SAN ANTONIO – Conflict between students in schools is inevitable and keeping it non-violent is crucial. That’s why a Bexar County program is teaching the kids how to de-escalate situations themselves.
The AIM Peer Mediation program is equipping kids as young as third grade with conflict-resolution skills they’ll use for life.
KSAT got to see it in action, as a group of fourth grade mediators from NEISD’s Oak Meadow Elementary role-played a conflict resolution scenario.
The group called the Peace Kids meets every Monday to practice and learn more mediation skills.
“Peer mediation training is a lot of communication skills. So I usually start with the five different types of responses to conflict,” said AIM Peer Mediation Director Amy Halstead.
Halstead travels from school to school, teaching groups how to mediate. Sometimes it’s just a class presentation, and other times it’s setting up an entire group of trained mediators, like at Oak Meadow.
Some schools have six mediators, and some have more than 30. It all depends on the size of the school.
Halstead teaches how to help navigate someone’s conflict without offering solutions or giving advice.
“How can you ask the same thing in open-ended ways so that the disputants get to use their own words to answer?” Halstead said.
She said this type of mediation is typically used to stop minor disagreements or friendship issues from escalating and getting out of control.
“Especially with students who are transitioning, like from elementary to middle school, from middle school to high school. They’re finding themselves in a lot of conflict just because they’re navigating new friendship groups,” Halstead said.
Halstead teaches how to de-escalate many different types of
“Often there’s a lot of emotions. Students are very upset, and so, they can use some very strong words. And so students are taught to paraphrase what the other students said, but to sometimes change the language a little bit, to make sure that the mediator appears neutral,” Halstead said.
She said the most important thing is that the mediator is a peer.
“Students can understand another student’s perspective and point of view better than any adult could,” Halstead said.
That’s something Oak Meadow fourth grader Grace O’Connell agrees with.
“They feel like they have to like listen to what the adult says. But with peers, they don’t feel so stressed about it and stuff, so that’s good,” Grace said.
Grace said she has mediated several conflicts since joining the Peace Kids.
“If kids need us, then they will take a form from their teachers. We just talk with the kids see what the problem is, and we ask them, ‘How do you think you can fix it?’” she said.
Oak Meadow counselor Melanie Jackson oversees the Peace Kids.
“Right now, we have about 12 mediators. And then mid-year, we’ll have third graders join — so we have third, fourth, and fifth — and they get to be kind of the lead mediators as they get older,” Jackson said.
Jackson said she has even seen them helping with conflicts at recess and knows that skill will continue for life.
“It will teach us to be understanding and, yeah, just like to help other people and ourselves and help keep us calm,” Grace said.
Halstead encourages high school students to include this mediation training on their resumes. She said it is a great skillset for employers to see.
Any school that would like Halstead to hold an AIM presentation can call (210) 335-8408 or email Amy.Halstead@bexar.org.