Improvisation: Conflict Resolution In pairs, ask the students to select one of the scenarios from Worksheet 2 and discuss how the outlined situations relate to everyday experience (parent/child, first impressions, parental disagreement about children). Invite the students to suggest specific examples but do not require them to relate their own experiences. They might be encouraged to make connections with television drama. Either starting with these lines or working with the parallel everyday experience, ask the students to improvise a short scene. Share the scenes and briefly whether the conflicts were resolved or not. Draw out from discussion the following points and note them on the flip chart or interactive whiteboard: - Conflict is a problem
- Problems can be solved
- A first step is to define the problem
- It is necessary to be honest with yourself to understand how the problem is affecting you. What is the real source of your feelings?
- Imagine the other party’s point of view to understand their emotions and circumstances
- Solutions to problems can be brainstormed
- Solutions can be evaluated
- Ideas can be acted upon and reviewed
Ask one of the groups to show their improvisation a second time. ‘Hot seat' the characters to discover their thoughts and feelings about the conflict - Ask the students to review their improvisations, identifying the source of dramatic tension in the scene. It will help if you work through an example with the class.
- Ask them to script the scene, using just ten lines of dialogue. Each line should advance the plot and the last line should encapsulate the resolution.
- Rehearse the scene.
Ask the students to identify two moments: - The point at which the conflict is at its most intense
- The point of resolution
- Ask students to construct freeze-frame images of these two moments, focusing on physical realisation of the emotions. Guide them to consider body language, proximity, physical relationship, levels, gaze etc.
- Rework the scenes, using the dialogue and incorporating the two crystallized moments of conflict and resolution
- Share the reworked scenes.
'Thought shower' the language associated with resolution: accommodate, adjudicate, adjust, agree, arbitrate, arrange, conciliate, confer, connect, consult, debate, discuss, intercede, make peace, make terms, manage, mediate, moderate, network, parley, referee, settle, treat, umpire, work out Provide a copy of Worksheet 3 listing types of conflict resolution. Ask students to consider which type of resolution was used to work out the conflict in each of the scenarios. Could alternative means of resolution have been used more appropriately or effectively? Types of resolution can be categorised as six main ways of reaching a solution: - Communicate: Some conflicts start because people misunderstand each other. Talking things out and explaining might take care of it.
- Negotiate: when the parties involved decide to work out a conflict themselves, they might follow a set of steps. The steps help them work out the conflict or negotiate.
- Mediate: when the parties experience difficulty in negotiating they might ask an objective third party to help. That person is called a mediator. The mediator does not tell the people what to do; he or she helps them decide for themselves.
- Arbitrate: a mediator who does not solve problems is called an arbitrator. When parties ask an arbitrator to help them, they must agree to do whatever the arbitrator suggests.
- Litigate: when a conflict cannot be resolved by the parties involved it may go to court. Lawyers represent each party and a judge decides who is in the right according to the law and what the solution should be.
- Legislate: to make a law or rule to ensure that the problem will not arise again
Reflect on the ways in which the conflicts were resolved. Refer to the language of resolution and identify the types of resolution in the scenes. - Were some ways more effective than others? If so, why?
- In pairs or small groups, ask the students to consider the relative merits and weaknesses of different methods of solving conflict (see )
- Ask each group to write down one thought arising from this activity on a large sheet of paper
- Display the sheets of paper and invite the students to read each other's thoughts. Allow time for reflection.
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