Recap: Leading Difficult Discussions
On October 2, CETL facilitated a workshop on “Leading Difficult Discussions” for an audience of instructors, graduate TAs, and faculty members. Josh Eyler introduced the concept with an opening activity on reflection, in which participants identified topics or circumstances that might lead to difficult discussions. They suggested many potential sources of difficulty, including challenging course texts and the many different worldviews that the students come into the classroom with.
Before the Discussion
Josh next introduced a few considerations we should make before beginning the discussion, specifically the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘buy-in.’ Creating a community translates into making sure our students are safe and feeling comfortable before the discussion. Buy-in corresponds to the question, ‘Are students invested in collaborating?’
Oftentimes, we emphasize creating safe spaces for our students, but Josh suggested converting safe spaces into brave spaces, which not only gives creative freedom for our students to express themselves, but also ensures that they are accountable for their words and actions.
Finally, participants were invited to consider a discussion plan, which involves creating a set of guidelines, transparent goals, and targeted outcomes of the upcoming discussion with our students.
During the Discussion
But what do we, as instructors, do during a difficult discussion? Liz Norell gave participants a few things to consider:
First, is it clear to everyone in the class where we’re going and why? This helps us connect to the guidelines we had established before the discussion and keeps things from going off the rails.
Second, participants were encouraged to establish structure, clarifying the directions and expectations for the discussion. There are many approaches we could use to structure an ongoing discussion, from letting students to speak in turns, assigning them different discussion roles, and weaving in moments of silence in between the discussion.
Third, Liz suggested that we promote curiosity by cultivating and modeling good discussion practices like active listening or inquisitiveness. She also shared questions we might use to promote curiosity, like “What evidence might support that claim?” “What assumptions are we making if we take that position?” and “What led you to that point of view?”
When Things Go off the Rails
Next, Emily Donahoe shared some strategies for when the discussion drifts off-topic or into unproductive territory. She introduced three frameworks for responding to microaggressions, as well as some language to address inappropriate student comments. Phrases like “You may not realize how this sounded, but…” or “Let’s remember the discussion guidelines we created for…” can help both acknowledge the potential harms of a comment and get the discussion back on track.
In the last part of the workshop, Emily introduced a few case studies, which provided examples of difficult discussions in different classroom contexts. Participants considered how they might respond to a highly personal discussion about police brutality, for example, or to a series of charged and unproductive small-group conversations about transgender athletes.
Finally, many groups summarized their discussions, posing interesting questions for the facilitators. This led to conversations about, for example, the concept of “civility” in the classroom and the merits of content warnings. Using an anecdote from his personal experience, Josh emphasized the need to know our students before we are ready to lead difficult discussions. Honestly, this was my favorite part of the workshop, since the conversations with fellow instructors helped me formulate my own ideas about leading discussions more effectively.
After the Discussion
To wrap up, we briefly talked about what we can do after the discussion has concluded. This included helping the students gather important takeaways from the discussion, checking up on them and their mental health, and introducing them to supportive campus resources.
If you’d like to explore this topic further, you can access CETL’s presentation slides and associated resources here. Our mini-series on teaching during election season came to a close this week, but we hope you’ll join us for other events, including a November workshop on Developing a Trauma-Aware Pedagogy and upcoming book launches for Josh Eyler and Liz Norell.
 | A guest post by
|