Apollo Middle students attend conflict management training

Twenty-nine seventh- and eighth-graders from Apollo Middle School in Antioch began conflict resolution training at the Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management today.

 

Peer group leaders from Apollo were selected to work with mentors from the institute throughout the school year to learn techniques to deal with bullying, fights and other conflicts.

 

This program was offered two years ago for a group of Maplewood High School students, and disciplinary problems reportedly dropped significantly among the group. Apollo Principal Ron Woodard (formerly an assistant principal at Maplewood) felt the program was an essential tool in creating a culture of non-violence.

 

“Often society focuses on discipline in schools without teaching students any skills for diffusing conflict before it ever happens,” said Steve Joiner, associate director of the Institute for Conflict Management, who is an expert on inter-generational conflict. “Once they learn these methods, these students can act as a positive influence on their peers by modeling healthy ways to handle conflict.”

 

The Institute for Conflict Management is providing this program to Apollo Middle School as a community service and hopes to expand it to other schools in the future.

 

At the first of six sessions, Apollo students learned about five ways they can approach a conflict: avoidance, competition, compromise, collaboration and accommodation. They created skits showing how to use each technique to deal with a specific conflict in school.

 

The Institute for Conflict Management provided an adapted version of training that has been used with judges, community mediators and businesspeople.