Medford schools share program

Jackson County Judge Ross Davis praised the conflict resolution effort during a reception at school district offices, saying it will help children build the skills they need to understand and control their own behavior.

"Really, these are lifetime skills," said county court administrator Jim Adams. "This is prevention."

Although Medford educators began pulling the project together five years ago, some elements -- high school peer counseling, for instance -- have a longer history. All lesson plans and activities have been tested, rewritten and tested again by Medford teachers.

"It was written by teachers for teachers," says JoAnnemarie Bradshaw, the school district's conflict resolution coordinator and one the the chief architects of the curriculum. "You don't need a counselor to present any of this."

She knows of only one other similar curriculum for grades K-12 in Oregon.

Bradshaw insists on sharing author's credit with 385 Medford teachers who, in one way or another, contributed to the teaching effort.

A Kennedy Elementary School kindergarten teacher, for instance, produced two decks of illustrated playing cards for the elementary portion of the curriculum. She made rules for some suggested teaching games, but Bradshaw says teachers and kids will come up with many more.

The entire package, from card games to steps for untangling student fights, is based on a single set of problem-solving principles. The process begins with learning to appreciate yourself and others, and progresses through seven steps.

"This is the whole gamut," says Cecile Everson, a district child development specialist and one of the project's coordinators. ``These are the critical elements they need -- we all need -- to solve problems."

The program can be presented to students as a separate lesson, or pulled out to solve particular problems as they arise.

Young students can make fingerprints and compile them in a fingerprint tree to illustrate how everyone is an individual. Then, through discussion, they can discover their similarities -- everything from eye color to the things that make them happy.

High school students study leadership skills and work out ways to get along in a group. One portion of the lesson guide explores how the group members have to balance cooperation, competition and aggression to succeed.

High school teachers can present those concepts as a lesson, or simply apply the material when a student group or committee seems on the verge of falling apart.

The genesis of the program was a visit five years ago by retired counselor Lillian Macon of Medford. She asked Medford primary grades director Bill Klenke if she could volunteer to help the district develop a dispute-resolution curriculum.

The offer grew to a Medford school staff committee, then to a community-wide effort that has, at one time or another, involved local police, the county Juvenile Department, state office of Services to Children and Families, and the judges and probation officials in the county's family court system.

The Medford district will offer the package for sale to other districts, says Klenke.