The Can We? Project

Introduction

The Can We? Project was founded at Waynflete School in 2018 as a way to help high school students develop vital communication skills necessary for thoughtful participation in the world. Grounded in a set of beliefs that recognize students as capable and caring members of the various communities in which they exist, our work provides opportunities to develop the mindset, and learn and practice the skills of constructive dialogue across real and perceived differences.

The Can We? Project's work takes place in many different settings, though the core programming centers on a series of three full-day retreats for students in partner schools who engage in an interactive and iterative process that includes:

Self-reflection: Who am I, what do I believe, and who or what has influenced my beliefs?
Perspective taking and empathy: Who are you, what do you believe, and who or what has influenced your beliefs?
Inquiry: What matters to us? What questions can we ask to help better understand a topic, issue, or prespective that differs from our own? What are reliable resources for information?
Creative collaboration: What understandings can we create together that are informed by our varied viewpoints? Are there actions that we can take together?

How to use this resource: This collection of learning activities can be used as a stand alone resource for high school students and teachers and/or as a complement to the work done by students and teachers when participating in The Can We? Project retreat series. The intention is that these materials are used in ways that meet the needs of the users and within the context of individual learning goals and school practices.

As with our retreats, and especially when pair or group activities in this collection are used, we encourage you to practice the key constructive dialogue skills linked above and to abide by these community agreements when engaging in dialogue.

This collection is divided into five sections, with each section consisting of a number of different activities. The activities in each section are arranged so that the simpler, more accessible activities are in the first part of each section. The activities that go deeper come in the later part of the section. Each section can be reached by clicking the tab at the top of the home page. Within each section, you will find links to the individual activity sheets.

We are sharing this set of materials as a collection of PDF documents so that students and teachers can pick and choose the activities from each section that will best support their learning goals. For any activity that you choose to complete, just print the pages of the activity PDF and make as many copies as needed.

Our hope is that these activities will help participants:

Develop a mindset of curiosity, care, and courage and the empathy necessary for understanding and appreciating those with different perspectives from their own.
Further develop the skills necessary for participation in constructive dialogue across various real and perceived differences.
Cultivate a deeper understanding about what they and others believe in connection to key social and political issues, and understand how each came to develop those beliefs.
Deepen their understanding of what it means to live in a democracy.

Acknowledgements

This collection of learning activities was compiled, modified, and/or created for The Can We? Project by David Vaughan, a teacher and curriculum developer at Waynflete School in Portland, Maine where he has been instrumental in developing a school wide culture of constructive dialogue that contributed to the founding of The Can We? Project.

This collection was designed by Katherine Johnston, an education researcher and organizational strategist who has contributed her skills to defining and refining the core attributes of The Can We? Project and the work we do in schools.

PLEASE NOTE: The Can We? Project has drawn the majority of activities from other sources and has occasionally modified the original for use in our work. We have done our best to make sure that the credit to the original sources is noted at the end of the activity. We hope the activities in this collection will be of use to you in your learning journey and would appreciate hearing about your experience through this feedback form.

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