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CREATING SPACE FOR DIALOGUE�IN THE CLASSROOM

DEBORAH COX CALLISTER, PH.D.

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WHAT IS DIALOGUE?

  • Dialogue is a process and a communicative mode or response to (moral) conflict
    • turn-taking
    • facilitation by a disinterested or neutral party with training & goodwill
    • telos = understanding
    • deep listening

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WHAT IS DIALOGUE?

  • Dialogue as a form of deep listening
    • fosters the emergence of differences
    • prompts participation using first-person narratives
    • taps into and stirs feelings that matter
  • Parhessia or dangerous truth-telling (Hawes, 2004)

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WHY DO DIALOGUE IN THE CLASSROOM?

  • Dialogue holds the potential for enhanced social understandings about difference
  • It can be a means for achieving:
    • collaborative learning
    • awareness of privilege
    • social healing
  • Dialogue can be a productive way to deal with conflict in the classroom

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DOING DIALOGUE

Sample Prompts:

  • What does privilege mean to you and how does it affect you?
  • What has been your biggest challenge or vulnerability in the classroom (during the pre- and post-presidential election year 2016-2017)?
  • If you could change something about your situation in academe right now, what would it be and why?
  • Where do you go for solace from the rigors of the day, and how does this space help you?
  • Additional ideas?

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A BIT ON THEORY

  • My research and practice with dialogue is Informed by:
    • Derrida and Foucault, who view the self as indeterminable and unstable
    • Bakhtin’s notion of heteroglossia
      • Fragmented
      • Disparate voices
        • e.g.,: ancestors, family members, public figures, pop stars, cartoon characters
        • Narratives are at work
        • Bricolage of desire, fear, and pain along with moral or ethical assumptions (often tacit)

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ATTENDING TO POWER

    • Leadership: Power to – not over
    • Participation is inclusive & voluntary
    • Confidentiality vis a vis Anonymity

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OUTCOMES CAN INCLUDE

  • Letting go of positions long enough to “try on” radically different viewpoints
  • Increased empathy with diverse perspectives
  • Altered notions of reality
  • Social transformation
  • Catalytic change

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DIALOGIC PRINCIPLES

INVITATIONAL

Attentive Listening

Being Fully Present  

Suspending/Refraining from Judgment 

Striving to Understand Different Perspectives 

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RHETORICAL

Struggling to Hear when it is Difficult to Do So 

Agreement is Not the Goal 

Being Open to Letting Things Stand 

 

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FRAMEWORK

Speaking:

In the First Person

For Something (not against)

For Oneself (not for others) 

From One’s Own Experience

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Three Rhetorical Frameworks

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A Space for Dialogic Communication

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THANK YOU!

dccallister@usfca.edu