This activity was inspired by personal participation in the Chester County Intermediate Unit’s Student Forum: https://www.cciu.org/student-activities/student-forum

Summary: Students come together to discuss issues relevant to them, their schools, and their peers and discuss what they could do about it.

Time: 60 to 90 minutes (depending on topic and size of group)

Materials: Space large enough for 20 to 25 students and 1-2 teachers to gather in a way for easy discussion.

Context: This activity works best with groups of 20 to 25 high school students that know each other well. This activity can be adapted to any age group from elementary school to professional adult groups, but depending on the topic, does require maturity and willingness to listen to one another. 

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to…

• Practice participating and holding difficult conversations
• Clearly define and describe complex social issues
• Analyze how the issue affects different groups and make connections between large-scale issues and their local and personal contexts
• Consider and engage with multiple perspectives including those they may not agree with
• Ask thoughtful, open-ended questions to deepen discussion and understanding
• Identify opportunities for involvement at the school and community levels

Preparation:

• Determine topic of discussion – if it is the first meeting, preset the topic; after each meeting, have the group determine the topic for the next meeting
• Determine and prepare any background context needed for students to be able to engage with the topic
• Prepare community norms and, during the first meeting, have all members discuss and adapt the norms as needed
• Set a location for the meeting that provides space for all participants to engage in conversation
• Determine 1-2 teachers that are respected by the students to guide the dialogue process – teachers are there to ensure conversation does not get heated and guide participants when asked

Example Topics:

• Environmental Sustainability
• Amazon Rainforest and Deforestation
• Gun Violence
• Cost of College Education
• Voting Rights and Youth Political Participation
• Criminal Justice Reform and Mass Incarceration
• Social Media and Mental Health
• Misinformation and Fake News
• Data Privacy and Digital Surveillance
• Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation
• Corporate Responsibility and Ethics
• Equity vs Equality

Community Norms: These are agreed upon by everyone as ways to behave and keep the space safe for all to express their opinions. Have students offer ideas first and ensure all needed norms are there allows them to discuss what each norms means, how they are shown, and how to ensure compliance. This gives them community ownership in the process. Examples can be seen below that are recommended to incorporate.

Community Norm Examples:

• Respect all opinions
• Disagree with ideas, not people
• Allow others space to explain when you are confused
• Listen to understand before seeking to be understood
• Do not speak over each other or interrupt each other
• Speak from your own experience and use “I” statements
• Respect confidentiality – while ideas from this room can be implemented outside of the room, keep discussions and what was said exactly confidential
  • Depending on the topic, limits on safety concerns and mandated reporting must be informed to the students prior to the start of the discussion
• Give everyone space to talk if they wish

Activity Instructions:

1. Review Community Norms and edit as needed
2. Introduce the topic and provide any needed context for the discussion
3. Open the floor to students to discuss with the guiding questions of:
   1. What is the issue?
   2. How is it impacting us, our school, our community, etc?
   3. What can we do about it as students?
4. Have students speak one at a time, asking questions and following up on each other
5. As conversation wraps up, take the time to highlight the last question of ‘what can we do about this as students’ and determine the next meeting topic

Debrief: This activity is meant to invoke deep discussions between participants with the debrief incorporated throughout. For an ideal situation, the formal debrief should be made as the final meeting of the academic year. Centering the topic of discussion around ‘Communication and Feedback’, or something similar, will allow students to discuss how talking in these open settings and listening to understand each other has impacted their lives. Debrief may be especially important for high school teenagers in their communication with peers and those of other generations. 

Potential Debrief Guiding Questions: Pick questions from the general guiding questions below or prepare different questions.

• Was this activity easier or harder than you expected? Why?
• How has participating influenced your engagement with others in the group?
• How has participating influenced your engagement with others outside of the group?
• Were you surprised by anything in this process?
• How does listening to understand differ from listening to others?

Instructor Tips on How to Use Resource:

• It works best to have this be a continual program that meets monthly throughout the academic year, but this can be adapted to meet the group’s needs.
• Mixing of grade levels to include all years allows for the program to flow easily between academic years with multi-year participants gaining capacity to lead, organize, and facilitate sessions.
• Incorporating students from different schools together provides increased viewpoints and speaking with others outside of normal interactions.
• Having these sessions occur during the school day allows for the most student participation while minimizing the chance of scheduling conflicts; this also works best as a voluntary participation program which gives students leeway to miss sessions if required for classes.
• This activity incorporates multiple pedagogies including but not limited to:
  • Inquiry-Based Learning – through having students ask questions to each other to fully understand each person’s points and opinions 
  • Socratic Seminar – it is a student led, collaborative discussion designed to foster deeper understanding and respectful dialogue
  • Place-Based Learning – it uses the local community, culture, environment, history, and understanding to guide discussion topics
  • Culturally Response Pedagogy – student-centered framework that uses their knowledge, cultural, and experiences as frames of reference to make learning more relevant and effective
  • Restorative Dialogue Practices – structured and voluntary conversation designed to address topics that harm or cause conflict in the students’ lives by focusing on what is happening and how to address it 
  • Problem-Based Learning – participants learn about the topics through discussing how to solve real-world open-ended problems

MR | CONF 408