Handling difficult situations

This was our last learning session for Peer Mediation. We started off with a co-operative activity where we worked in groups of 6 to create a macine. Each group could decide on their machine and mime it. After 5 minutes it was "Do or Die" and we had to perform for the rest of the group. The machines were great; there was a washing machine, a fridge, a trike, a toaster and more. We had to guess what each group was.
Today we learnt how to manage difficult situations. When they ask for mediation, some people have problems with:
Lying
Lack of co-operation
Keeping self control
Mostly we can use body language, hand signals and "I" statements to help us mediate.
Next we had a new game of Elephant and Palm Tree and finally we reflected on the things we enjoyed and learned this session. As always, the games were a hit.
Next week we will be organising our timetable for duties so we need to decide on our working teams as our homework activity.

Week 5 The Mediation Process

We started off by doing a trust walk which is where your partner helps you to get around the room with your eyes closed. Your partner needs to give you instructions so that you don't fall over or bang into people. It made us realise how important it is that mediators can be trusted.
We practised the whole mediation process today and most pairs had a turn at mediating for the first time. There were lots of things to remember but we have already learnt the skills we need in our earlier sessions.
We learnt a new game called "Touch Blue" this week. There is a caller and and they have to call a colour and a body part like "Yellow" and "Ankle". You have to touch a piece of clothing on one person and the body part of another. It can get tricky and you need to help each other out.
We all agreed that the games are an enjoyable part of mediation lessons.

Open and Closed Questions Week 4

This week we were learning the skill of open and closed questions. We use both types of questions when we are mediating. We use closed questions when we want to find out simple answers at the start. We use open questions when we need to find out more information in the actual mediation.
During the introduction stage of the mediation we use these closed questions.
What is your name?
Do you agree to the four rules?
- No name calling?
- No interruptions
- Be as honest as you can.
- Try to solve the problem.
Next we use open questions like:
- What happened?
- How can we solve the problem?
As usual we played some co-operative games and at the end we used our reflective thinking skills to say what we had enjoyed, learnt and what could be improved.
Most people loved the games and enjoyed learning the new skill too. Several people felt that we could improve on the noise level. Some of it was fun noise in the games
butwe agreed to try to monitor the noise during the rest of the time.

Different Types of Conflict - Week 3

We had another great session today. We learnt about the different types of conflict by looking at a role play of the same story with three different endngs.
Denial happens when someone is upset because of a conflict or a fight, and instead of admitting they are angry or sad, they pretend that nothing is wrong. The difficulty with trying to end a conflict this way is that it doesn't really end because the second person never knows what is wrong or why the first person is upset or angry. Therefore it is unlikely theywill act differently next time.

Aggression happens when there is conflict and one person attacks the othe, either physically or with words. This usually hapens when two people are not willing to listen to each other's side of the problem or talk about it. Instead they attack the other's ideas or worth.

Problem Solving is when people talk about the problem without blaming or insulting each other. They know they have a problem and try to think of ways to solve it. They choose the solution that is best for everybody.

"I" Statements and Affirmations - Week 2

It was session 2 of our training today and we tried bringing our chairs along. That was our idea for improving the sessions last week and it worked out so well we will keep doing it.
We started by telling partners 3 Rib Ticklers. They are affirmations where you tell someone good things about themselves. Pretty soon we were all smiling! After that we had some role plays so we could see the difference between "you" statements and "I" statements. "You" statements don't work in conflict situations because the listener feels blamed or judged. You get better results with "I" statements because the listener knows how you feel.
We practised constructing our own "I" statements for situations like someone taking our things without asking.
I feel annoyed when you take my pencils without asking because I needed them to finish my work.
Our co-operative game was "Here I Sit in the Grass With My Friend."
We finished off with an evaluation of what we had learned, enjoyed and what could be imporoved. We couldn't really come up with any improvements this week! Now we need to practise making "I" statements with our families and friends.

Peer Mediator Training - Day 1

Term four is the term when we start learning how to be Peer Mediators, so we'll be ready to start the job at the beginning of next year. There's a lot to learn to become a good Peer Mediator. We had our first training session today. There are 46 trainees and our teacher for this is Viv.
Each session has a new skill, a time to practice the skill, a game and a reflecting time where we discuss what we learned, what we enjoyed, and any ways of improving the session.
Our skill this week was Active listening. To be an active listener you need to give attention to the speaker and keep eye contact if possible, ask some questions to be sure you have all of the information and give feedback. Viv was so impressed with the way we all practised the skill she took photos.
We played the leader of the Pack game and then it was time for reflecting.
Things we liked

• The practice session,
• The game,
• Getting to know the group,
• Making up the scenario,
• How it was fun.

Next week we are going to bring our chairs and see if we can all fit in the Arts Centre.