Difficult Dialogues: Resources for Teaching in a Fraught Climate

by Tasha Souza, Cynthia Ganote, Libby Roderick, and Floyd Cheung  |   

As teachers, we cannot control all aspects of the learning environment. Sometimes local, national, and international events send shock waves through our communities that most of us cannot ignore and that all of us--students, faculty, and staff--experience in different ways. Although we can never predict how to respond in such moments, here are a handful of resources that might help with framing conversations both in and outside of the classroom.

Teaching after Charlottesville by Derek Bruff
  •      A review of best-practices for faculty-student interactions after a traumatic event
  •      Resources specific to teaching in the wake of violence at Charlottesville in 2017
Discussing Traumatic Events from UC Berkeley
  •      Guidelines on how to prepare for and structure a discussion, if you should choose to do so
Video by Brené Brown on Empathy
  •   3-minute video on distinction between empathy and sympathy
  •   Strategies about how to listen to and connect with someone who is suffering
Calling In: A Quick Guide on When and How​ by Sian Ferguson
  •      Distinction between calling out and calling in as ways to get someone to stop an oppressive behavior
  •      Calling in attempts to do this in the most loving, self-respecting way possible                                                                  
The Faculty Focus Special Report on ​Diversity and Inclusion in the College Classroom​

  •      ​”Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom: Concrete Strategies for Cooling Down Tension” (p. 4)

  •      “Seven Bricks to Lay the Foundation for Productive Difficult Dialogues” (p. 6)

  •      ​”Overcoming Racial Tension: Using Student Voices to Create Safe Spaces​ in the Classroom” (p.9)

  •      “​Managing Microaggressions in the College Classroom” (p. 10).                                                            

Responding to Everyday Bigotry from Southern Poverty Law Center

  •      Strategies for responding to bigotry at work, home, in public, and in yourself                                                  

Responding to Microaggressions with Microresistance: A Framework for Consideration by Cynthia Ganote, Floyd Cheung, and Tasha Souza (pp. 3-7)
  •      Theory of how microresistance can be an effective response to microaggression
Start Talking:  A Handbook for Engaging Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education, ed. Kay Landis
  • Field manual of strategies for engaging controversial topics in the classroom.
Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education by Libby Roderick
  •      Book on how indigenous ways of knowing and communicating can lead to more authentic learning and teaching in all communities
Self-Care Resources for Days When the World Is Terrible compiled by Miriam Zoila Pérez
  •      Ideas for how to maintain health, sanity, and integrity
  •      Includes resources for everyone but especially for people of color and LGBTQ individuals

 

*Compiled by Tasha Souza, Cynthia Ganote, Libby Roderick, and Floyd Cheung at the invitation of the Core Committee of the POD Network

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