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Each of the previous four sections have been aimed at helping participants develop the mindset and skills needed to engage in constructive dialogue across differences.
Even those people who have strong self awareness, possess a high degree of empathy, and are able to ask questions of themselves and others find it challenging to have dialogue across differences. Youth and adults alike need to have the foundational skills at the root of the first four sections of this set of activities.
The last area of focus is to then practice having conversations about difficult topics with others. Some of the activities in this section model the kinds of constructive dialogue we hope this program will generate; other activities give participants the time and opportunity to practice having such conversations within a structured framework.
Activities:
V-1 Working Together to Address Our Challenges
V-1 Working Together to Address Our Challenges
Goal:
To become better listeners and identify some of the challenges experienced when having conversations about difficult issues.
V-2 Have You Reached Across the Aisle?
V-2 Have You Reached Across the Aisle?
Goals:
To learn about specific examples of when people with differing viewpoints about major issues were able to work together to find common ground.
To identify key factors that enabled people with different viewpoints to work together.
V-3 One Small Step: Conversations Across Differences
V-3 One Small Step: Conversations Across Differences
Goal:
To witness the power of empathy when it is present between two people who have distinct differences in perspective.
V-4 Finding Humanity in Difficult Political Conversations
V-4 Finding Humanity in Difficult Political Conversations
Goal:
To reflect on when and how to engage in difficult political conversations.
V-5 Can A Divided America Heal?
V-5 Can A Divided America Heal?
Goal:
To examine factors that make civil dialogue about challenging topics difficult in the United States.
V-6 Responding to Difference in a Democracy
V-6 Responding to Difference in a Democracy
Goals:
To consider the varied ways people respond to differences by reading and reflecting on a poem.
To think about how we can better navigate religious and political tensions in democratic societies and explore ways of finding common ground amidst the landscape of differing opinions in a community.
V-6A What Should We Do With Differences in a Democracy
V-6A What Should We Do With Differences in a Democracy
Goal:
To continue exploration and reflection on what people should do with differences within a democracy.
V-7 Purple: America, We Need to Talk
V-7 Purple: America, We Need to Talk
Goals:
To learn about how other groups promote civil dialogue.
To use these examples to plan and facilitate civil dialogue.
V-8 Deliberative Democracy: America in One Room
V-8 Deliberative Democracy: America in One Room
Goals:
To learn about a particular approach to dialogue across differences.
To build skills that will help you engage in such conversations when the time comes.
V-9 How to Have Conversations Across Differences
V-9 How to Have Conversations Across Differences
Goal:
To provide a structured opportunity to practice civil dialogue.
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