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Grade Level: 9-12
Academic Areas: Interdisciplinary
Duration of service: Year-Long
Character Virtues: Justice and Fairness, Respect, Responsibility
Service Areas: Human Services, Public Safety
Service Learning Project:
In this project, students will learn the skills of mediation
and non-violence necessary for academic (and professional) success.
They will study how parents’ attitudes can perpetuate or
prevent violent behavior among students, and will conduct research
to determine the best strategies for capturing the interest of
parents from all backgrounds. Once students have secured the participation
of a parent group, they will develop presentations based on their
conflict-management skills and their understanding of the role
of the family in affecting student behavior. During a series of
workshops, students will train parents to use good conflict-management
strategies that discourage violence.
Goals and Objectives
Academic
Learning Goal: Students will acquire mediation skills useful
in maintaining a safe social environment.
Standard: PE 2
Learning Goal: Students will learn communication and presentation
skills, including speechwriting, power-point, etc.
Standard: ELA 4
Learning Goal: Students will learn research skills, including
survey writing, interviewing, etc. and will conduct research into
all types of social groups.
Standard: SS 1,2,5 ELA 1,3,4
Service
Community need: Lack of effective, non-violent conflict resolution
and mediation skills among parents and therefore a lack of skills
among their children.
Possible Community Partners: Conflict mediation groups, School
Safety Officers / Youth Officers, PTA, church and civic organizations
Objective: Students will reach out to parents to increase their
involvement with the school community.
Objective: Students will offer alternatives to violent response
to conflict and convince parents of the importance of their role
in reducing school violence.
Character
Virtue: Justice and Fairness
Objective: Students will learn to resolve conflicts in an objective,
even-handed and non-violent manner.
Virtue: Respect
Objective: Students and parents will increase their respect for
the value of safety and human life.
Virtue: Responsibility
Objective: Students will proactively seek a solution to the problem
of violence within the school community.
Key Activities
Key Planning Activities
1. Students will complete training in conflict mediation/anger
management.
2. Students will generate and evaluate surveys designed to assess
best practices for reaching out to parents
Key Service Activities
1. Students will train parents in the skills of and need for
peaceful conflict resolution.
2. Students will train younger students to use non-violent conflict
resolution and mediation skills.
Key Reflection Activities
1. (oral – justice and fairness) Students will role-play
conflict situations, utilize mediation skills, and conduct oral
critiques.
2. (written – responsibility) Students will distribute pre
and post surveys to parents and analyze efficacy of their presentations
based on parental feedback. They will determine how their trainings
could be improved.
3. (performance – justice and fairness) Students will make
a video about their perceptions of changes, if any, in violent
behavior in their school during and following the project. Did
the project have an effect on school violence?
Demonstration Activity
The students will organize a peace week to be held at school.
Throughout the week, all students will make origami peace cranes
to add to a peace chain. The culminating event will be an assembly
(to which all parents will be invited) at which students reflective
essays, poems, and stories about peace and violence will be featured.
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