This short resource-packed guide was created to help instructors craft a comprehensive approach to challenging conversations. It discusses considerations related to different types of challenging conversations, and provides advice for how to navigate the different components of these conversations. Many useful links are included.
A range of resources to help faculty members confront issues of incivility in the classroom. Materials are sorted into three categories: think pieces, organizational and educational resources, and classroom applications.
This book chapter investigates the most common instructor responses following a tragedy and which of those responses students find most helpful.
This New York Times article covers the prevalence of “call out” culture and envisions what it would look like to call people “in” instead.
Class conversations on election-related issues are an effective way to support students in exercising their right to vote. This resource from Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) shares why these conversations in your classes matter—and provides suggestions on conducting them. You will find links to additional faculty election learning resources at the end of the document.
From the introduction to this guide: “Conversations that touch on emotional topics or spark controversy between students are often labeled “difficult,” but Derisa Grant asks in an Inside Higher Ed article, “what if these conversations are not actually difficult, but simply unpracticed?” Students develop knowledge, skills, and informed civic responsibility when they are invited into conversations that are emotionally engaging, intellectually challenging, and relevant to their own lives. Creating a classroom environment for deep, democratic learning requires a thoughtful approach. The ideas and tools in this guide are designed to help you prepare your students to engage in civil discourse….”
Faculty from various disciplines share ideas on what it takes to have a productive classroom discussion.
This document from the University of Michigan provides a list of actionable guidelines to help instructors facilitate classroom discussion around difficult, emotionally charged, or controversial issues.
This article provides a collection of ideas from the readers of the New York Times for faculty and students who are tackling controversial issues in their class discussions.
This article shares tips for establishing and reinforcing a shared set of norms with your students that will help educators lead challenging classroom conversations.
This one-page resource provides an outline of things to consider before, during, and after challenging classroom discussions.
- Armstrong (2011) Small World - Crafting an Inclusive Classroom (PDF link)
This brief article provides ideas for creating an inclusive classroom space for any discipline.
- Making the Most of “Hot Moments” in the Classroom (University of Michigan) (PDF link)
Two pages of practical strategies for handling sudden tensions or conflicts that come up in the classroom, from the University of Michigan.
- Managing Hot Moments In The Classroom (Harvard University) (PDF link)
This article provides tips for managing “hot” moments in classroom discussions and for finding the teaching opportunities within those moments.
- Navigating Crisis in the Classroom (Amherst College) (PDF link)
This document from Amherst College provides links to, and explanations of, frameworks and strategies to help faculty and students navigate difficult content.
- Strategies for Current Challenges in Dialogue Facilitation (Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center) (PDF link)
This resource explores five of the most common challenges dialogue practitioners experience and offers ideas, strategies, and tools to address them.
- Warren (2005) Strategic Action in Hot Moments (PDF link)
Book chapter with tips for acting strategically when hot moments erupt in a class discussion.
This downloadable book addresses strategies for introducing controversial topics into the classroom.
This downloadable book looks at ways to apply indigenous pedagogies in western learning environments.
Mylien Duong discusses strategies for facilitating contentious conversations in your classroom. Many faculty have never been trained to facilitate discussions of contentious topics, and Duong provides actionable strategies that faculty can use.
This resource offers reflective questions and nonpartisan resources designed to help instructors and staff think about opportunities to promote democratic and civic engagement in their courses, while considering and preparing for the high stakes of election-related discussions for their students and themselves.
- Derek Bruff, associate director at the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia interviews Bethany Morrison, author of “Preparing to Teach During the 2024 Election” (link above) on his podcast here.
Limed: Teaching with a Twist -Season 3, Episode 1
Host Matt Wittstein joins this month’s guest, Israel Balderas, to discuss civil discourse in what is a tense political climate on many college campuses. Israel wants to ensure his Media Law and Ethics course is taking advantage of the opportunity to practice student-led discourse with an eventful political calendar and dynamic news cycles. Panelists Miriam Glaser Lipsky from the University of Miami, Timothy McCarthy from Harvard University, and Natalie Peeples, an Elon University Psychology student, share their beliefs about dialogue and civic engagement in higher education, discuss how to invite others into discussion, and provide some practical advice for building trust and civility in the classroom.
- Rudenga (2024) How to Rebuild a Broken Connection With Students (PDF link)
- Institute for Democracy in Higher Education HELP DESK: IDHE has teamed up with the Sustained Dialogue Institute to host a free “help desk” to offer timely advice—troubleshooting—to campus educators and practitioners facing difficult, confounding, new, frightening, nasty, threatening, and other conflicts and challenging conversations. These can come up in the classroom, in administrative decision-making, in cocurricular programming, and even when engaging communities off campus. And with a contentious election providing context for the fall semester, we anticipate a need among educators. All inquiries are confidential.
