Upcoming Series: Shifting the Conversation from Debate to Dialogue & Recognizing Political Affiliation as a Social Identity

Personal Learning as Part of Educational Development: A NED Affiliated Series

These structured 75 minute round table discussions begin with topic orientation and then direct engagement in large and small groups in structured discussions. Participants are asked to actively and directly participate.

Underlying Purpose

Help faculty become more comfortable supporting students and facilitating discussions around the election and politics.

Dialogue philosophy

We learn facilitation skills best through experiencing the conversations we may encounter as facilitators. So, these sessions ask for direct participation from participants.

Shifting the Conversation from Debate to Dialogue

These round table discussions will focus on the difference between debate and dialogue. Participants will practice using debate and dialogue when in conversation with one another. We will discuss each approach and how and why to encourage dialogue in the classroom.

This is an introductory session for those who have avoided conflict or disagreement in their classrooms/group meetings or who have had conversations go poorly. The session will provide example language to use with students and advice on how to set guidelines that allow for respectful communication across viewpoints. The session will also identify techniques that can be used to return students to a dialogue if the conversation begins to veer in a disrespectful direction.

Recognizing Political Affiliation as a Social Identity

One reason political conversations have become so difficult in the last couple decades is that political identity, for many, is tied to social identities. For some, political identity is as rooted as one’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. This round table discussion takes that reality seriously and asks participants to consider how political identity is formed through socialization processes. Participants will complete a timeline of their own political socialization. First, they will determine how they identify politically. Then, they will map how they came to that identity over the course of their lifetime. By sharing their own timelines of political identity with one another, participants come to better understand the experiences and forces that shape our political identities and what may have led someone to adopt a different political identity than themselves.

This approach allows us to suspend discussion of specific policies or even individual impact of political decisions to first understand why others may see politics differently than ourselves. This session will be best suited for those with some existing practice facilitating potentially controversial conversations.

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Registration required, maximum 30 participants each!

Questions? Contact Jessica Prody.