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Peer Mediation in Middle Schools
Why Peer Mediation
Works?
- In middle schools today it is important to include the students'
fears into the curriculum. Many students do not feel safe and are
threatened on a daily bases. By including peer mediation into the
classroom this is a way to better educate students on how to solve
their problems. This leaves the teacher with more time to teach and
less time dealing with little bickers in the classroom. Students in
middle school need to be an active part in the curriculum and middle
school staff need to be aware that if the child feels threatened and
is down shifting, that student will not be able to learn anything.
By taking a little time out of the teachers busy schedule to address
the fear the teacher will free up the students mind so the student
can fully engage in learning.
- Students in middle school fear standing out. They don’t want to
feel like they are a baby who needs to see a mediator to solve a
problem. However, peer mediation is an important time to learn how
valuable friends are and how you can’t just throw them away. A
mediator can teach this lesson. They can show students how easy it
can be to fix minor problems and how with compromise and
understanding even large problems can be worked though. It is not
necessary to include an adult directly in this process. The students
need to know they are growing up and becoming more independent. This
is a life long lesson that is necessary for students to learn before
they enter the middle school. The "in-between" adult and
child years are difficult to over come. Society is putting pressure
on the students to "grow up" but at the same time they do
not give them the opportunities to learn how to take responsibility
and become an adult. Peer mediation gives them a chance to prove
themselves to adults.
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