Conclusions

“We must believe in peace and also work at it.” Eleanor Roosevelt               

         I have always wanted to create an environment in my classroom that was safe and where children felt comfortable enough that they were not afraid to take risks. I also wanted my students to communicate, question, solve problems, and work together. I wanted to have them understand that conflicts will arise in a classroom but teach them how to appropriately respond. I realized the best way to create this environment was to show my students that making mistakes was part of learning. I wanted them to not make fun of each other if someone made a mistake. I hoped that they would be able to listen and accept each other for the wonderful individuals that they were. This all sounded very doable. I am a positive person and believed that if I put my mind to something I could see it through to the end.
         In creating this environment, I soon realized that I needed to teach students how to communicate and work together. Most of them had little to no experience doing so in a positive way. It wasn’t going to magically just happen for the group. Throughout the school year we read stories, held classroom discussions, brainstormed ideas, role-played, and worked together. Our curriculum focused on learning about making friends, understanding feelings, being responsible, being respectful, using appropriate communication, exhibiting proper body language, and employing positive conflict resolution strategies. Along the way I noticed several important themes emerging that helped my students become a community of problem solvers. The magic happened when my students were able to identify an effective solution, connect back and apply the concepts we were learning about, use the language, and demonstrate self-advocacy and independence. Below I discuss what each of these themes looked like in our classroom and what strategies supported students in putting them to practice.   

   
Identifying an Effective Solution
          Identification is the obvious first step to anything. Looking back now I don’t really know why I didn’t see how important identifying an effective solution was to conflict resolution. My class and I quickly discovered that if you don’t know what is happening, or have potential solutions in mind, it was hard to get to the resolution. So students needed several skills unpack a problem and identify an effective solution. They needed to be able to recognize a conflict, peacefully communicate why the conflict was happening, know various ways to solve conflicts, and choose a suitable course of action to resolve their current conflict.
         When I began this process, I wanted to have my students miraculously just start to solve conflicts. I wanted them to work it out and move on. I knew it would be challenging but for some reason I also thought it would be easy. I thought my students would know what happened and be able to come up with what to do right away. Turns out they didn’t. It is hard for anyone but to ask a kindergartner to use conflict resolution skills is incredibly difficult. This is especially true when they are completely suck, have their feelings hurt, are left out, or mad because they see something as unfair.
         We spent months analyzing conflicts as they arose in the classroom and talking about what the different outcomes could be if we chose to follow certain paths. Many of my students got to the point where they were running up to me at all hours of the day claiming to have solved a problem. At first, I wondered how many conflicts were really being identified and then solved, or if they just wanted to tell me they were solving conflicts because they knew I would be proud. Either way, they were starting to believe that they were solving conflicts, and they wee aware of conflicts when they happened. I was happy that they were getting along and using the language that we had been practicing, which leads to my next two themes.

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Applying the Concepts and Using the Language
          Once my students had bought into the idea of conflict resolution I started to hear it in the classroom. They had some ideas and some background knowledge and were putting it to use in their day. As conflicts occurred, which they often did during more independent times of the day like recess and Activity Time, students referenced stories we read about friendship, respect, and emotions and conflicts that we had role-played together. They told each other that they didn’t want to be treated badly because it hurt their feelings. Many of them were using “I” statements and explaining their needs to their peers without belittling the others that were involved. In short, they were connecting back to our classroom discussions and practices and applying the concepts to their own lives.
         Of course, they did not do this all the time. The community we created wasn’t perfect but I was impressed nonetheless. My students liked each other, got along, and were able to use the language on a daily basis. There were still many times where I needed to step in to help a conflict but I used these moments as a teaching opportunity. I didn’t just fix the problem. I wanted to get my students to think what they thought the resolution should be. I believed that my students and I got more learning out of the times when they weren’t able to solve a conflict independently. We would sit together and walk though their conflict: identifying the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, and compromising to make everyone feel empowered. However In the Spring, many times when I had a tattler, I was able to say, “Did you use your words?” or “Did you tell them how that made you feel?” Those simple cues got their brains working and then they were able to solve their conflict without me. Those times when they were able to demonstrate self-advocacy and independence made me a very proud teacher.
         Learning to solve conflicts is a long process and I told my students that most of them will at some point in their life make a mistake, hurt some one’s feelings, say the wrong thing, or have an argument with another, but know that you have the skills to make peaceful resolutions. 

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Demonstrating Self Advocacy and Independence
          It was my goal to have a lasting impact on my class. I wanted them to have the confidence to take charge and to work out things by themselves. I wanted to build their confidence and convince them that they were capable of doing things without constant adult approval. I believe I met my goal. I knew in my heart that I was sending a group of students off to their next year’s teachers as good communicators, successful problem solvers, logical thinkers, and kind friends. The number of conflicts had decreased as the year went on and when there were conflicts I had a limited role in facilitating the discussions about how to solve it. I was able to give a few cues or suggestions and hand the control over to the students involved. This transfer of power was freeing for me and exhilarating for my students. There was no guarantee that every student would continue on the path that I laid out, but by the end of the year I felt I had given each student the skills to continue to be successful.

Reviewing Skills Learned          

To keep my students in tip-top problem solving shape, I found that I had to constantly review and circle back around. The more consistent I was, the better my students worked together. Even at the end of the school year when we were not actively learning about solving conflicts there were teachable moments that would happen throughout the day. For example, when I read a story called Charlie the Caterpillar, we were learning about metamorphosis and the life cycle of a butterfly but our class discussion about the book centered on the importance of friendship and treating others nicely. It was obvious to me that my students couldn’t get away from CR and the concepts and skills they learned this year. I couldn’t have been happier.   

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Implications

I see how conflict resolution (CR) has had a huge impact on my class this year. I not only saw how this group of students played with each other but I saw how they worked with each other. I have never had a group of students more willing to collaborate and help each other out. Every single one of them was so excited to share what they knew but just as excited to hear what some else knew. It was the most incredible thing. They could take turns, share, and there are fewer behavioral problems happening in the day than in years past.
         Perhaps, most surprising was how the skills they learned through problem solving impacted their academic work. My students are reading and writing at a higher level than I expected at the beginning of the year. They have used their problem solving skills and naturally applied many of the CR concepts into figuring out how to read words they don’t know and how to solve challenging math problems. I didn’t force the connection but it was there all the same. They don’t give up and they think academic problems out clearly and methodically to come up with their answers. They were then able to show/tell me what they did, how they did it and in some cases provide another way to work out the same problem. Wow and hooray, are the only words I can use to express how exciting that is.
         Hopefully most of my students will be returning to LdVCS next year and they can continue to learn in this wonderful community that we created together. It will make our school an even better place to be. My students might be able to be leaders for CR on our campus, as they get older. Maybe we could even start a program like Peace Patrol, from
Interactions for Peace but tweak it into our own so it fits with the charter and the mission of LdVCS.
         This study has convinced me it is possible to teach kindergartners to be independent problem solvers. I got to see them everyday and experience things with them as their skills took form. My students were proud to know that they could teach somebody else to solve conflicts peacefully.
         I discovered that a teacher can take a group of young children and give them the skills needed to behave in “a socially responsible manner.” (Richmond and McCroskey, 1992) If we were able to create a peaceful community in kindergarten I believe that all grades can do the same. It is vital for the future of our country that all kids learn how to self assess, communicate, and collaborate. We need to teach students to become world leaders in conflict resolution.  

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Tips for Teachers

      On my journey I had ups and downs along he way. I discovered things about myself, my practice, my students, and ways of implementing conflict resolution into my classroom. Here are some ideas that I found useful this year.

Let your students guide the pace of the curriculum.
Have things planned out but don’t be inflexible. They might need to stay a few extra days learning about being respectful and less time discussing feelings.

Record everything.
Take as many notes and pictures, still and video, as possible. Record your discussions. Then you can bring it back out to the class and talk about what happened. Show the class a picture or a video, or let them hear the dialogue between students trying to resolve a conflict. It is way more effective when they are learning from each other.

Wear an apron.
This was my most important thing I had. I wore my apron everyday and in the pockets I kept my digital recorder, camera, Flip, a pencil, post-its. I have to constantly walk around and I always wanted to be able to record what my students were doing. This was the best way for me to catch the moments, many of which I would show to them and have them analyze together.

Hold daily class meetings.
Every day before they go home ask them about the day. What happened: the good, the bad, the conflicts, the resolutions. Then set goals for the next day. It holds students accountable and keeps the ideas fresh in their minds. 

Give the students control.
Let them be independent. Guide them but try to really let them work things out first. Don’t jump in and “save” them too soon. You might be surprised that if you give them a second to think things through they will come up with something better than you could.

Celebrate accomplishments.
Praise students for trying. Help them when they need it but make them feel pride in themselves for doing their best. Make a big deal out of the conflicts that were truly solved. Every time I did, those students beamed!

Let students be part of the process.
Have them record when conflicts were solved and how. That way they have ownership of learning to solve conflicts and a better awareness that led them to find ways to prevent conflicts or solve the conflicts themselves.

Role play.
Providing students with opportunities to analyze conflicts together, and to practice what to do in a safe and controlled way helps them gain confidence in their conflict resolution abilities. It also gives them some tools and experiences to draw on so they will know what to do when they are by themselves.

Be patient.
Learning to solve problems takes time. Don’t give up on them.