Embedding social-emotional learning practices in curriculum can help students strengthen their conflict-resolution toolkits by developing related skills such as self-awareness, communication and self-management. These can be developmentally taught across K-12 through cooperative games and activities, and by teaching students phrases to navigate a verbal tug-of-war.
Schu pointed to one of CASEL’s founders who would speak about the “traffic light model,” which offers young students a way to demonstrate how they respond to conflict based on a simple structure. Under that approach, students learn to “… stop, calm down and think (red light); say the problem, how you feel and talk through possible solutions (yellow light); and try out your best plan (green light),” Schu said.
