1.-5.6.2015
For the second time this year, prospective and current student mentors met at the wannseeFORUM for a five-day training seminar. This time, approximately 15 students each from the Alexander Pushkin School (Lichtenberg), the Friedrich Ebert Gymnasium (Wilmersdorf), and the Vincent van Gogh School (Hohenschönhausen) participated.
This seminar round also aimed to coach the participants in their role as student mentors, buddies or teamers (the respective projects are sometimes called different things at the schools), and to provide them with methods with which they can support the new seventh graders in their school change after the summer holidays.
The seminar content included moderation and communication coaching, action planning, game leadership coaching, conflict resolution strategies, and anti-discrimination training. A particular focus of this seminar cycle arose from the current needs of young people. Bullying, an acute problem in many Berlin schools, raised numerous questions during the seminar: How can bullying patterns be recognized and broken down? Who plays what role? And how can effective strategies for combating exclusion and violence in schools be developed?
Much thought and rethinking, discussion, experimentation, and discarding took place, both in small groups and in plenary sessions, throughout the day and into the evening. The mentors and buddies from the three schools should now be ideally prepared for their responsible task in the coming school year.