Unit 9

Mediation & Peaceful Communities

Goals:
Students will…

• Become familiar with the process of mediating other people’s conflicts, with the larger goal of empowering them to solve conflicts that occur both among their peers, and in their larger communities and in the world.
• Learn what mediation is and its importance in solving the conflicts of other people.
• Learn how to be peer mediators, through going over the steps of mediation and learning when to use mediation.
• Practice mediation by applying it in role-plays of both interpersonal and community conflict.
• Collectively identify an important issue in their community and attempt to mediate that issue.
• Accomplish the personal goal for your classroom for today:________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

The volunteers will…

• Learn and practice the steps of mediation.

Materials

• Handout with Lorena Gonzalez article, Steps of Negotiation, “I DID IT” Steps of Mediation, and Town Meeting questions.

Methods

I. Opening Activity: Past and Present use of Non-Violence to Solve Conflicts (10 minutes)

II. What is mediation? Definition, Procedure, and Rules (10 minutes)

III. Mediating Peer Conflicts: Martin Luther King “Board” Game (20 minutes)

IV. Community Meeting: Mediation on a Larger Scale (25 minutes)

V. Closing Activity: Review Questions (2 minutes)

Preparation

• One week in advance, ask permission from the classroom teacher about topics for the Community Meeting activity.
• Make enough copies of the handout for all students.
• Read over the entire lesson carefully, including the article.
• Make sure you thoroughly read and understand the process of mediation and when it should be used.
• Be prepared to suggest issues to the class to discuss in the community meeting, hopefully having spoken to the classroom teacher about this the week before.

I. Opening Activity: Past and Present Use of Non-Violence to Solve Conflicts

(estimated time: 10 minutes)

Volunteer Leading this activity _________________________________________

Estimated time for your class to complete this activity _______________________

Activity Goals:

• Demonstrate the validity of solving conflicts between both peers and entire communities through non-violent means.
• Present an “everybody’s doing it” model for peaceful behavior, and show that it’s “cool” to be a mediator.
• Introduce the idea of peer mediation.
• Engage the students.

Have a copy of the handout (Lorena Gonzalez article, Mediation steps, Negotiation steps, Town Meeting Questions) on all the desks by the time the students arrive. If this is impossible, hand out the articles before beginning the activity.

First, ask the students what they know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If they don’t know much about him, briefly tell them about his work as a peacekeeper, stressing his work in solving community conflicts (ie, between white and black people). The following is information for you, but you do not need to cover this all in class; however it may give you some ideas of appropriate questions to ask.

• MLK was a non-violent leader in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
• "We want to love our enemies,” he said to an angry crowd after his house was bombed. His family could have been killed. Yet he stood there talking of love and forgiveness.
• King proved his leadership during the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery. The boycott was the start of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
• King believed that black and white people should resist laws that they thought unjust. If necessary, he thought, they should disobey such laws. But King also said that they should be ready to accept punishment for breaking such laws. In some cases, they should even go to jail.
• King called for nonviolent resistance (defying a law peacefully). He did not believe in angry threats. He did not believe in fighting back when attacked.
• The life of Mohandas Gandhi inspired King. Gandhi had led India's struggle for independence from Great Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. Under Gandhi's leadership, millions of Indians had refused to buy British goods. Many had refused to pay British taxes. These were forms of nonviolent protest. From Gandhi, King had learned how to build a movement based on such ideas.
• King used the fame he won during the bus boycott to wage a vigorous campaign against segregation. From 1956 to 1964, King was arrested 29 times for protesting the unfair treatment of black people.

• His most famous speech included the lines, "I have a dream, that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood . . . I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…”
• Adapted from http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/mlkjr.htm

Then say that such efforts are still going on today, even by non-famous young people
their age. Have students take turns reading the Lorena Gonzalez article.

Discuss the Article and MLK, including:

• Why do you think Dr. King was successful, and why didn’t he need to use violence?
• What were the methods he used to solve people’s conflicts non-violently?
• What do you think you can do in your communities to help prevent violence?
• Connect this to the letters they wrote to the mayor.
• How can you inspire other kids your age not to be violent?
• ** Is it considered “uncool” not to be violent? Why? How can you overcome that at school?

II. What is Mediation? Definition, Procedure, Rules

(estimated time: 10 minutes)

Volunteer Leading this activity _________________________________________

Estimated time for your class to complete this activity _______________________

Activity Goals:

• Define mediation.

• Go over the steps of mediation.
• Connect mediation to negotiation.
• Go over ground rules of mediation.
• Make students see the importance of mediation and how they might use it in their lives.

Mediation

• Define mediation.
• Mediation is a step-by-step process for helping other people work out their problems.
• Explain the process of Mediation using the steps of “I DID IT” below (have your coteacher write the underlined part on the board as you explain):

· Show how the steps of negotiation and mediation are parallel by reviewing the major steps of negotiation from Unit 4.

o How are mediation and negotiation similar?

§ Two processes with steps toward resolving conflicts.

o How are they different?

§ Negotiation is solving your own problems, and mediation is helping other people solve theirs. When two people are having trouble following the steps of negotiation, a mediator can help them negotiate. A mediator does not suggest solutions, though. A mediator just helps two parties negotiate.

· Discuss when to be a mediator: ask students when they think they should step into a conflict, and which types of conflicts are appropriate for peer mediation.

o When two other people ask for your help in resolving a conflict, it is appropriate to help.

o When the conflict is not beyond your ability to solve, it is ok to help (when drugs or domestic violence are involved, you should seek outside adult or professional help).

· Brainstorm what some of the ground rules should be for a mediator. Make sure to include the following:

o Emphasize not taking sides! You might have an opinion about who is right, but you still should not take sides because that’s not helpful.

o Do not interfere when your help is not wanted.

o Both sides need to agree to mediation.

· Brainstorm what the ground rules should be for disputants in the conflict you are mediating. Relate this to what they’ve been doing the whole year when they resolve conflicts in PXP.

o No name-calling or put-downs

o No interrupting when someone else is talking

o Be as honest as you can

o No physical fighting or threats

o Agree to try to solve the problem

o Speak directly to mediator at first

· Ask students to relate mediation to personal experience: Discuss what it’s like when two of their friends or family members are in a fight. Is it hard not to take sides?

III. Mediating Peer Conflicts: Martin Luther King “Board” Game

(estimated time: 20 minutes)

Volunteer Leading this activity _________________________________________

Estimated time for your class to complete this activity _______________________

Activity Goals:

• Give students a chance to practice peer mediation and envision themselves as peer mediators.
• Have students envision themselves in the role of a great advocate of non-violence.

Tell the students they will now practice the step-by-step process of mediation that is on their handouts by playing a “board” game.

• Break into two or three small groups depending on the number of teachers you have.
• Choose three volunteers.
• One student will pretend they are Dr. Martin Luther King, and it is forty years in the past. They are living in Selma, Alabama, and when they are not busy with civil rights causes, they work as a mediator of students’ conflicts. MLK never permits violence as a solution.
• Two students will be assigned a hypothetical conflict which arose in school.
• The student picked as MLK will act as the mediator and try to give suggestions as to how the problem can be solved. Discussion will follow each skit.

• One teacher should take the two volunteers who are acting out the conflict aside and explain to them their scenarios.
• The students will need to explain the scenario in their own words to the mediator.
• The mediator will then go through the “I DID IT” process to help them solve the problem.
• The teacher leading the activity can remind the mediator of the steps of mediation if necessary to help them through the process.
• Draw two stick figures with some steps in between: o _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ o
• The two stick figures represent the two students.
• As each student is successfully led through the steps of “I DID IT,” they take a step closer to the other student. When “I DID IT” is complete, the students end up on the same step in the common ground.
• Every time the students break a rule (by insulting or name calling, resorting to violence, etc) they have to move back a space.
• The rest of the class decides if the students move forward or backward with each sentence.
• (Optional: if your students are not interested in getting to “common ground,” you can have them compete to reach the middle in the least amount of time.)

Scenarios:

1. Student A heard today from a friend that Student B said Student A’s

girlfriend/boyfriend was ugly. After school, Student A challenged

Student B to a fight at five o’clock behind the school. When they

started shoving each other, a teacher from their school made them go

see Dr. King (but they’re still planning on fighting tomorrow).

2. Student A and Student B used to be friends, but now they want to join

rival gangs. As part of the initiation, Student A must bring a gun to

school and threaten Student B. A friend of both students heard about

the initiation and went to the principal of the school. The principal

made them go see Dr. King.

3. Student A kept bullying Student B—calling him names, forcing him to

hand over his lunch money every day, etc. One day Student B got

angry and punched Student A. A teacher intervened and made them

go see Dr. King.

Discussion

• What challenges did you face when mediating? How did you overcome them?
• What did you do or observe that made mediation successful or unsuccessful?
• Do you think you will use these techniques in your own lives? Why or why not?

III. Mediation on a Larger Scale: Community Meeting

(estimated time: 25 minutes)

Volunteer Leading this activity _________________________________________

Estimated time for your class to complete this activity _______________________

Activity Goals:

· Try solving broader community-wide issues through the mediation process.

· Identify important issues in your community and come up with solutions.

· Come up with a compromise during a “Town Meeting.”

Note: Check with the classroom teacher the week before to approve the debate topic, so that no one is offended by it, and the students are not discussing something anyone would consider inappropriate. However, do not be afraid to address controversy. You can also can ask teachers for ideas.

Tell students they will be doing the same thing as small-scale mediation, only in the real world, on a large scale.

• This is sort of like writing a letter to the mayor, except now the mayor is actually participating in an argument with the people in the community about the issue.

Assign the students an issue that might generate debate between the side of the government and the side of students/parents/community, or let them choose, depending on the class. Sample issues could be:

• Lack of funding to renovate part of their school.
• Lack of adequate books & supplies in classrooms.
• Too many students in each classroom.
• Drug use in their neighborhood.
• High crime rate in neighborhood.

Constituent Meetings

• Review what types of issues are non-negotiable and cannot be compromised
• For example, the safety of your family (relate this to the communication lesson).
• Divide the class into 3 even groups: Students/Parents, Mediators, and Government/school/other appropriate authority representatives.
• Each group will meet with the guidance of one Peace by Peace teacher. They should prepare for the Town Meeting based on the questions on their handout in order to clarify what their side wants and what they are unwilling to compromise on. During the constituent meetings, one person from every group should serve as the recording secretary and the group should decide who will speak as the representative.
• Mediators should meet and decide on a set of rules for their meetings, how they are going to run the meeting, and strategies for getting the groups to compromise. These rules should be based on the rules and procedures they have on their mediation sheets. They should come up with a list of potential compromises. Allow 5 minutes for the constituent meetings.
• Questions for each group are listed below. The questions are also in the information pack to be given to each group.

1. Summarize who you are and what values are important to your group

2. What is your group's position on the issue?

3. What are the three most important values or interests to your group?

4. What interests are you willing to compromise or give up? What interests are you unwilling to negotiate or give up?

5. What suggested compromises can your group come up with?

Town Meeting

• Set up the desks in a square shape. Have members of the same group sit next to each other.
• Explain that we will now have a town meeting to try to work out a solution. Have the mediators run the meeting as best they can by introducing their rules and calling on one representative from each interest group. If the mediators need help, teachers should jump in and help in the best way they can.
• Each of the groups should present their answers to the questions. One person should speak from each group unless others have something to add. Have all groups answer each question before moving on to the next one.
• Try to have the groups come up with a compromise. This is the goal of the activity.

Allow the town meeting to continue as long as it is being productive. When you feel that the groups have exhausted discussion and compromise, stop the meeting and break the simulation. Try to foster discussion with the following questions:

• What was it like defending your group's point of view? Was it difficult? Why?
• What was the biggest obstacle to settling on a compromise? What obstacles do communities in general face when they are trying to get things done?
• Can you relate this large-scale mediation to anything you’ve done with your peers or in your own community?
• What steps can you take as students to deal with some of these types of issues in your communities?

IV. Closing Activity: Review Questions

(estimated time: 2 minutes)

Volunteer Leading this activity _________________________________________

Estimated time for your class to complete this activity _______________________

Activity Goals:

• Relate the peer and community mediation.
• Review the lesson as a whole.

Ask the students to review what they have learned. What are the steps in “I DID IT”?

Ask how peer mediation and community mediation are similar?

Ask if the students think this will be useful to them in solving problems. Why or why not?

BEFORE YOU GO:

• Tell the class when you will be coming next.
• Talk with the classroom teacher about how the lesson went.
• Write notes for yourselves on how the different activities went.

MATERIALS:

• Handout for Opening Activity: Past and Present use of Non-Violence to Solve Conflicts; What is mediation? Definition, Procedure, and Rules; and Community Meeting: Mediation on a Larger Scale.
• Should include Lorena Gonzalez article, Steps of Negotiation, “I DID IT” Steps of Mediation, and Town Meeting questions.
• One copy for each student.

orena Gonzalez, 16, loves playing sports. But she decided to put her athletic career on hold to help her classmates at Watsonville High School "give peace a chance." As a member of the school's conflict resolution team, Lorena spends most of her free time helping teenagers settle their disputes verbally, not physically. The confidential peer meditation program is keeping tempers calm on the overcrowded campus in Watsonville, California. Since the program was launched in 1996, the number of fights at the school has dropped nearly 75 percent.

Each year, the team helps about 400 kids resolve their disputes. Most ask for help, although the vice-principal or the school resource officer refers others. Either way, Lorena's goal is the same. Whether the pair are friends who had a falling out, or a student upset because another classmate has been threatening, harassing, or mad-dogging them, Lorena hooks up with another trained peer counselor and helps the two individuals communicate.

Lorena starts by explaining how the confidential conflict resolution process works. After laying down the ground rules, no name calling, interrupting or sarcasm, she tells the story of boxer Mike Tyson who bit off his opponent's ear during a fit of rage.

"Once you get mad, you have eight seconds before your brain shuts off and you can't control yourself," Lorena said, describing the impact of anger and adrenaline on the body and mind. Once students start discussing their problems, "we ask them basic questions to make sure their brains are working."

If a teen starts going ballistic, Lorena or her conflict resolution teammate will call a time-out until they calm down. Then Lorena has the two disagreeing teens take turns describing the way they see the problem. Each student is asked to restate what he or she heard the other say before presenting their side. Occasionally Lorena, who is fluent in English and Spanish, will serve as a translator. But as a non-judgmental mediator, Lorena does not take sides, or offer any solutions.

It usually takes several rounds before both parties clearly understand the other's position, Lorena says. Her next step is encouraging the two to figure out how they can resolve their disagreement. Once they come to a mutually acceptable decision, Lorena asks them to spell out the terms of that agreement in a contract, that both students sign.

In the majority of cases where a rumor has led to hurt feelings, friendships are restored when the misunderstanding is cleared up. Other times, quarreling students might agree to peacefully disagree.

"In some cases, the contract might say 'I'll stay away from your boyfriend, starting at 8 a.m. Monday, if you'll stop talking about me,'" Lorena explained. "It doesn't mean they'll be best friends, but it does mean they won't fight each other."

		"Once you get mad, you have eight seconds before your brain shuts off and you can't control yourself."

Either way, the conflict resolution team has been extraordinarily successful. Conflict Resolution Coordinator Kathy Robinson, the only adult involved in the program, said 98 percent of all disputes have been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.

Sometimes, the process is emotional. Lorena and her fellow mediators discuss each situation with Robinson afterwards. That helps release stress. Although serving as a peer mediator can sometimes be draining, Lorena says helping her peers to help themselves and keep the peace is very rewarding.

"It's great to do something to take care of our world," Lorena said. "You can't wait for someone else to take action, you have to do it yourself."
– from http://www.teenwire.com/takingac/articles/ta_19990723p009.asp

“I Did it:”

The Steps to Being a Good Mediator

Introduce yourself and explain that you will help solve the problem.

Define ground rules: explain guidelines for how disputants should behave.

Information from the disputants: have them tell their sides of the story.

Define and clarify the main problem based on these stories: ask questions to clarify, summarize everything that was said.

Ideas: brainstorm fair solutions to the problem.

Test the solution: will it work? Is it realistic?

If all these steps are followed and a good solution is reached, you may want to write a formal agreement between the 2 disputants explaining how they will solve their problem. Then, have them sign the agreement.

Steps of Negotiation

When negotiating, you should say:

1. I want…

2. I feel…

3. My reasons are…

4. It seems to me that you’re saying

that you…

5. To me, the problem is…

6. Three plans to solve the problem

are…

Agree on a solution

Questions to Prepare for the Town Meeting

1. Summarize who you are and what values are important to your group.

2. What is your group's position on the issue?

3. What are the three most important values or interests to your group?

4. What interests are you willing to compromise or give up? What interests are you unwilling to negotiate or give up?

5. What suggested compromises can your group come up with?

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