Make a storyboard of a particular event in history that involves a social injustice (slavery, women’s rights, settlers coming to America, Hawaiian history). Have youth create a supporting narrative and present to the class, highlighting the social injustice and how it may have been prevented. Display storyboards and have the youth do learning walkabouts while …
Teach youth the importance of face-saving in a conflict. Teach them how to calm themselves or another angry person through deep breathing and validation of their needs. Restate the needs or issues involved in the conflict if the person has trouble understanding. Don’t be remembered as the person that “lost it” and let their emotions …
A very simple communication and exploration exercise that can take place with youth and adults just about anywhere. Ideally, it would be used in a calm setting with all participants focused on the activity, such as at mealtime or bed time. Each person is asked to share a rose (the best, special, or most positive …
A way of seeing situations play out and encouraging individuals to think critically about how to intervene, and in the process build compassion for alternate perspectives. Here are some scenarios that can be role-played with youth, in order to encourage them to think (and act) outside of themselves. * You see a kid looking sad …
Explore what role females played in various events in providing leadership for problem-solving, collaboration and working together. How is that different or similar from today?
Design lessons that focus on the whole child, including: health, nutrition, home life, community life, culture, emotions, and safety. Reflect on all that a child needs to grow strong in body, mind and spirit. How do we nourish these needs in multifaceted ways? Come up with a Whole Child Portrait of every child and think …
TWPG is an elaborative hands-on, youth-driven game/exercise. Founded in 2010, TWPG Foundation is dedicated to sharing the global mission of peace, developing self-awareness, and the life work of teacher John Hunter. It supports development of collaboration and communication skills for resolving and transforming conflicts, and the development of the skills of compromise, all while accommodating …
Use reframing to defuse anger and keep dialogue open and positive. To reframe, take a negative statement and remove the emotionally-charged, damaging, and accusatory words, thus changing the statement to be solution-focused. This also applies to self-talk, in which youth can be taught to replace critical comments with supportive ones. For example, instead of saying …
A great way to foster collaboration and validate the opinions of all people in a discussion. Try this: With a partner, choose a topic to discuss or a decision to be made, such as where to travel on a vacation. Person A states their idea, and person B responds with, “Yes, BUT….” and this continues, …
The bystander is one of the most critical, if not the most critical person in a conflict. Teaching youth how to successfully and confidently intervene when appropriate is very important. If intervening is not a good idea, they need to know how to get help. Role playing, watching videos, and brainstorming together what might work …
