Conflict Resolution Lesson for Middle School – Interactive Digital Game

Raise your hand if you deal with middle school drama on the daily. Looking for a conflict resolution lesson for middle school that helps your students handle the drama? Read below to learn about the following lesson: Conflict Resolution: Spin the Wheel.

I don’t know about you, but middle school drama has been rearing its ugly head lately. My middle school is a bit outside the norm, and we have grades 5-8 in our middle school building. Most of my students have been in school together since Kindergarten. So they all know each other and come to my building with a whole lot of backstory.

My 5th graders have been escpecially embroiled in friendship conflicts this past month. There’s been a whole lot of “he said, she said” and rumors going around. It’s been a little exhausting, for both me and my students. They definitely seem to be lacking some fundamental conflict resolution skills. (To be fair, I think most adults may be lacking conflict resolution skills, so no shade to my students.)

I am sure they have been taught conflict resolution in elementary school, but I wanted to design a refresher that was both relevant and engaging. This lesson is designed to be a conflict resolution lesson for middle school, and as such, I didn’t want something that was: A) boring and B) too juvenile.

Also, I don’t know about you, but I am very busy on any given day, so I really wanted something that was low-prep and print-and-go.

[Related Post: Use Game-Based Learning to Increase Engagement During SEL Lessons]

Lesson Overview: Resolve the Conflict

So here’s the basic premise: this is a interactive Google slides classroom game. Students are split into the teams, and the objective of the game (aside from learning about ways to resolve conflicts!) is to be the team that earns the most points.

There are 3 rounds to this game. In each round, students are introduced to a scenario about different middle school students experiencing various levels of conflict. Teams then “spin” a wheel and have to answer the question it lands on.

Honestly, one of the most exciting parts for me was desiging a functional spinner for Google slides. I searched high and low on the internet for a way to create a working spinner in Google slides… and came up empty. I now know that Google slides’ animation capabilities are limited when compared to PowerPoint. However, I don’t often use PowerPoint for my lessons. I’ve been using Google slides since I was teaching in the classroom over a decade ago.

So needless to say, I was determinded to figure out a solution. What I came up with is an emdedded spinner that actually spins! The drawback is that it is predetermined to land on a certain category. It was impossible to make a truly randomized spinner. But actually, this works out better for the purposes of this game because it ensures that every question is landed on. I’ve done this lesson with a couple of classes, and so far, students have not caught on 😉

Conflict Resolution Scenarios & Categories

The scenarios in this game are all from 2nd person point of view, so students are able to imagine themselves in each situation. Along with 3 rounds, there are 6 categories of questions, making this game 18 questions long. Conflict resolution skills are embedded throughout the questions to increase student interest.

In Scenario 1, students are introduced to a conflict in the cafeteria where a friend may or may not have given them a dirty look.

Scenario 2 takes place in math class, and there is a distracting and frustrating student sitting next to them.

Scenario 3 occurs at recess where there is some friend drama occuring between them and two different friends.

The categories are as follows:

• Conflict
• Solutions
• I Message
• Size of the Problem
• Perspective
• Roadblocks

Students discuss problem-solving, empathy, I statements, and common issues that prevent us from finding solutions. By the end of each round, they brainstorm ways to solve each problem. As they play the game, each round has the same 6 categories of questions. The questions are different; however the repetition helps to reinforce the skills.

By the end of the game, one team will be the winner (yay!), but more importantly, students will have reviewed the foundational skills of conflict resolution.

If you are interested in this conflict resolution lesson for middle school, you can find it in my TPT store: Conflict Resolution: Spin the Wheel.

Hopefully, this helps your middle school students better handle the drama of middle school and find positive solutions for their day-to-day conflicts.

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