Ensure there is always a safe space for conversation. This is a space to gather, a place that honors, respects and makes people feel they can collaborate safely inside. Safe spaces also need to be developed for youth after school to ensure they have a safe place to be, away from any violence of their …
A way to build commitment, buy-in and skills is to alternate between facilitators during family meetings or classroom group work. Teach youth the skills of effective facilitation, including courtesy, careful listening, time management, and organization of ideas. They should routinely reflect on the challenges of effective facilitation and brainstorm solutions to address those challenges. Thus …
Use a tangible object like a stick, a flower, a ball, or something important to the group to facilitate civil discussions and collaborative activities. Three rules are: 1) only the person with the item speaks, 2) all others focus on the person with the item in hand, and 3) anyone has the right to pass. …
Explore what role females played in various events in providing leadership for problem-solving, collaboration and working together. How is that different or similar from today?
Take a current event or an event within the classroom, school, family or community. If we were to rewind this event, how would we rebuild the story? When were there critical points of challenge or failure? What would we have done at those critical points? With young children, this can be used when debriefing a …
TWPG is an elaborative hands-on, youth-driven game/exercise. Founded in 2010, TWPG Foundation is dedicated to sharing the global mission of peace, developing self-awareness, and the life work of teacher John Hunter. It supports development of collaboration and communication skills for resolving and transforming conflicts, and the development of the skills of compromise, all while accommodating …
Use reframing to defuse anger and keep dialogue open and positive. To reframe, take a negative statement and remove the emotionally-charged, damaging, and accusatory words, thus changing the statement to be solution-focused. This also applies to self-talk, in which youth can be taught to replace critical comments with supportive ones. For example, instead of saying …
A great way to foster collaboration and validate the opinions of all people in a discussion. Try this: With a partner, choose a topic to discuss or a decision to be made, such as where to travel on a vacation. Person A states their idea, and person B responds with, “Yes, BUT….” and this continues, …
Have a public bowl where everyone has his or her own (identified) stone. There should also be a few unidentified stones. All stones are set next to the bowl. If someone has an issue they need to discuss, they put their stone in the bowl. Teachers, parents, and youth then know that there is an …
Create an end of the semester or end of the year skit or play on a particular historical event. Each child/student has a role. Play it out so they feel the differences in perspective, interests and needs. Identify who needed the most help. Ask, “what could have been done differently?”