What if your students could
focus on learning?

Students can’t learn and teachers can’t teach when there’s infighting among the students or between students, parents, teachers, or administrators. We provide solutions to create a more productive learning atmosphere, for everyone to enjoy.

They key to classroom harmony is a healthy set of communication skills and respectful dynamic between teachers and students. The Harmony Strategies Group offers one-on-one and group coaching options for teachers and faculty, teaching conflict management and negotiation skills that enhance relationships with each other and students.

Restorative Practices and Circles

Restorative Justice (aka Restorative Practice) focuses on building and maintaining harmony by addressing harm in a collaborative conversation. We apply Community and Restorative Circles to develop a respectful classroom culture and mutual concern among students. We are not interested in "blame and punishment" but rather "repairing the harm." The process allows for the perpetrator to acknowledge the harm done and make amends, while offering the stakeholders an opportunity for their pain to be heard and validated. The ultimate effect? A harmonious classroom where students can learn effectively, teachers can teach without disruption, and school performance is at its peak.

For more on this topic, see our recent article: "The Magic of Harmony Circles".

Conflict Assessments and Solutions

Bullying, teasing, bickering, and fights are common among students and detract from learning. Many students lack basic discipline at home and are disrespectful and defiant to teachers, staff, and administrators. By assessing student and teacher attitudes and habits, we create action-plans for schools to become better equipped to handle these challenging dynamics. Our solutions prevent unnecessary escalation that drains the entire school system of valuable time and resources. We offer school-wide conflict management assessments and individual coaching to principals, teachers, and key staff. Our coaching and consulting solutions train teachers and staff to treat problems early-on, to optimize the teaching/learning experience and create a school culture of tolerance, respect, and understanding.

Peer Mediation

Along with other conflict management services, we can train and direct peer-mediation programs in both public and private schools. These programs empower students to effectively handle playground and classroom conflicts themselves. Many of the student-mediators go on to leadership positions, where their mediation training helps them throughout their lives. And other students and teachers benefit from the program by averting power-dynamics problems that can arise when teachers or administrators get involved. Peer mediation programs have been proven to be greatly beneficial, allowing students and teachers alike to focus better in the classroom and beyond.

Adult Workshops

We offer workshops for educational boards, principals, teachers, and administrators, that highlight key discipline and listening-skills. Our workshops include:

Adult Workshops
This program helps teachers and administrators identify different types of conflicts as they appear in school. From outright bullying to more subtle conflicts between friends, participants will engage in practical ways of identifying and addressing the different types of conflicts, not only with the students, but also with parents and fellow faculty and administrators. The program will include: basic negotiation skills, conflict triggers and escalation patterns, adversarial body language, name-calling, and other related topics. Participants will come out with a deeper understanding of the varied types of conflict and empowered with practical means of handling them.
This workshop highlights ways and means of building a more tolerant classroom culture. By introducing the science behind how our brains categorize our lives, the program helps teachers and administrators better target the underlying causes behind attitudes and assumptions in class. We also incorporate interactive exercises meant to develop our understanding of schemas and how they lead to stereotypes and prejudice. The workshop highlights methods of discipline and class rules that promote equality among students and mutual respect. Participants will end the day with a greater understanding of how to create a culture of empathy, and the skills and information will help them in both the classroom and beyond.
This workshop highlights ways and means of building a more resilient classroom culture. By introducing the science behind how our brains process information, the program helps teachers and administrators better target the underlying causes behind attitudes and misbehavior in class. We also incorporate interactive exercises meant to develop our understanding of schemas and how they lead to stereotypes and prejudice. The workshop highlights methods of discipline and class rules that promote equality among students and mutual respect. Participants will end the day with a greater understanding of how to create a classroom where children are eager learners and respectful peers.
This program introduces the concept of schemas and how they frame our perception of infinite daily routines and patterns. It then develops how schemas lead to stereotypes, prejudice, and ultimately racism and racial profiling. Lively discussion and role-plays help develop sensitivity to the problems that schemas raise in modern society, followed by brainstorming remedies.
This program highlights how people of different backgrounds and cultures have different perspectives on issues and events. Through simulations and discussion, participants better understand that different perspectives are not by nature “wrong” but rather “new”. As such, listening to other people’s perspectives opens opportunities for growth, change, and cooperation. Participants in this seminar come out with better skills for facing identity-based and issue-based conflicts.
This workshop discusses teacher burnout and how it effects the school system, holistically. We will develop action-plans to address key areas where we feel “boredom” and professional-fatigue, while also honing in on the stresses that drive us to distraction. Stress-management techniques will be discussed and introduced, along with practical readings and website links that can help both in the classroom and beyond.
This workshop introduces and defines “resilience” and how to promote it in the classroom. We delve into what builds resilience and specific ways of introducing it as a complement to any curriculum. Skills and topics we cover include: mindfulness, grit-priming techniques, and listening skills for teachers and administrators. Participants will come away with an enhanced understanding of what resilience means and practical techniques for inculcating it in their classrooms and school cultures.

Student Workshops

In addition to our adult programming, we deliver workshops directly to students, encouraging teamwork, focusing on body language, and introducing inter-active listening-skills. Workshops for students are designed for elementary through high school participants, each customized according to the specific needs of the school. Offerings include:

Student Workshops
This workshop focuses on verbal and body language and how they are used in classroom power plays. We include conflict exercises and role-plays to enact realistic conflict scenarios, specifically highlighting how body language can be interpreted to fuel conflict escalation. Students will come away with greater awareness of how physical behaviors, gestures, and unspoken language can affect their interactions and either fuel or quell conflicts.
This program helps students identify different types of conflicts and how to appropriately and powerfully address them. From outright bullying to more subtle conflicts between friends, participants will engage in practical ways of identifying and addressing the different types of conflicts, not only with fellow students, but also with parents and teachers. The program will include: conflict triggers and escalation patterns, adversarial body language, name-calling, and other related topics. Participants will come out with a deeper understanding of the varied types of conflict and empowered with practical means of handling them.
Children negotiate all the time. From sharing toys to deciding who should be first in line, they are constantly navigating how to get their way. This workshop introduces conflict-resolution theory, in order to help students handle their negotiations more powerfully and thoughtfully. We focus on how targeted listening, bargaining tactics, and evaluating options can help them make more calculated, mature decisions in their disputes. Students come away with practical skills as well as food for thought on how to navigate their future negotiations.
This workshop begins by defining empathy and discussing its importance throughout our lives. We then focus on how our facial expressions, gestures, and other physical signals can indicate our concern and care for others. By using non-verbal cues, we can convey many messages, including those of compassion, anger, or fear. Participants come away with heightened awareness of their body language and how to use it to convey the desired messages.

Note: all services are customized to meet individual client's needs. For more information and an overview of our services, visit our services page.

 

 
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