If you're avoiding conflict, you might be ruining trust and success in your classroom

This one’s about me, folks! Joe and I dissect a story from long ago in which I caved to my conflict aversion — and then doubled back to engage with the conflict. Because it felt just too awful to continue to avoid it! In addition to sharing the surprising outcome of my conflict engagement,

we talk about…

• the subtle dynamics of self-erasure and avoidance

• power grabs in collaborative settings

• the transformative practice of repair

• the pervasive nature of parallel process in all human interactions, from classrooms to personal life

• why we hate group work (added bonus)

For my non-teachers out there: Engaging with rather than avoiding conflict is a sure-fire way to strengthen any relationship — if you go about it with authenticity and clear boundaries. This episode relates to you, too!

As always, send me your crazy teaching story. If it’s juicy enough, we can work on it and put it on the podcast! (Completely confidentially, of course.) And, if you like the podcast, please write a review on whatever app you use. Thanks so much for listening!

Credits:

Founder and Host: Betsy Burris
Co-host: Joe Johnson
Producer: Jullian Androkae
Music: Tom Burris/Jabbering Trout