Put your skills into action, role-play! (25 mins)
Below are two possible incidents that could happen to you on the way to school. You are going to role-play one of these incidents in a group. In your role-play you must also come up with solutions for the dilemma using the attitudes and skills for conflict solving given below.
Read the incident 1 or 2 as directed by the educator.
Read the attitudes and skills for solving conflict.
Prepare your role-play, both a constructive version and a destructive version of solving the conflict. Use the attitudes and skills to help you prepare the constructive role-play. The role-plays should not be longer than about two or three minutes each.
Perform your role-play if called on.
Discuss the solutions to the conflicts that the learners performed.
Incident 1:
One morning there was a group of guys sitting at the back of the school bus eating popcorn. I kept on being hit on my head by pieces of popcorn. When I looked back everybody looked straight-faced ahead of them. When I asked who was doing this they said they didn’t know. Then when I looked forward again they giggled. A few minutes later there was more popcorn in my hair!
Incident 2:
One of my classmates who lives in the same area as me has friends in the other Grade 10 class in our school. I knew they had been talking about my performance again. When they passed me on the way to school I heard them say, “I don’t know when she gets a chance to do anything but study……no normal person gets an ‘A’ in every test. No wonder she’s the teacher’s pet!” Then one of them turned to me and said, “You’re too serious girl…why don’t you get a life!” and they all laughed at me.
Attitudes and skills for solving conflicts
Attitude: Humiliation is easier to deal with if you feel good about yourself.Skill: I can build my self-confidence by reminding myself every day that I love myself the way I am.Attitude: I can think before I react.Skill: I can take a few deep breaths and quietly count to ten before I respond.Attitude: When I am involved in a conflict, fighting or running away are not the only two choices I have.Skills: I can respond assertively by telling the person how I feel and asking them not to behave in that way again.Attitude: Conflict does not need to be resolved immediately.Skills: I can tell the person that I am too upset or angry right now to respond but that I would like to come back to talk about it later.Attitude: There is power in nonviolence.Skills: I can remind myself that there is strength and dignity in gentle firmness.