NOT FOUND: wilson riles conflict nediation.jpgOctober 23 through October 29 of 2009, the Conflict Mediation Team of Wilson C. Riles Middle School attended a Youth Leadership Camp in La Honda, California. We made a lot of new friends from around the region, and developed new leadership skills. We played kickball which was an activity that was used to improve our communication.
In addition, we practiced mock mediation activities, which strengthened our interaction abilities. During these mock mediations, two students acted as the mediators and two students acted as the disputants. Each mediation team assisted the two disputants in solving their conflict. There is a process that the teams follow in order to ensure that the conflict is dealt with fairly. In the end, if all goes well, the disputants will come to a solution that both can agree upon.
These skills are used at our school when students have a conflict, so we are using these skills in our everyday lives. In one activity, we were placed in teams of 3. Each team was given two identical sets of lego blocks. Two of the team members were assigned to opposite ends of the playing field. The third member had to run back and forth between the other two. One team member created a structure out of one set of lego blocks. The runner, then had to run across the field and explain to the third team member how to put the second set of lego blocks together, without using their hands. This was a great activity to help students build their communication skills. It was very exciting to finally finish and see that the two structures looked exactly alike.
We are very proud to announce that our team was voted by other peers and instructors as being the “BEST” mediation team in attendance. We were told that the main reason that we received this honor was because even during “Free Time” we were witnessed as continuing to work as a team to improve our skills and developing ways to help our fellow students back at school. Our goal as Conflict Mediators is to reduce the number of conflicts that occur between students and to assist those students reach a resolution if they do have a conflict.
There will be three training sessions for the Conflict Mediation teams around Sacramento County. These trainings will be held at the Sacramento County Office of Education. In May, all participating schools will attend a Community Showcase in which we will demonstrate our skills. Our group is very excited to be asked to attend this or similar camps in the future. Thanks to the Center Unified School District and the Center for Youth Citizenship for allowing us this opportunity.