Teachers there believe that conflict is a natural part of our lives and that students are responsible people who can solve their own problems.
For each of the past five years, twenty-four students were trained annually as Peer Mediators. In their two and a half days of training, student mediators learned skills such as active listening, paraphrasing, anger management, and how to help their disputing peers achieve win-win solutions to their conflicts.
In the 1998-1999 school year, all 58 fifth graders at Keefauver will go through the training, and those who wish will become mediators. In this way, all fifth graders will be exposed to the life skills which mediation training provides.
Mediators work in pairs on the playground during recesses and are available for in-school mediations when needed.
To quote a sixth-grade mediator, "Peer Mediation helps kids settle disputes before the problem goes too far."
Nancy Whitman
Keefauver School
Gettysburg Area Schools
Biglerville Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Telephone: 717-334-6254