Teaching the Power of Dialogue with Seniors Taking the Lead

Our conversations are not about conflict resolution or problem solving, but rather about CREATING A PROCESS in which differences of all kinds, such as ideas, values, experiences, identity, and worldview can be shared in a safe way without the fear of judgment or criticism. The focus is on LISTENING and UNDERSTANDING - not on persuading others to a point of view, trying to reach consensus, nor on having older girls share their ‘wisdom’ with younger girls

Why Do We Do This ?

Girls want to talk through and process things - and we sometimes cut them off for the sake of time

We want to provide a safe, comfortable place to talk about controversial or difficult issues

We want to take advantage of what we know already to be a successful system, i.e., older students working with younger students

We want to create a “workhorse” format for discussion that has versatility of use and that can be called into action as needed…PCP provides the structure for this that makes training needs minimal.

Our long term plans are to be able to use the structure as a community-wide vehicle for conversations.

The MODEL Public Conversations Project

PCP Since 1989, The Public Conversation Project (PCP) has worked in the U.S. and around the world facilitating dialogues on a wide range of issues including abortion, forest management, homosexuality and faith, biodiversity, the use of animals in research, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and many others. On a smaller scale, PCP aims to promote effective communication within organizations and communities. It also provides workshops and customized trainings that teach people how to use its dialogue methods.facilitating dialoguesprovides workshops

What will be the FORMAT of this facilitated conversation? How will it look ?

---Welcome + Goals (why do this? what are expectations ?) ---Facilitator explains to the group the guidelines and structure for the conversation --Facilitator explains her role as guide and ‘enforcer’ of guidelines --Facilitator initiates Confidentiality discussion and agreement --Facilitator explains how time will be used and enforced --Go-Round Format for Ques. #1 (+ name of person speaking)…with pause to think before answering --Go-Round Format for Ques. #2…with pause to think before answering --Facilitated Discussion - questions or statements of genuine interest --Facilitator wrap-up and Review of Confidentiality

Seniors DEBRIEF during Training

Always speak from your OWN experience

What do you feel was valuable about the conversation ?

What could have worked better for you ?

What do you wish people would be more aware of and more able to talk about at Chapin ?…and how do you think it would make a difference ?

In your opinion, can we use this or a similar format to facilitate substantive discussions in US ? ….Should we ?….. Should seniors be the people who run these discussions ?

If you were to facilitate a similar discussion with other students, is there a way you would like to tweak the format ? …or Not ?

If you were to facilitate a similar discussion with other students, how do you feel about using the same questions that we used ?

What are some other topics or questions we might pose to other Upper Schoolers ?