Resolving a conflict

This week I selected the task of resolving a conflict between students. I do this numerous times each day in my kindergarten classroom, but this week I wanted to pay special attention to doing this and how I approached it. I told my CT what I was doing this week for my task and watched her do it first. My CT uses a calm voice with the students, and hardly raises her voice at them. She sets high expectations for the students to behave and teaches them to solve problems independently in the beginning of the year.

Being a good citizen is taught in my CT’s classroom. My CT said that teaching citizenship help resolves conflicts between students. When my CT sees students arguing she tells them to use their problem solving strategies that they were taught when they learned about citizenship. She also tells the students to try to work it out. The strategies are listed on each table and they are hanging up in the classroom. She sometimes helps the students resolve the conflict by picking a problem solving strategy with them and then the students apologize to each other for fighting. To apologize, students can use the “I apologize” chart for help. The posted strategies and visual charts are great reminders for the students, as they tell them what to do when facing conflicts.

In Managing Diverse Classrooms, the authors write that “children, even those as young as kindergarten age, can help maintain a proper learning environment” and that “more time is spent engaged in learning” when students help manage the classroom and themselves. This relates to when my students solve their conflicts with their problem solving strategies. It is a fast and easy way they can fix the conflict themselves and then get back to learning. My CT and I only have a small role in this. In Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Model, the authors write that “successful teachers are those who continue to be effective in influencing students toward appropriate behavior and the use of nonviolent means to solve their conflicts”. My students have learned to not be violent and to communicate their feelings. I am proud of my kindergarten students for maintaining the learning environment by resolving their conflicts and using nonviolent means.

I followed the same steps that my CT did when I saw two girls bickering in the classroom during independent reading time. I asked what was wrong to understand the issue between the two girls and then I asked what we should do to work it out. I referred the students to the problem solving chart and asked which strategies would work best! My students picked doing a game of rock,paper, scissor with each other since they wanted to decide who will get a certain book first. This worked well for the students and they each said sorry to each other for fighting. They also agreed to take turns with the book. I glad I have the experience of helping students resolve conflicts as I believe it will help me in my future classroom on day.

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