Finding Fair Solutions

Students will review what it looks like and sounds like when we try to understand the perspective of others. They can use that perspective to find fair solutions when they disagree with others.

Instructions

• Play this video about perspective for students.
• Explain to students:
  • No one walks around with their story visible for all to see.  
  • Good communication skills will help us understand one another.
  • Effective communication begins by seeking to understand the other person’s perspective.  
• Ask students what it looks like and sounds like when we seek to understand (asking questions, verifying what others have said, asking clarifying questions).
• Explain to students:
  • When we try to understand other’s perspectives, it makes it easier for us to explain our own perspective (asking to be understood).
  • It also helps us find where we agree and then find common ground.
  • Now that we are seeking to understand and seeking to be understood, we can negotiate and work towards finding fair solutions..
  • A fair solution (or finding a “win-win”) requires us to consider:
    • what the other person wants,  
    • what I want,
    • what can we do together to get what we want?
• Ask students to practice seeking to understand and to be understood to find a win-win in the following scenarios.
  

Practice Scenarios

• Homecoming activities have been canceled after a group of students vandalized the school. The vast majority of students did not participate in the acts of vandalizing, but everyone is being punished for the actions of a few.  
• Your parents gave you a curfew that is an hour earlier than your friends.