What About Fighting?
Grade Levels: 3 - 8
Objectives
- Students will identify the potential positive and negative consequences of using violence to resolve conflicts.
Materials
- Chalkboard and chalk
Procedures
- Facilitate a class discussion by asking students how they would define violence. Why do they think people sometimes use violence to handle conflicts?
- After the students have offered a few suggestions, ask them to name everything positive they can think of about fighting or using violence to resolve conflicts.
- If they have trouble naming any, ask them to think about a fight they won. What feelings did they have? What positive things did the fight accomplish?
- List their contributions on the board. Continue the brainstorm for five to ten minutes.
- Next ask students to name all the potential negative consequences of fighting or using violence to deal with conflicts.
- Repeat the brainstorming process.
- If necessary, ask about specific areas of students' lives: What might be the consequences of fighting at home? At school? On the playground? The negative list will probably be significantly longer.
- As a way to conclude the activity discuss the following questions with your students:
- Which list is longer? Why?
- Which of these negative things is a short term consequence? Which is long term?
- What are some ways you could get the positive effects of fighting without fighting?
- If there are so many reasons not to fight, why do people fight?
- Where do we get our ideas about fighting?
Excerpted from Elementary Perspectives: Teaching Concepts of Peace and Conflict by William J. Kreidler.
Provided by Educators for Social Responsibility
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