Resource Reviews

I just reviewed the information in the PeaceKidz Project Manual. The Manual is a compiled work of five groups of Conflict Management students at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The manual is meant to help teachers start their own adventure of learning, educating and inspiring the young people in their classrooms to make informed choices about Conflict Resolution in their lives.

When utilizing the manual the “PeaceKidz Gang” encourages teachers to be self-directed in their learning about the program before they use it. It is important for teachers to make their own decisions about goals and effort of how to build the features of the Project into their curriculum to successfully evaluate progress made after using it. The program is also designed to be Constructivist in nature – teachers are encouraged to listen to the kids, build on everyday experiences in the framework of the lessons and be ready to change and learn new things while delivering the lesson plans.

The American Bar Association’s Section on Dispute Resolution teamed up with some experienced conflict resolution educators (Nancy Kaplan from CRU and Kathryn Liss from HIPP) to produce a new conflict resolution skills curriculum. And thanks to funding from the JAMS foundation, the materials are available at no cost. You can preview it online here – Words Work preview.

The Words Work curriculum is geared toward youth in grades six to eight. Through ten 45-minute sessions, educators guide youth through interactive lessons that focus on relationships, problem-solving, communication, and leadership skill-building. The package includes a facilitators manual and a set of supplemental worksheets. Note that, due to the extensive use of colorful graphics, the pdf files are rather large downloads.

The full-size calendar is presented to you by the Conflict Resolution for Teacher Education (CRETE) Connection Project and the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) Education Section. The calendar can be hung by a teacher’s desk and is designed for teachers interested in promoting conflict resolution in their schools. The content provides “short takes” on different CRE tools each month along with Special Days related to conflict resolution or peacemaking, CRE catalog resources, online links to the CRE website and other great collections of classroom activities and professional development tools.

Conveniently, the calendar skips the summer months and ends with the month of September to welcome folks back to the school year. The calendar is also available for online viewing at:
https://creducation.net/lo/teacher_calendar
It can be downloaded (large file size warning!) via the “More” menu found in the upper left of the document viewer.

[url=http://groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/lets-get-real]Let’s Get Real[/url] is a video from GroundSpark (formerly Women’s Educational Media) that takes a look at name-calling and bullying from the point of view of young people themselves. Rather than dealing with the topic purely from a disciplinary perspective, Let’s Get Real allows kids in grades six through nine to speak openly about what it’s like to be targeted, to bully others and to stand up as an ally when they witness harassment. With courage and candor, the students in the film describe the back-stabbing that takes place among popular girls, why the word “faggot” is seen as the “ultimate dis,” and the physical violence that results when taunting goes unchecked. A [url=http://groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/lets-get-real/lgr_clips]series of video clips[/url] are available online, as is the [url=http://groundspark.org/pdfs/lgr_transcript.pdf]full transcript[/url] from the film and a [url=http://groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaigns/lets-get-real/lgr_curric]curriculum guide[/url].

[b]Students profiled in the full film include:[/b]
Gabe: Taunted for being Jewish
Brittany: Victim of vicious gossip
Stephen: Bullies kids at school because his brother bullies him
Zaid: Stands up for a non-English-speaking classmate
Umma: Sees racial tensions as a key source of the problem
Kate: Used to bully other girls to be popular
Brian: Just wants to do anything to get out of it
Jasper: Pushed to the limit
DaÌLaun: Decides to make a change and make new friends
Paola: Finds the courage to help a student in need

I just came across this great YouTube video featuring three girls (and a few other supporting cast members) doing a conflict resolution rap. You can even sing along. Wish I knew more about who made it…

Here’s the link.

The Mixitup 2008-2009 planner/calendar from Teaching Tolerance is a great tool for teachers, counselors and administrators to use to help children in schools improve interactions within groups in their classrooms. The activities in the planner provide concrete ideas and formats to help students reduce social boundaries in schools, help students to understand each others cultures and customs and help teachers to promote an inclusive learning environment for all students.

The planner presents activities that support content standards and character education. The planner can be used on a special designated day or all year round. The Table of Contents provides an overview of ideas and lesson plans that can be organized for a lunch time activity or an entire class period. The planner highlights important dates in history, quotes from inspirational figures and also includes extension activities and guidelines as a follow-up to original activities.

If you have a great idea on how to Mixitup at your school, a Grants section at the end of the planner lists information about types of Grants funded, along with application information, conditions and funding limitations for your use. For additional activity ideas, online polls and essay prompts, please visit http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/get-started

This instructional website from the University of Illinois Extension is available for teachers in English, Spanish and Arabic. The site and the materials can be used for second through fourth grade students. Second grade students may need a little more hands on assistance. The site includes a teacher’s guide and activities that can be used in school and at home. It is possible that benchmark outcomes can be used in your curriculum to meet standards for learning in third through fifth grade in Social Sciences, Language Arts and in Expression Arts. The teacher’s guide provides excellent background information on Conflict Resolution Theory. Younger children, teachers and parents can use the interactive portion of the website together during daily activities.

The site is comprehensive and could be used for training staff members and youth new to your school’s Conflict Resolution Program. One of the best tools this site offers students is the interactive portion where students can receive feedback instantly about conflict resolution issues occurring in their daily lives. The students can reference the website and enhance their retention while transferring their new skills to everyday life. Here’s a link to the website: http://www.urbanext.illinois.edu/conflict/index.html

The site How Stuff Works has been posting short segments of conflict resolution instructional videos. While you may have to look at an ad or two, there is a pretty substantial collection developing there. Here’s a link to a widget I created that shows recently added items.

Feed of Videos on Conflict Resolution from How Stuff Works website.