Conflict Resolution with Xtranormal

There are so many possibilities with new technologies in schools, and yet many administrators are cutting programs and funding as well as limiting teacher and student creativity in the process.  While not all aspects of technology are noteworthy (I have a friend who's daughter texts over 12,000 times per month), others show great potential, especially for students who are so used to being "plugged in."  

One of the possible advantages of website such as Xtranormal is the idea of conflict resolution.  When I was subbing for a local school I found out that one class uses puppets for small children who are having a difficult time communicating with each other about a certain incident.  The puppet allows the student to speak indirectly to someone else about the problem at hand.  It isn't Jimmy talking, it is the puppet.  I have seen tactics like this work extremely well (in the proper setting, and with teachers who know how to mediate).  Using a web based alternative is not much of a stretch.

The animated characters offered on the website would act as the puppets.  Some may be more appropriate than others, but given guidelines and instruction students would be able to orchestrate how they perceived a given situation.  This recreation would help the student process what had happened by allowing them to tell their side of the story, and it would assist teachers in gleaning the truth of the matter after watching clips from the students who were involved.  It may also be helpful to have a witness give their account of what happened, via cute little animals with funny accents, just to have a somewhat objective take on the scenario if the teacher had not seen it firsthand.  Eventually the students could use their characters to communicate to each other, even if it is halting dialogue with phonetic spelling and no punctuation.  For some students this would not be very different than if they spoke to the other student directly.

I don't want to say that puppets or characters would take the place of live face-to-face conversations between students.  It could be another tool however, and may even help with the bullying issue in school.  Teachers can guide students through appropriate responses on the web, practicing or role playing before having the conversation in person.