No-Fault Conflict Resolution for the Classroom: A Practical Kit for Teachers and Students is a hands-on classroom curriculum with sequential lesson plans supported by innovative materials and a rich assortment of activities. The purpose of the book is to show young people how to bypass the blame game for something more fun and satisfying--developing competence and confidence in solving their own conflicts. With the aid of a new structural concept for the classroom--the No Fault Zone--the authors go far beyond commonly accepted classroom resolutions to conflict and guide students and teachers to find strategies that meet the needs of everyone involved. This curriculum is a concrete application of Nonviolent CommunicationSM a highly successful process used around the world to foster respectful interactions and clear communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D. This process invites people to learn a vocabulary for, not only feelings, but also, "needs"--the universal motivators at the core of all human behavior--and empowers them to strategize to find the most effective ways to meet their needs. This approach expands our understanding of conflict resolution, and sees it as a concrete application of effective problem solving. This understanding addresses the current mandate of educational researchers to teach, above all else, problem-solving skills.
As young people learn to resolve their own conflicts using this process, they also learn problem-solving skills that will transfer to the rest of their lives for the rest of their lives. "A classroom kit that shifts responsibility for conflict resolution from teachers to students and empowers students with life-long problem solving skills." No-Fault Conflict Resolution is a response to teachers' requests for lesson plans teaching conflict resolution skills. Using games, activities and academic tie-ins, each lesson introduces a key to successful conflict resolution and is a step to constructing a setting to support cooperative problem solving in a radically new way. It includes 24 daily lesson plans that can be spread out through the school year. This new approach has significant benefits for teachers and students alike. Teachers are desperate to spend more time teaching and less time managing behavior and resolving conflicts. In response to the pressing and persistent needs for order, cooperation and conflict resolution in the classroom, the authors develop a No-Fault Zone as a new classroom structure to shift the responsibility of conflict resolution from the teacher to the students.
No-Fault Conflict Resolution for the Classroom combines a well developed theory of conflict resolution with an interactive classroom curriculum, including lesson plans, fun activities, materials, and curricular tie-ins that busy teachers require. The lessons build on one another and guide students and teachers in constructing a classroom environment that supports cooperative problem-solving and, at the same time, puts conflict resolution skills in their hands.