson plans gateway 5-page pdf document which presents a teacher's guide for training peer mediators, provides links to workbook lesson plans for conflict management, communication skills, role playing exercises and agreement writing.
Challenge to create a safer learning environment for youth, The 83-page PDF report which continues the author's "exploration of how violence affects learning and my search for effective approaches to support learning for those who have experienced violence ... I sought to learn more about how violence affects learning by interviewing young people who are currently struggling with learning, either within or outside the school system. I wanted to explore how responses to trauma support or limit learning possibilities by interviewing young people and professionals engaged in the school system and in other education for youth."
Strategies to prevent youth violence 92-page pdf chapter from "Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Sourcebook for Community Action," which investigates "Social-cognitive interventions strive to equip children with the skills they need to deal effectively with difficult social situations, such as being teased or being the last one picked to join a team. They build on Bandura’s social-cognitive theory, which posits that children learn social skills by observing and interacting with parents, adult relatives and friends, teachers, peers, and others in the environment, including media role models (Bandura 1986). Social-cognitive interventions incorporate didactic teaching, modeling, and role-playing to enhance positive social interactions, teach nonviolent methods for resolving conflict, and establish or strengthen nonviolent beliefs in young people ... Mentoring—the pairing of a young person with a volunteer who acts as a supportive, nonjudgmental role model—has been touted by many as an excellent means of providing a child or adolescent with a positive adult influence when such an influence does not otherwise exist. Evidence has shown that mentoring can significantly improve school attendance and performance, reduce violent behavior, decrease the likelihood of drug use, and improve relationships with friends and parents."
Conflict resolution, peer mediation and young people's relationships: Technical Report 74-page PDF technical report that investigated, "what schools could do to improve young people's relationships with each other, with teachers and with their families. This is a key question for schools, policy-makers and pressure groups; there are currently programmes and initiatives on behaviour, citizenship, healthy schools and many other areas which have relationships at their core. Within that broad area, the team looked in more detail at school programmes that encourage conflict resolution and peer mediation." Ten studies relating to conflict resolution, all completed after 1994, were reviewed in detail.
Briefing paper for trainee teachers of citizenship education: Resolving conflict between countries 6-page pdf briefing paper which "aims to introduce pupils to the values of open-mindedness and respect for others’ views, teachers should concentrate their approach on analysing with students how such destructive and confrontational situations arise, and how they can be avoided ... a commitment by states to this process is articulated in Article 2(3) of the United Nations (UN) Charter, in which they agree to settle their disputes by peaceful means, these means are outlined explicitly in Article 33(1), which proclaims that states “shall seek early settlement of their international disputes by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or other peaceful means of their choice.”
Inter-agency P.E.P.: Skills for constructive living: Facilitators and trainers training guide 13-page pdf manual which is "one of the components of the "Inter-agency Peace Education Programme." "The programme is designed for education managers of ministries dealing with both formal and non-formal education and for agencies which implement education activies on behalf of the government ... This training guide in peace education is divided into four areas: content, method, environment (both physical and psychological) and output (or product). Often method and psychological are dealt with together as there is overlap."
Making class matter and engaging difference 42-page Powerpoint presentation given at the Sustaining Conflict Resolution Education: Building Bridges to the Future conference in Fairfax, VA, which "explore[d] ways to make ideas relevant and memorable so students take the ideas home and apply them to their every day lives, examples will include exercises on how to understand and engage difference well."
Evaluation report on progress made through the OSCE's efforts to unify the Gymnasium Mostar: Summer 51-page PDF evaluation "of the unification of the Gymnasium Mostar in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as commissioned by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to BiH ... the Gymnasium Mostar was an historic and premier secondary school prior to the war of 1992-1995. It was completely destroyed during the war and had become the centre of an effort to revitalize the historic Mostar downtown. An initiative to restore the multinational and high-quality nature of the school was viewed as an opportunity to use this divided school in this divided city as a model or beacon for potential reform efforts throughout the country."
Coaching youth initiatives: Guide for supporting youth participation 150-page PDF guide which, "explores the concepts of coaching, youth initiatives and youth participation, including practical tools and methods, advice and information, opportunities and support for those encouraging young people’s participation in youth initiatives ... As a handbook which aims to offer practical support for people active in coaching youth projects, the biggest part of this publication deals with ‘coaching’ itself and the adaptation of different coaching techniques to the field of youth work."
Confessions of a low-tech social scientist Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 1, (Oct 2002), which discusses the development of a web-based class in conflict resolution.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) and student benefits 12-page pdf document brief which "shares the latest research on the effects of social and emotional learning SEL) on students and includes strategies for implementing SEL, it explains how SEL works, elaborates on how SEL can be an integrative prevention framework that addresses the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) core elements, and spells out implications of the research for SS/HS grantees."