Independent Study 1

Literal:

I, Jacqueline Salas, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. I have created a portfolio of 30 mock mediation conflicts. Mock mediation conflicts are made up scenarios in which two students have a conflict. There may be other people involved but the type of scenarios that I focused on were based on two individuals. Mock mediation conflicts are used so that students in the peer mediation elective can practice mediating even if the conflicts are made up. They are really helpful when the disputants get into character and the mediators take it as if it were a real mediation.

Interpretive:

My work represents 30 hours of work because each mock mediation conflict took me one hour to write and edit/revise. I did 30 mock mediation conflicts and each of them was written with plenty of detail which really helps the disputants get into character. Each mock mediation conflict was about a page, so they are pretty lengthy, when I was finished with one I would revise it and made sure I had used correct grammar and punctuation. Coming up with a conflict took longer than I thought, one can argue that there are many conflicts in a person’s daily life which is true, but not all conflicts necessarily require mediation in order to solve. I needed to be able to come with a conflict that wasn’t too big because then mediation wouldn’t be the right way to solve it, nor too small because then the mediators would not be able to work with much. I believe that my work and log that I have created will definitely reflect the 30 hours I spent.

Applied:

My independent component helped me answer my essential question because it actually helped me come up with an answer which I hadn’t thought of before. An answer which I derived from creating the mock mediation conflicts was practice. My essential question is “what is most important to creating a successful peer mediation program” and one answer which I will now add is practice. It is important for peer mediators to have a lot of practice with “fake” conflicts so that they are fully prepared when they have to mediate a real conflict. I think my conflicts are going to be really useful to the peer mediation elective because they will be able to use the conflicts I wrote and find solutions for them. Some of the conflicts that I wrote were made up but most were real conflicts that I, friends or family had once encountered.The more real the conflicts are the better prepared mediators will be in the future.

 

Independent Component Log

1.1/12/11 60 min	7.1/16/11 63 min	13.1/22/11 62 min	19.1/28/11 60 min	25.2/5/1162 min
2.1/12/11 60 min	8.1/17/11 60 min	14.1/22/11 60 min	20.2/1/11 55 min	26.2/6/1160 min
3.1/14/11 60 min	9.1/18/11 61 min	15.1/23/11 65 min	21.2/2/11 60 min	27.2/7/11 61 min
4.1/15/11 62 min	10.1/18/11 62 min	16.1/25/11 63 min	22.2/3/11 61 min	28.2/7/11 59 min
5.1/15/11 65 min	11.1/20/11 62 min	17.1/25/11 61 min	23.2/4/11 62 min	29.2/8/11 62 min
6.1/16/11 61 min	12.1/20/11 60 min	18.1/26/11 62 min	24.2/5/11 60 min	30.2/8/11 60 min