Listening to each other: How to encourage respectful discourse in the classroom

When: October 24, 2024, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Presenter(s): Vicki Lens (Social Work), Katie Winkelstein-Duveneck (English)

This past year we have seen our students passionately engaged in socially and politically charged topics, but in ways that sometimes challenged each other and us. This session describes different models for engaging in intellectual and civil discourse in the classroom, from the structured format of debates to the more collaborative open-ended conversation of dialogue. We will also explore the role of emotions when discussing contentious issues, and how the art of rhetoric and other techniques can be used to persuade, find common ground, and turn the temperature down.