1. Peace Area: Place or Process?
Time: 1 minute (includes next slide)
Elapsed Time: 1 minute (includes next slide)
Materials: slide
My name is ______________________ and I am the ____________ (state position) in the Social and Emotional Learning Department. I am here today to provide information and guidance on how to set up Peace Areas in your classrooms as part of the agreement for schools who are participating in the SEL initiative.
Presented by A.I.S.D. Social and Emotional Learning Department

2. Objective:
Understand the purpose and procedure for teaching and using a peace area in the classroom
Time: included in first slide Elapsed time: 1 minute

3. Consider how many times in a typical day your students ask you:
for help resolving a conflict with a peer
for comfort due to overwhelming emotions
Time: 1 minute
Elapsed Time: 2 minutes
Materials: slide
Please reflect for a moment on the statement on this slide. (Pause) Now consider how much of your instructional time is compromised each day due to these requests. Teaching students the processes for conflict resolution and emotional self-regulation fosters self-reliance, thereby allowing for more instructional time because the teacher does not have to stop teaching in order to intervene. Creating a Peace Area in your classroom gives you a place to teach the process of conflict resolution, which then can be used anywhere.

4. What might a Peace Area look like?
Time: 3 minutes
Elapsed Time: 5 minutes
Materials: slide
Peace Areas provide a space where a safe, structured process for resolving conflicts and self-regulating emotions can be learned and practiced.
Peace Areas don’t have to be this large or elaborate - - this is the classroom of someone who has been doing this for a few years.
The Peace Area should be in a space that is free of traffic and large enough that two students can occupy the space at the same time.
Think about what works for you and for your students – There should be a process anchor chart or path and the “At the peace area” chart so students may refer to them as needed.
Everything else is optional – there’s a list of optional ideas on your handout.

5. Is there more than one way to set up a Peace Area?
Time: 1 minute
Elapsed Time: 6 minutes
Materials: slide
While these are all referred to as peace areas, the outward appearance varies. (Point out the differences in the photos)
Yes! What’s important is the process, not the place!

6. What are the guidelines for a Peace Area?
Voluntary
Middle range problems
5 to 10 minutes
Teacher monitors and processes afterward
Time: 5 minutes
Elapsed Time: 11 minutes
Materials: slide
There are a few guidelines to follow when creating a peace area.
First- Students go to this space on a voluntary basis. It is not meant to be used as a time out spot or a place for students to write a reflective piece on consequences of behavior. The student or students should be allowed to go to the peace area to reflect on their feelings or resolve conflicts on their own.
Next: The peace area is used to resolve middle range problems. Egregious acts of disrespect or violence should be handled by the teacher or administrator.
At the introduction of the “Peace Area” process, your students may want to use this area to resolve every conflict in your classroom. This is normal. How to properly handle situations in the Peace Area can be best be addressed in two ways:
First, model and discuss situations that would be appropriate for a student or students to handle in the Peace Area. You will want to talk about using the Peace Area for self-reflection AND for conflict resolution.
2. Second, regulate how the Peace Area is used by setting a time limit of 5 to 10 minutes. Put an egg timer in the area as a physical reminder so students are mindful of returning to class to continue with their academics. You may have to coach students through the process for the first couple of weeks. They will become independent – promise!

7. How do students use the Peace Area for Self-regulation?
Time: 2 minutes
Elapsed Time: 13 minutes
Materials: Pass out ‘Peace Area Anchor Charts” handout- the teachers will take these with them.
After you have set and modeled guidelines of when to use the Peace Area, then you can practice how the students actually use the Peace Area. One process the students can practice is self-regulation, or cool down. The peace area provides the child a safe place where he/she can be alone to calm down. The student may return to the class or his seat as soon as he is ready – the teacher does not control the time. As a teacher, you may certainly check in with the student to help him process or to talk about whether or not he needs more time (in keeping with the 5 to 10 minute window).

8. How do you teach your students to use the Peace Area for emotional self-regulation?
Time: 2 minutes
Elapsed time: 15 minutes
Materials: slide
We are ing you a possible script for teaching use of the Peace area for self-regulation. You will want to teach self-regulation first, let your students practice that for about a week, then teach conflict resolution which we’ll talk more about in a minute. Remember that you will have to coach students through the process when they first start to use it, and that they may overuse the peace area at the beginning. They will become independent. You will also need to review the process after vacations.
We will also a set of “Ways to Calm Down” cards that were posted on the Committee for Children website forum. You can pick and choose which options for calming down will work for your students. You can either make a poster to help your students choose a mode of calming themselves, or you might make a set of laminated cards on a ring for older students.

9. How do students use the Peace Area for Conflict-resolution?
Time: 4 minutes
Elapsed time: 19 minutes
Materials: slide
SAY: When two students are having a problem, they can use the Peace Area for solving that problem. Keeping in mind that the process is more important than the place, the visual of the steps can be a path taped to the floor, a banner on the wall, or a poster or anchor chart listing the steps. We have a few examples to show you – this one is an anchor chart. The steps are done in order. You can get your class to generate appropriate responses for what a closure would look like: bumping fists, hugs, or handshakes.
Activity: ( on handout) Turn to your partner and resolve this issue using the peace area script :
Adult scenario- You are using the copy machine and another teacher “accidentally” interrupts your copying to make ten copies because his or her planning period is almost over.
Student scenario- You are a second grade student, and as you walk into the classroom, you notice your best friend whispering to another student and looking directly at you. Your feelings are hurt because you think they may be talking about you.

10. Time: 5 minutes with videos – skip modeling if time crunch
Elapsed time: 24 minutes
Materials: slide, videos
The top picture is a Peace Path – students stand across from each other and do what is on the paper. The bottom visual is for younger children needing more visuals. It is called a “Talk and Walk”. This one could be doubled so both students are speaking. These both came from Stacey Feldman at Zilker Elementary.
A Peace Path, Talk and Walk, Peace Area, Peace Center or Peace Table is a concrete tool for teaching students the process for resolving their conflicts. Once the process is learned, students can use it wherever they are.
MODEL: (You will need to have a volunteer model this with you)
You were bullied on the play ground and your friend did not step up to help you out of the uncomfortable situation.
You decide to resolve this issue using the peace path: decide who you will confront, the bully or your friend.
Show videos!!
Notes for each video:
Top: point out that the girls are facing one another on either side of the path, to help them through the process
Bottom: The banner is posted on the outside wall of the structure and students walk as each step is completed

11. Time: 2 minutes
Elapsed time: 32 minutes
Materials: evaluation forms, slide
We value your feedback. Please take just a minute to complete the form and leave it in the center of your table. I will be by to pick it up. Thank you again for all the work you are doing in social and emotional learning!
Special thanks to Lindy Garrett and Daniel Gach for their enormous contribution to content, the students in Mathew Garland’s and Leticia Saucedo’s classes at Zilker Elementary for their demonstration of the peace process in their classrooms, and all the teachers at Metz, Sanchez and Govalle Elementary Schools who allowed us to photograph their peace areas. Also, special thanks to counselor Stacey Feldman at Zilker Elementary for her peace path template and talk-n-walk visuals, and to Maria Mendoza at Andrews Elementary for the dual language peace path.