Do you think educators should consider teaching conflict resolution or anger management in the early grades?

Answer 1

I did! These are people too. I absolutely feel that they need to be taught how to be effective socially as well as educationally. I had a student in my first year teaching. He was a fourth grader who everyone warned me about. I was told he got in to fights everyday and I should really watch out for him. Well, I handled him differently than any teacher before me. I asked him what helped him to diffuse? I asked him if he could tell when he was starting to get angry, before he lost his temper. Together we came up with a plan that allowed him to deal with his own temper his own way. Lo and behold he became a straight A student who only got into two fights the whole year!
We also did peer counseling in the later elementary grades. Kids brought each other to a panel of their peers to try to talk out their problems. It was a very popular way for the students to make sure their problems were heard and understood. As students enter 4th and 5th grade social problems become a bigger issue and learning to deal with them without telling a teacher was essential. Nobody wants to be a tattletale but they also don't want to get picked on. I watched these kids learn respect and responsibility from peer counseling, it was very exciting!

Answer 2

It's important, yes, and we all need to learn these behaviors. But using class time for it is simply not effective for the average child. This should happen on an incident-by incident basis, which is the most effective way for children to learn social issues anyways.

An "anger class" generally deals with the issues in too abstract a manner for young kids to really absorb. The real world education that is needed needs to come from the real world, not from a book or lesson plan.

Turning a playground incident into a lesson, or noticing positive ways of handling a disagreement is the best way to teach.

Answer 3

Yes, and I think they should include parents and ask that they participate. It makes a really positive impact on children when both parents and teachers are on the same page. Many issues happen "on the playground" because children spend a lot of their day in school interacting with other children so conflicts are a fact of life. The sooner they know how to deal with conflict and manage anger the better!

Answer 4

Conflict resolution. As a professional working in the field of Corrections, many Offenders enter into the system because of Lack of Discipline, a Stable Family foundation and inadequate social skills. They react spontaneously without considering the outcome or what the results of their actions could be. The lack of Social skills particularly being able to talk through problems has a major impact on the end result....Prison. If we as a society begin teaching or equipting our Youth with these necessary tools In my opinion they could resolve alot of issues before they go to far.

Answer 5

I believe that we all have a responsibility to educate on these subjects. It needs to start with the parents first but I feel that it's never to early to educate or future leaders the difference of right and wrong and that morality needs to be increased in our youth. So educatation should start as early as a childs comprehension will allow. Structure and repeative re-enforcement no matter where it comes from is a plus. Teach the children new and safe ways to curb their anger and positive ways to resolve conflicts.

Answer 6

Yes, I think educators should teach conflict resolution in elementary school; and should teach anger management in the secondary schools

Answer 7

Absolutely...and I think they do. They may not have classes dedicated to that sole subject but in the younger grades a large part of the teacher's responsibility is to teach basic social skills. Resolving interpersonal conflict as well as managing one's temper are vital elements to these lessons.
Do I think there need to be classes bearing those specific titles? No... why label something with a label that will not be understood? Should these skills be part of a ciriculum? Most certainly!

Answer 8

Educators should absolutely teach both of those in the early years of a child's education. Without any learning on those subjects, many kids will be out of control in high school and they won't now how to react to certain situations in the real world.

Answer 9

Some schools DO teach this in the early grades and also teach peer mediation; the problem, as we discovered my daughter landed in junior high school, is that once a child is in 8th grade or thereabouts, all that they've learned in lower grades is not enforced. Small good to teach a child other ways of handling frustration, anger, and bullying, if, in junior high school, it's "anything goes."

By all means, teach this in lower grades - and never STOP teaching it!

Answer 10

I do think that this should be taught in the earliest grade possible due to all the conflict issues that our students face everyday on campus and off campus. Teaching resolutions, I think started with the D.A.R.E. program but these days conflict is everywhere for students. This should be taught and implemented in the state standards.