Week 4 Day 4: Problem-Solving

We returned to the North Remnant Forest for one last invasive species pulling session. We had two goals: 1. Have fun. 2. Make sure others are having fun. From the looks of the session, people were well on their way to achieving their goals. Later, we put the finishing touches on our ELP projects. Thanks for your efforts during social skills and service learning!

Family Follow-Up

For our last social skills group of the summer, we got a chance to demonstrate the social problem -solving steps that we learned this week during role-plays. We also evaluated the skits to ensure that all the negotiation and compromise steps were included. Everyone did a great job acting out their respective parts!

Negotiation and Compromise Steps:
Make a neutral problem statement.
Brainstorm options.
Consider consequences.
Negotiate.
Reach a compromise.

Tonight: Ask your teen to describe the role-play they were in. Which steps were described?

Week 4 Day 3: Problem-Solving

It was fabulous to have Corey, Nate, Ryan and Will all here today!

For our service learning blocks, we worked with Cupcake, Sara and Megan from the Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) in the North Remnant Forest. We paired up with WCC members to irrigate the small native species plants. During this time, we also used the problem-solving steps we learned about during our social skills group.

Later, we added music and video clips to our service learning projects, which will be ready for invited guests to view on Friday.

Family Follow-Up

Today we continued learning about problem solving skills by identifying negotiation and compromise steps used by others during role-plays. Tomorrow, we'll have an opportunity to practice these steps in our own role-plays.

Negotiation and Compromise Steps
1. Make a neutral problem statement.
2. Brainstorm options.
3. Consider consequences.
4. Negotiate.
5. Reach a compromise.

Tonight: Try out one of these activities.

1. Catch a problem happening. It can be on TV, in a movie or in real life. Notice which steps are being used. How can you tell they are being used?

2. Tell your teen about a problem in which you used these steps. Then ask your teen to describe how they used these steps today.

Example:
"The problem was that my friend and I wanted to do the same job. We came up with
two ideas. 1. Nobody gets to do the job. 2. We take turns doing the job. If nobody got to do the job, than neither of us would be happy. We decided that we each could do the job for 10 minutes. I let my friend do the job first. "

Week 4 Day 2: Problem-Solving

Even though it was raining, we still went out to rid the North Remant Forest of its invasive species. We identified and photographed four native and four invasive species. It was impressive how quickly and accurately people identified these types of plants.

We also continued working on our ELP projects, interviewing volunteers, selecting music and pictures that describe what we've accomplished this summer.

Family Follow-Up

We focused on brainstorming, the next step for systematic problem-solving. We learned that brainstorming is a way to generate potential solutions to problems. To practice this skill, we brainstormed solutions to the following riddle:

Romeo and Juliet are dead. They are lying in a pool of water surrounded by broken glass. What happened?

Brainstorming: Think about all possible solutions

Tonight: More brainstorming! Here's another riddle for you to solve.

"A woman is walking down the street in the rain, but her hair doesn't get wet. Why?"

Generate as many potential solutions as you can think of for this problem. How many ideas can you generate? Which one do you think is the correct solution?

Click on the Family Follow-Up comments to find the answer.

Week 4 Day 1: Problem-Solving

We returned to the North Remant Forest today, where the hard work continues. We worked in the very back section of the forest as we've already cleared the other areas of invasive species. Carrie also interviewed each of us about service learning. We'll be able to watch these clips at our ELP wrap-up party!

Family Follow-Up

Today we started working on the four steps to creating win-win solutions to problems. We watched role plays in which we had to decide what the problem was and whether or not the situation ended with a win-win solution.

Win-win solution: A solution to a social problem where each person feels like their needs and feelings have been considered.

The first step toward creating a win-win solution is to analyze the problem.

Analyze: to think carefully about each part. understand each aspect of the situation.

Questions that help you analyze:
What's the problem?
How do you feel?
What do you want?
Do you need more information?


Tonight: Identify one problem that comes up (it can be a small one). Ask your teen to label it. Together, answer the questions to begin analyzing the problem. Are your answers the same? How are they different?

Example: The problem is that dishwasher is broken and we have some dirty dishes. I feel frustrated and want to know how to fix it. I need to know if it can be fixed right now."