Conflict Resolution

The conflict I have chosen to share is between me and the other first grade teacher and our aide. The conflict we are having is that we have a schedule posted in our classroom of the responsibilities our aide has to do. We have already taken away a lot of the responsibilities because she was feeling very stressed and because of that was doing it wrong. So, to relieve some stress, we took away the grading and entering grades and just left her with making copies and making sure their homework was all ready to be handed out on Monday morning as well as prepping her enrichment craft so that it is ready by Friday afternoon when she would do it with the class. We have given her time frames of when to do these things to help her with her time management. These responsibilities can be done in the morning when she first comes in, during her prep, or afterschool when the children leave. The problem we are having is that she is not completing her tasks and this intern forces me and the other first grade teacher to do it for her because either way the things need to be done. We have addressed this issue with her already multiple times this year.

The strategies I am going to try to use in hopes of resolving this ongoing conflict is Think Win-Win and compromise.  In addition to those strategies, I will use the three R’s when speaking with her.  Using the three R’s when speaking will help her feel that she is not being attacked rather trying to find a way to resolve this conflict. By thinking Win-Win will help in us both get what we need completed. I will have her tasks complete so I can continue with my job and she will have time to complete hers.  In doing so, we might need to make a compromise.

I spoke with my colleague, the other first grade teacher, since she was involved too and feeling the same way as I am. She suggested we write out specific directions for the copies so that there is no confusion.  She also expressed that she was out of ideas and did not know what else to do since this was not the first time we have addressed this problem. We then went to our other colleagues for more suggestions. One suggested that if she was losing time on her prep because of her lunch duty maybe giving her extra time to complete the task so that it gets done and time is not an issue. So, we are going to try that and address the situation using the strategies and skills that I have learned and shared with the other first grade teacher this week.