Facilitating Difficult Classroom Conversations

Do you find yourself overwhelmed and not sure how to respond when emotions get high in classroom discussions? Do you wonder how to respond when a student makes a statement that you worry might be difficult for other students to hear? Do you worry about how to draw boundaries while preserving relationships with students? Are you worried about how to engage when issues involving politics, social justice, and Inclusive Excellence arise?

In this AppLC, we'll explore these topics and others so that you increase your comfort with difficult situations and conversations within your classroom. We'll do so through learning how specific conflict mediation skills can help you facilitate difficult conversations so that conflict becomes a resource for learning, not an end to a productive classroom experience.

Grounded in a body of work called Nonviolent Communication, you'll have opportunities to practice and develop skills with a cohort of peers. Rather than merely offering you a list of tips and tricks, within a combination of whole-group, peer-to-peer support, and one-on-one coaching experiences, you will have the opportunity to explore and develop specific discussion leading and classroom conflict mediation skills that you can directly apply to your work with students.

The learning objectives include helping you to:

Understand how Nonviolent Communication (NVC) frames the origins of and levers for addressing conflict within the classroom
Develop empathic listening skills to focus on the details that underwrite conflict situations within the classroom
Learn how to manage oneself through stress and conflict as it arises in the classroom
Develop and practicing how to express understanding of someone who is experiencing stress within conflict
Develop introductory mediating skills to mediate yourself when in conflict with a student
Develop introductory mediating skills to mediate conflict between two students within a classroom encounter

Phase 1: Skills Orientation

September - October

In the first phase of the program, we will build community and orient ourselves to some grounding conflict mediation skills that we will then build upon and refine throughout the rest of the academic year. This will consist of four, 2-hour whole-group sessions. During this time, we will explore the foundational resources that we will continue to build upon during the rest of the program. We will also build skill to then begin ongoing peer-to-peer support structures in November. These are designed both to build skills and offer practical in-the-moment support for each participant.

Phase 2: Tailored Practice

November - May

In November, the program will shift to a blended model involving the start of our peer-to-peer support network, one whole-group and then optional one-on-one coaching sessions each month. In addition to the ongoing whole group and small group work, these private sessions will offer personalized coaching, tailored instruction, and individualized skill-building. Our aim will be to deepen skills by grounding ongoing learning and practice in the specific types of situations each group member navigates in their work experiences. Ongoing coaching will provide real-time opportunities to tailor the program's curriculum even further to each participant's specific learning needs.

Schedule

We will meet on Thursdays from 3:00 - 5:00 on these dates:

September 2 and 23 Community Development & Introduction to the Concept Mediation Framework
October 7 and 21 Continued exploration of the Concept Mediation Framework
November 4 Peer support sessions begin and advanced skill building begins
December 2 Begin individual coaching sessions and continue ongoing peer support groups
February 3 Continue skill building, peer support sessions, and individual coaching
March 10 Continue skill building, peer support sessions, and individual coaching
April 14 Continue skill building, peer support sessions, and individual coaching
May 12 Final Debrief

APPLY HERE

AppLC Facilitator: PJ Nelsen, PhD

I hold a PhD in philosophy of education from the University of New Hampshire. I currently teach courses focused on issues of social justice and nonviolence as they intersect with education. I have published widely in philosophy of education, especially on topics of social justice, ethics, and democratic education. I currently co-edit the interdisciplinary academic journal, Democracy & Education. My current research focuses on empathy and nonviolence as vital components for creating understanding and connection across deep division and conflict. I also coach and mediate faculty conflict through the Center for Academic Excellence. In that role, I also consult with the University’s Inclusive Excellence program to support having difficult conversations about issues of social justice.

Before moving to North Carolina, I lived and worked in New England, where I was a trainer and consultant leading workshops in team building, leadership development, and experiential adventure education for both Project Adventure, Inc. and the University of New Hampshire’s Browne Center for Innovative Learning. I worked with a variety of schools, nonprofits, therapeutic treatment centers, and corporate groups throughout the United States. Before becoming a trainer, I led wilderness trips (backpacking and canoeing), and I facilitated leadership and team building courses using adventure activities such as rock and ice climbing, challenge courses, orienteering, and white water paddling for organizations such as The Outdoor Centre of New England, YMCA Camp Takodah, and The Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. I also directed two high school adventure education programs, taught high school English, and ran a drop out prevention alternative high school program.

My desire to facilitate meaningful conversation across differences in a variety of settings propelled me to explore a body of work founded by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD, called Nonviolent Communication (NVC). I found his approach aligned with my educational commitments and helped me align the process-focused team building work that infuses adventure education with my teaching about social justice topics in my classrooms and work with others. Since discovering it in 2007, I have intensely studied the philosophy and practice of NVC through several intensive courses, including a nine-day International Intensive Training and two year-long programs focused on developing coaching and conflict mediation skills. I am currently a trainer certification candidate with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (www.cnvc.org).

For more information, email PJ Nelsen: nelsenpj@appstate.edu

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