Violence Prevention Residency; American Embassy School in Delhi
September, 2007 (Middle School)

So, now we have come to the end of the first phase in our attempt to create a peaceful everyday environment at our school and to come up with a plan of action. Below are the recommendations arrived at during our Congress session, where representatives from the various PE classes brought ideas from those classes and prioritized both suggestions for dealing with problems as well as activities that students could collectively do.

PROBLEMS --- SUGGESTIONS --- ACTIVITIES --- MY SUGGESTIONS


PROBLEMS
Bullying
Gossiping / Rumors
Embarrassement
Teasing
Disagreement
Forgiving (Not)
Diversity (Stereotypes)
Selfishness
Excluding others
Physical Violence
Ignorance
Rudeness

SUGGESTIONS
BULLYING
Pull a victim away from the or distract the bully
Ask the bully to stop
Help the victim find someone to talk with
Tell an adult if the problem gets bad enough
Think about how to integrate the buly into the community in a more positive way

GOSSIPING / RUMORS
Don’t pass on rumors

EMBARRASEMENT
Help the person who does something silly
Try to ignore what the student has done
Try to find humor in it, if it isn’t too sensitive a topic
Don't laugh at them

TEASING
Don't tease
Empathize with someone before teasing
Think before you act
Help the person not feel too bad if they have experienced teasing

DISAGREEMENT
Be polite as you disagree
Respect different ideas
Comprise or come to consensus
The Calls
Try and understand the point of view of others and recognize that no one person holds the ‘truth’

FORGIVENESS
Think about the problem
Think about your responsibility in creating the problem
Think about good things that person did
Give it some time
Empathize with the other person
Do something that makes you feel good
Understand it's easier to let go of grudge than it is to carry it
Explore for misunderstandings

DIVERSITY
Don't stereotype for any reason like hobbies, choices, backgrounds etc.
Appreciate and learn all you can other cultures.
Accept people who they are

SELFISHNESS
Be considerate
Notice others talents
Be helpful to others

EXCLUDING OTHERS
Seek out others who are outside of the ‘group’ and bring them in

PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
Find an alternative way to deal with conflict
Empathize with some else’s position
Think of consequences of your action
Try to understand people's motives
Tell a teacher if it's really bad
Be the better person
Talk about conflict before it gets ‘hotter’
Count to ten
Examine the problem

IGNORANCE
Learn to listen to people
Think before you act / speak
Tolerance of people

RUDENESS
Communication Skills
Politeness
Really listen to others
Don't be mean to others – physically & mentally
Be careful what you say to other people

ACTIVITIES
For Embarrassment Put on a skit at where people act out each other’s most embarrassing moment. The idea is to show how everyone has been embarrassed

For Celebrating Diversity International Diversity day where students and/or parents share out about their country’s food, music, customs, history etc.
Take field trips to places in Delhi that demonstrates Delhi’s diversity
Exchange Students; Bring British School kids into your family and you got to theirs

For ‘Exclusion’ Family Swap where students temporarily swap families with a friend or acquaintance
Mix Up Days! Students must sit once a week, month, semester with someone they normally don’t sit with. Who they sit with could be determined by birthdays, names etc.
A Teaching Day where students share a skill or something them know with others
Skills Bartering Day where students offer to trade skills they have to others in exchange for other skills
A Story Day, where students tell each other their stories

For Social Problems A computer suggestion box on AES website. When you have a problem you can write it out and someone will respond
Social problem blog where you can anonymously write out problems and others can respond
Advice column in Scribbler
Peer Counselors

For Rumors and Gossip Signs around the school that say, ‘The Gossip Stops Here’


MY SUGGESTIONS
1. Random Acts of Kindness Day: Where students pick a name out of a hat and do something nice for that person
2. Ask for Forgiveness Day or 'My Name is Earl Day' (Kids will know this TV show where a real 'nere do well' recognizes the laws of karma and asks those he abused forgiveness while rectifying his wrongs): If someone has done something to someone within or outside of the school they would ask forgiveness and record the results
3. Forgiveness Day: Where we forgive somebody for something we perceive they 'did' to us
4. Go out into the community (Ideas are on the site) and question, research and present
5. To understand how we are effected by others, develop a map of those people who effected us positively and negatively
6. Posit, study, decide upon and write and/or act out moral dilemmas i.e. Your best friend is doing something you consider wrong. What do you do?
7. Study various conflicts internationally and historically and find where the opportunities were to end the conflict nonviolently
8. Study various moral/political dilemmas throughout history and take a position i.e. The development of the nuclear bomb, imprisoning antiwar protesters during WW 1 in the US,
9. Study various ways people delta with forgiveness in a political sphere i.e. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Vietnam etc and/or write to people who were at the center of a repressive regime or were kept in prison illegally and/or wrongly (In the U.S., the Innocence Project) and ask how they have forgiven
10. Finding curriculum tie-ins to the idea that our fates are intertwined i.e in ecology, arts (how artists are not solitary genius but operate and learn socially), social studies (The role of unions)

archive:
Reporting out about week one
Ways to Get Along and Grow
Resources

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