The Program on Intergroup Relations
Ohio State University
Intergroup Dialogues
Ed P&L 270.04
Standard-Race, Gender, SES 2010Process/Content Outline
Authorship/Copyright
All materials remain property of The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan, 530 S. State Street, 3000 Michigan Union, Ann Arbor, MI. 48109-1308, 734-936-1875, www.igr.umich.edu. Materials may only be used with permission and proper citation of their source.
STAGE ONE: Creating a Shared Meaning of Dialogue
SESSION 1: Mass Meeting
GOALS:
TO HELP PARTICIPANTS:
· Understand The Program on Intergroup Relations and intergroup dialogues.
· Experience energy and enthusiasm about the dialogue process.
· Understand course requirements and expectations.
· Find out their dialogue group assignment.
RATIONALE:
During this initial session, it is important that InterGroup Dialogue Facilitators set a positive tone for dialogue. This includes an introduction to the dialogue process and the Program on Intergroup Relations.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
· Survey
· Nametags
· Notecards
· Copies of Syllabus
· Facilitator Binders
· Berman’s Comparison of Dialogue vs. Debate (Handout)
· Identity Wheels (Hand Out)
AGENDA:
Opening Activities
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS (10 minutes)
Instructors and facilitators introduce themselves. Instructors welcome students and describe IGR and the dialogue process. Students who have not filled out the enrollment permission form should do so.
Main Activities
COURSE LOGISTICS (10 minutes)
Instructors notify students about the process for receiving their course placement.
SURVEY (10 Minutes)
Hand out the survey and give students 10 minutes to complete.
GENERAL SYLLABUS (15 minutes)
Hand out the syllabus and discuss course expectations and assignments. Be sure to note that course instructors are responsible for final grades and not the student facilitators. Have time to answer questions but try to focus on clarifying questions only. See participants with detailed questions after the session.
INTRODUCTORY ROUND OF PARTICIPANTS (5 minutes)
Ask participants to introduce themselves. Then ask them to introduce themselves again saying, “I am one of the teachers and one of the learners in this course.”
DEBRIEFING (5-10 minutes)
Ask the group: How did it FEEL to say, “I am a teacher?” “I am a learner?” Explain concept of “co-learning”-- that all of us, participants and facilitators, teach each other and learn from each other (remember our co-learning piece from training).
HOPES & FEARS (30 minutes)
Give each participant an index card. Tell them not to write their name on the card. On one side of the card write HOPES, and ask them to write 2 or 3 hopes they have for the dialogue group and/or themselves. On the other side of the card write FEARS and ask them to write 2 or 3 fears they have about the dialogue group and/or themselves. Collect all the index cards and redistribute them at random. Ask each participant to read the card she or he receives.
Debriefing Questions (Adapted from Multiversity Research Curriculum):
· How did it feel to hear others’ hopes? Others’ fears?
· Were there any common themes you noticed in our hopes? Our fears?
· What can be done to realize our hopes? Alleviate our fears?
· What connections can be made to your readings?
In wrapping up this activity, highlight some of the patterns that came up, and validate and normalize people’s hopes and fears for dialoguing across different social identity groups. Facilitators should also share their own hopes and fears.
DIALOGUE / DEBATE / DISCUSSION (20 minutes)
This semester will be a process of learning to dialogue. Talk about how discussion and dialogue are related yet dialogue happens on a deeper level--more personal, less abstract: dialogue is both process (how things are said--communication [remember interactive communication skills], commitment to remain in the process especially when uncomfortable or when difficult) and content (what is said--emotional responses, contradiction, personal experiences). The purpose of this activity is to explore:
· How does dialogue differ from a debate or a discussion?
· What does an ideal dialogue look like?
Helpful Hints:
To facilitate this discussion, you might:
· Break participants into three groups and have them model (or role play) examples of dialogue, debate, and discussion.
· In the large group, have participants brainstorm on newsprint what it means to engage in dialogue, debate, and discussion.
· In dyads, have participants share examples from their own lives of dialogue, debate, and discussion.
· Engage participants in a visualization exercise about dialogue and debate. For details on the visualization exercise, see the Appendix on pages 12-14.
Debriefing: Facilitators should briefly describe the differences between dialogue, debate, and discussion and distribute handout and have students read to themselves. Refer to the participants’ readings from last week (Yankelovich).
Closing Activities
CLOSING ROUND (5 minutes)
In one sentence, describe how you feel about today. Facilitators should affirm students’
participation during today's session.
ASSIGNMENTS (2 minutes)
Go over assignments due at the beginning of class the following week:
Readings
See Syllabus
Journal 1
1. Fill out the Identity Wheel (Posted on Carmen) to bring to next class.
2. Write your journal assignment responding to the following: In reflecting on this session: How do you feel about the hopes and fears discussed in class? Are there any guidelines that would be helpful in fulfilling the hopes and addressing the fears? How can the facilitators/group support you?
STAGE TWO: Identity, Social Relations, and Conflict
SESSION 2: Group Membership and Multiple Identities
GOALS:
TO HELP PARTICIPANTS
· Begin to understand the concept of social group identities and multiple identities.
· Discuss issues of safety and establishing group norms.
· Begin learning and practicing dialogue skills.
RATIONALE:
This session helps build the foundation for dialogue by: developing group norms; helping participants define themselves through social group membership; and learning communication techniques that foster dialogue.
It is important to articulate that group norms/groundrules allow for a place for the group to start; that throughout the dialogue process the groundrules may change. Hence, groundrules can be fluid and most likely will be revisited in later sessions.
The purpose of defining social identity groups is to allow participants to explore their own group memberships and the various roles multiple memberships play in our lives. The concept of group membership and multiple identities may be new to some participants and some may resist the categories, however, the focus should be on developing common ground on which to relate while understanding the complexities and fluidity of social group categories.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
· Nametags
· Stickers
· Markers
· Newsprint
· Social Identity Wheels (Students will have)
· Suggestions for Groundrules (Handout)
· Facilitator Copies of Course Readings
AGENDA:
Opening Activities
WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS, & NAMETAGS (5 minutes)
Agenda should be posted on newsprint or board. (Optional) Introduce new members, if any. Distribute nametags to the group.
ICEBREAKER (10 minutes)
Nametag Stickers: You will have eight sets of stickers, each indicating a different identity. Please have written on the board or on newsprint, the “meaning” of the stickers (e.g., yellow squares indicate gender, blue circles indicate religion, etc.). Participants select three stickers representing the identities that are most important to them at this moment and place those stickers on their nametags (e.g., someone might choose race, class, and sexual orientation). Then, form groups of three to discuss why persons chose these identities--explain why the three identities are very important right now.
REVISIT SAFETY & ESTABLISH GROUNDRULES (20 minutes)
Ask participants to recall their hopes and fears from last week, the readings (e.g., McCormick) for this week, their journals, and their thinking about what they need to feel safe in this group and what they need in order to push their comfort zones. Potential questions include:
· In light of the issues we discussed last week (e.g., co-learning, hopes and fears, dialogue v. debate) and the readings for this week, what type of environment will allow you and others to feel respected and heard -- especially when discussing topics that are important and challenging? What do you need from others? What do you need to give others? What type of groundrules will encourage this honest, respectful, responsible communication across conflict? (Adapted from Multiversity Research Curriculum).
Helpful Hints:
Given that is it still early in the semester, you might want to break the large group into small groups first and have participants’ brainstorm what they need to feel safe in this dialogue. After about 10-15 minutes, then you can bring the group back together to share the ideas/concerns raised in the small groups.
Have a group discussion, in which individuals try to be clear about their needs, and in which individuals begin to understand the needs of others. Point out that people need different things; point out that norms and needs are fluid; that they will change over time. Are there any needs that the group seems to hold in common? Are there conflicting needs which individuals are expressing? (This is okay as long as persons understand each other’s needs).
On newsprint, collectively establish groundrules to honor while in this dialogue space.
TRANSITION (2 minutes)
To help participants understand the succession of the main activity, explain the flow before moving into the exercise. Tell them you will talk about social identity and multiple identities first, and then do an exercise and share some answers with a partner using dialogue communication techniques. This will be followed by a large group discussion.
Main Activities
SOCIAL IDENTITY PROFILE EXERCISE (10 minutes)
Have participants take out their journals for this week, including their social identity profile. To set up the social identity wheel exercise, first introduce the concepts of: (1) social identities and multiple identities, and (2) active listening.
· Social Identities and Multiple Identities: Social groups are a group of people who share a range of physical, cultural, or social characteristics within one of the categories of social identity. Social identities are categorized as gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, ability (physical, developmental, psychological), race, religion, ethnicity, and age. As members of human communities our identities are fundamentally constructed in relation to others and to the cultures in which we are embedded. It is impossible to separate our individual identities from the various social group memberships we hold. In dialogue one of our fundamental goals is to begin the process of understanding how our social identity group memberships impact our experiences and points of view and to understand both the differences and similarities of those experiences as they may relate to group identity. (Read Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice p. 9 and pp. 70-71).
· Active Listening: One of the fundamental skills critical to the dialogue process is active listening. Active listening is defined as “hearing and receiving a message with understanding.” Purposeful sending, the counterpart to active listening is defined as “giving a message so that the listener can respond to it.” Giving feedback is defined as “information from others that enables participants to understand the impact of what they say or do” (Taken from Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice p. 31).
Helpful Hints:
Facilitators, please read through the above definitions and practice putting them in your own words.
Explain that the students are now going to practice active listening, purposeful sending, and giving feedback by sharing their social identity profiles in dyads.
SHARE IN DYADS (20 minutes)
Sharing the information we wrote in the identity grid, ask the students to practice active listening, purposeful sending, and giving feedback in dyads. They should respond to the questions, “which of your social group memberships were easiest to identify and why?” and “which of your social group memberships were most difficult to identify and why?” One person will share with purposeful sending while the other actively listens. The speaker should take 3-4 minutes to share with the listener his/her answers. The listener then asks clarifying questions and paraphrases the speaker’s message for 2-3 minutes. The speaker should then give feedback to the listener about whether the listener accurately paraphrased the speaker’s message for 1-2 minutes. Then have the partners switch.
LARGE GROUP DEBRIEFING (10-15 minutes)
The challenge in debriefing this exercise is attending to both the content (the social identity grid and the active listening model) and the process (how it felt to share information about identities and how it felt to practice active listening, paraphrasing, asking clarifying questions, and giving feedback). Think about how you will get at both of these in the debriefing. Some potential process and content-related questions are listed below.
Process-Related Debriefing Questions:
· What was this activity like for people?
· How does it feel to practice active listening?
· What was it like to listen and not engage verbally with the speaker?
· Why are these skills important in dialogue?
· Was it hard to remember what the listener had said?
· What questions did you want to ask the speaker as the speaker was speaking?
· How does this communication style differ from the communication style you are accustomed to?
Content-Related Debriefing Questions:
Beverly Tatum’s article, “The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?” can be helpful in illuminating the content of the Social Identity Grid. Tatum uses identity exploration to introduce the idea of dominance and subordination, target and agent groups. Some possible questions might be:
· What questions are raised for you in trying to identify your social group memberships?
· How does it feel to share information with someone else about your social identities?
· Why are inequality, subordination, and domination important to consider when talking about multiple identities?
· What do you think about Tatum’s explanations here?
· Do you identify more with your target identities?
· Are your agent identities invisible or taken for granted?
· How does this activity and your responses to it relate to the “Nametag Stickers” icebreaker we did at the beginning of this session?
Another important point to recognize in this exercise is that the social identity grid is a framework that is imperfect and cannot represent the full range of perspectives or complexity embedded in considering social group memberships. Students may resist the categorization and be frustrated in this process. Remember to acknowledge these feelings but to challenge them to think about social identity and multiple identities as a way of framing our experiences and this dialogue.