Taking the time to discuss issues sends the message to our students that fairness is a priority in the classroom. If students' conflicts are brushed aside, we are inadvertently telling them their feelings are unimportant. Furthermore, since positive relationships form a foundation of adopting the roles students will play in society later on (Nucci, 2008), we are also subtly stressing our concern for our students' future success. We should be teaching our students that socialization is present in all of our daily encounters, intertwining association with others and work / play (Dewy, 1916).
My research suggests using a mediation program, a tool for students to utilize when disagreements surface, where the mediator serves as a neutral party to offer an unbaised perspective. My research also repeatedly stressed the importance of teaching the skill of mediating, since it is not a skill our students necessarily have prelearned, albeit effectively. "Teaching all students to mediate properly results in a school-wide discipline program where students are empowered to regulate and control their own and their classmates' actions. Teachers and administrators are then freed to spend more of their energies on instruction" (Nucci, pp. 222-223).
It is also necessary for our students to view disagreements in a positive light. Disagreements are to be expected, and they pose opportunities to grow and learn. We become more open-minded and tuned into other perspectives, but we must step back from the situation in an effort to interpret it differently. "It is only when there is a disagreement that new possibilities can arise" (Stengel, 2006, p. 146). Living in a diverse world with different experiences and expectations, it is only natural that we do not all see things from the same angle.
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