Courageous Conversations: The Six Conditions Presented by: Rose Michels 4/10/12
Review: The 4 Agreements Stay Engaged Speak Your Truth Experience Discomfort Expect/Accept Non-Closure These agreements create a structure for dialogue in order to: engage those who won’t talk sustain the conversation when it gets uncomfortable or diverted. deepen the conversation to the point where authentic understanding and meaningful actions occur. (Singelton &Linton, 2006)
The compass is the protocol of “how” we have the conversation. So, here is our compass that we have been working with and we have been asked to check in with our compass at the beginning of pds. I have noticed some people either are looking for something to say or are not talking about racial issues when it comes to checking in with their compasses. That is because the next piece of Courageous Conversations hasn’t been introduced and that is the “what” are we talking about. Just to be clear, the why is because we have a disparity of achievement and discipline when it comes to our black students and as a result, the district has made it it’s charge to address these issues of inequity through the use of Courageous Conversations.
The six conditions: are the “what” we need to talk about and what we need to be mindful of during interracial dialogue. Keep it personal, local, and immediate. Isolate race. Engage multiple racial perspectives. Monitor parameters. Use a working definition of race. (In CC, race is the color of your skin.) Examine the role of whiteness. The six conditions are intentionally written in an order to help educators progress through the conditions in order to enhance focus and help address the racial disparity in schools. Through practice, we will all move toward mastering complete engagement in meaningful dialogue around racial issues.
So, let’s practice Please take about 6 minutes to read through the article from the Oregonian. Then, using the 4 agreements, begin a conversation about the article. Remember, start with the first condition: Keep it local, personal, and immediate. Keep it local…this means it is safe to use words like, I or in my experience… Please make sure all have a chance to speak, which means for now, please keep your comment to 3 sentences until everyone has had a chance to contribute to the conversation.
The six conditions: are the “what” we need to talk about and what we need to be mindful of during interracial dialogue. Keep it personal, local, and immediate. Isolate race. Engage multiple racial perspectives. Monitor parameters. Use a working definition of race. (In CC, race is the color of your skin.) Examine the role of whiteness. The six conditions are intentionally written in an order to help educators progress through the conditions in order to enhance focus and help address the racial disparity in schools. Through practice, we will all move toward mastering complete engagement in meaningful dialogue around racial issues.