CONFLICT RESOLUTION

LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING

LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING

2014

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT N2 (PAIRWORK)

STUDENTS:
Maricel Munin
Maria Jose Fernandez.
DEADLINE: 02/06/2014
BIBLIOGRAPHY
KREIDER, William (1984) Creative Conflict Resolution. (Chapters 1 & 2)Illinois: Good
Year Books

Nearly all conflicts involve underlying emotional

issues. The stronger the feelings, the more
difficult the resolution. To resolve conflicts, then, it
is absolutely necessary to address the feelings of
all parties..

Didctica Especial de la Lengua Inglesa. Unit 2 Emotional Intelligence

Old methods used by adults on children to solve conflict:

(a)
ordering,
directing,
commanding
(b)
warning,
admonishing,
threatening,
forcing
(c)
exhorting,
moralizing,
preaching
(d)
advising,
suggesting,
solving
(e)
lecturing,
"Dr.
Spocking;"
(f)
judging,
criticizing,
disagreeing
(g)
name-calling,
labeling
(h)
ridiculing,
mocking
(i)
shaming,
blaming
(j)
"praising",
"agreeing"
(k)"reassuring",
sympathizing,
"consoling",
"supporting"
(l)
interrogating
(m)
withdrawing,
"trusting;"
(n) distracting, humoring, diverting
Results are that child feels:
(a) controlled, powerless, helpless, discouraged, incompetent, resentful,
disrespected,
rebellious
(b) afraid, threatened, forced, discouraged, resentful, insecure,
disrespected,
rebellious
(c) preached to, bad, wrong, guilty, inferior, inadequate, unworthy
(d)
controlled,
incompetent,
underestimated,
untrusted
(e) invalidated, misunderstood, alone, tuned-out, uncared for
(f)
judged,
criticized,
unaccepted,
resentful,
inferior
(g)
labeled,
misunderstood,
different,
unaccepted
(h)
ridiculed,
mocked,
offended,
insulted,
disrespected
(i) shamed, blamed, guilty, bad, inadequate, insecure, defensive
(j)
confused,
skeptical,
resentful,
offended,
insulted
(k) minimized, weak, helpless, victimized, invalidated, disrespected,
discounted
(l) probed, questioned, interrogated, untrusted, doubted, tested,
1

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING

2014

attacked,
defensive
(m) misunderstood, unimportant, invalidated, confused, unsupported
(n) distracted, diverted, invalidated, repressed, denied, minmized,
disrespected, confused
The overall result tends towards low self-esteem
As it has already been pointed out, teachers need to help children develop social skills.
The different strategies and methods proposed aim at making the child feel:
understood, validated, important, respected, trusted, valued, esteemed, self-reliant,
independent, self-assured, safe, secure, encouraged, supported, powerful, capable,
competent, confident, empowered, optimistic... all of which tends towards higher selfesteem.

Didctica Especial de la Lengua Inglesa. Unit 2 Emotional Intelligence

Questions:
1. What is a peaceable classroom according to William Kreider?
2. What are the aims or goals of conflict resolution?
3. What are the main causes of conflicts that might spring up in classrooms?
4. Understanding conflict: Read the statements 1 to 20 on pages 9 & 10 1. How do you
respond to conflict?
5. Which are the three different types of conflicts in a classroom 2?
6. Which things should teachers consider before choosing a conflict resolution
technique?
7. Select one of the techniques suggested for resolving student vs. student conflicts 3.
Explain how you would implement it in your English lessons.
8. On the following pages you will find activities and techniques to deal with conflict
resolution in the classroom. They have been grouped into different categories.
Select one of each category and explain how you would deal with the activities in
your English lessons.
Teaching students to be peacemakers
Helping students handle anger and frustration

Teaching cooperation
Teaching tolerance
9.

Why is it important to teach conflict resolution through childrens literature? 4

10.Choose a story suitable for dealing with the development of social skills. Plan a
lesson / series of lessons taking into account the guidelines and concepts put
forward by the different authors we have been dealing with.
Please specify:
Objectives
Proficiency level of the students
KREIDER, William (1984) Creative Conflict Resolution. Illinois: Good Year Books.
KREIDER, William (1984) Creative Conflict Resolution. Illinois: Good Year Books
3
KREIDER, William (1984) Creative Conflict Resolution. Illinois: Good Year Books
4
JENNIFER L. LUKE, CATHERINE M. MYERS Toward Peace: Using Literature to Aid Conflict
Resolution.
1
2

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING

2014

Age
Sequence of activities & timing
Classroom management and organization

1.

According to William Kreider a peaceable classroom is not the concept

related to noise levels, class size, or open vs. traditional teaching styles. It
refers to a classroom that is also a warm and caring community.
a. Cooperation: children learn to work together and trust, help and share
with each other.
b. Tolerance: children learn to respect and appreciate peoples
differences and to understand prejudice and how it works.
c. Positive emotional expression: children learn to express feelings,
particularly anger and frustration, in ways that are not aggressive or
destructive and children learn self-control.
d. Conflict resolution: children learn the skills of responding creatively to
conflict in the context of a supportive, caring community.

2.

The aim of conflict resolution is not to eliminate classroom conflict. Thats

neither possible nor desirable. Instead, it aims to reduce conflict and to help
you and your students deal more effectively and constructively with the
conflict that does occur.

3. The causes for conflicts can be grouped into six categories:

a. Competitive atmosphere: when there is a highly competitive
atmosphere in a classroom, students learn to work against rather than
with each other. Conflicts frequently arise out of: an attitude, lack of
social skill, not a good loser (always wants to win), lack of trust in the
teacher or classmate, competition at inappropriate times.
b. Intolerant atmosphere: an intolerant classroom is an unfriendly and
mistrustful one. Conflicts arise from: intolerance of racial or cultural
differences, lack of support from classmates (leading to loneliness),
and resentment of the accomplishments.
c. Poor communication: poor communication creates especially fertile
ground for conflict. Many conflicts can be attributed to
misunderstandings. For example: not knowing how to express their
needs and wishes, afraid of expressing emotions and needs, cannot
listen to others, do not observe carefully.
d. Inappropriate expression of emotions: all conflicts have and affective
component, and how children express their emotions plays and
important role in how conflicts develop. Conflicts can escalate when
students: are not in touch with their feelings, have nonaggressive
ways to express anger and frustration, suppress emotions, and lack
self-control.
e. Lack of conflict resolution skill: classroom conflicts may escalate when
students and teachers dont know how to respond creatively to
conflicts. Parents and peer groups often reward violent or very
aggressive approaches to conflict and there are certainly models for
this kind of behavior. Factors that may affect the acquisition of conflict
resolution skills, are maturity and stage of moral development.
f. Misuse of power by the teacher: it may be disconcerting to think that
by misusing your power in the classroom, you can create a whole
batch of conflicts all by yourself. Very strong influence on the factors
named above. Also you can contribute to classroom conflict whenever

Didctica Especial de la Lengua Inglesa. Unit 2 Emotional Intelligence

Answers:

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING
LANGUAGE , LEARNING & TEACHING

2014

you: frustrate a student by impossibly high expectations on him/her.

Inflexible rules,
an authoritarian use of power, establish an
atmosphere of fear and mistrust.
4. The problem solving approach: if theres a conflict a problem. Instead of
battling the kids. I try to set up situations in which we can all solve the
problem together. This produces creative ideas and stronger relationships.
5. Conflicts are usually of three types:

Didctica Especial de la Lengua Inglesa. Unit 2 Emotional Intelligence

a. Conflict over resources: occur when two or more people want

something that is in short supply, example: a ball, the attention
of the teacher, the job of clapping erasers, the friendship of the
new kid. Conflicts like this one are easiest to resolve.
b. Conflict of needs: children have many needs, power, friendship
and affiliation, self-esteem and achievement. Any of these can
conflict with the need of someone else in the class; these
conflicts are trickier to resolve than conflicts over resources,
because the reasons for them are less distinct.
c. Values: are those beliefs we hold most dear, clash, the conflict is
the most difficult type of all to resolve. When our values are
challenged, we often feel that our whole sense of self is
threatened and we cling to our position with a tenacity that other
types of conflicts dont inspire. Incidentally. Conflicts of values are
not limited to religious, political and others beliefs. Goals conflicts
are also value conflicts. We all pursue goals, the degree to which
we pursue any given goal reflect the value we place on it. Some
goals are more important to us than others.
6. There are 4 things to consider when we need to choose a conflict
resolutions techniques:
a. Whos involves? How many, how old, how mature and how angry
are they? What are their needs?
b. Is the time right? Do you have enough time to work things out
now, or should you wait? Do the participants need to cool off
first? Is it too soon to talk things out?
c. How appropriate is a particular resolution technique? Is this a
simple dispute over resources, or a complex conflict of values?
What is the problem? Will this techniques help solve the problem?
Is the technique so sophisticated that the kids need training in its
first?
d. Should the resolution be public or private? Would the participants
be embarrassed by the public resolution? Would the class benefit
from seeing this conflict resolved? Could they help with the
resolution? Do you have the time resolve it publicly?