Fiery Conversations: Facilitating The Heat Without Getting Burned

Focused Area

Improving School Climate for Youth-At-Risk

Relevance to Focused Area

This presentation focuses directly on facilitative tools and methods that can be used in the traditional and non-traditional classroom. Designed by educators, the hands-on application-focus of this session is best geared for those working with youth in school based settings.

Primary Strand

Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance to Primary Strand

This presentation focuses directly on techniques that can be used by professionals and educational providers to effectively build the communication and social/emotional rationalization and reasoning skills of young people in both academic and OST settings.

Brief Program Description

They're the topics that you just KNOW could cause conflict - but does it really have to lead to physical and verbal drama? These are called Fiery Conversations - and for a reason! Come to this heated - but also HEALTHY - dialogue focused workshop to learn how to FACILITATE multiple points of view with young people. You'll learn not one but FIVE different way to facilitate the Fiery Conversations and ensure that everyone can speak their mind… and agree to disagree.

Summary

NOTE - due to previously scheduled travel, only available on 10/25 or 10/26. NOTE - requesting this presentation as a LARGE group presentation please due to the high level of interaction and previous attendance numbers. This presentation will provide participants with hands-on skills and techniques to effectively engage young people in potentially conflict-laden conversations. Based around the work of Susan Scott's "The Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations", this highly interactive training uses Scott's foundation and applies a YAR filter. Our collective experience includes over 30 years of working with young people in multiple risk settings - from juvenile hall to Title I Schools. It's with this perspective that we develop a 5 part model to use when facilitating multiple viewpoints and finding a level of comfort with tension and conflict - but without the need for physical or vocal attack. Furthermore, this session will integrate both the DARR (Discover, Action, Remove, Translate) as well as MIST (Metaphor, Instruction, Struggle, Ties) formulas to frame potentially conflicting viewpoints. We plan to conduct this session in a very interactive and "learning in the moment" laboratory setting - by modeling these techniques with conference participants as they take part in a 4-Corners Value as well as Crossing The Line activity. NOTE - due to the high level of interaction, this workshop is best conducted in a larger room allowing for LOTS of dialogue, laughter, and movement.

Evidence

Multiple studies have been conducted to assess effective methods to engage young people in civil dialogue rather than violent behavior - even when the topics may be quite controversial. These techniques, when used by a collective staff, can have a profound positive impact on the social norms of communication and "agree to disagree" based dialogue in an educational setting (Leithwood, K., Anderson, S., Mascall, B. and Strauss, T. 2009. School leaders’ influences on student learning: The four paths AND T. Bush, L, Bell and D. Middlewood (Eds.). The principles of educational leadership and management. London: Sage Publishers.) Additionally, when professionals have access to these tools of facilitate communication, they are able to mitigate the common "knee-jerk" reactions that are derived from a perspective of defensive attack (Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R. and Switzler, A. (2002). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.) This presentation will provide a very brief of this research, but more importantly focus on the HOW TO facilitative techniques for professionals to immediately use.

Format

Individual Presentation

Biographical Sketch

One part motivational speaker, one part DJ, and two parts community organizer and parent of 2 daughters, Eric Rowles runs a customized consulting and facilitation practice that, through a network of over 20 dynamic and diversely talented trainers, works with for profit and non-profit organizations to achieve progressive and dynamic change. Eric’s previous experience includes his work as Senior Director of Training with the Youth Leadership Institute where he designed a national training institute that provided over 1,000 days of training in five years to community organizations and coalitions throughout the country. Prior to his work with YLI, Eric was the Director of Leadership Development at Rutgers University (NJ), managed his own touring educational theater organization, Leadership Through Motivation Productions, was the Director of International Youth Summer Abroad programs, and spent five years as a substance abuse prevention coordinator in Los Angeles. Additionally, Eric through his double bachelors and Master of Science degrees in Ethnic Studies and Educational Leadership, he has served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte as well as Rutgers University (NJ) and has over a decade of innovative and cutting edge classroom instruction and facilitation experience. Eric has also been a volunteer trainer and partner for a wide range of social change agencies and organizations including the National Conference on Community and Justice, College Leadership Diversity Conference, and Teaching Tolerance Curriculum Instruction.

Jamal Tate is a dynamic coach who engages youth through interactive sessions. Participants leave feeling energized and motivated, with renewed spirits in knowing they are adequately prepared to step into adulthood. The story of Jamal defines what it means to never give up and prove it’s never too late for any young adult to change. Faced with many hardships in adolescence, Jamal should statistically be dead or in jail. Along his path of self-discovery, Jamal discovered a few secrets to success that elevated him from his circumstances and changed his life forever. He has been featured in TIME Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and even Times Square. To date, Jamal is a graduate of Queens University of Charlotte, certified life coach (CPC), national speaker, and is currently obtaining his certification for substance abuse counseling (CSAC). Jamal sits on the boards of Communities in Schools National Alumni Council, Keeping Charlotte Beautiful, Playing for Others Band, and Communities in Schools of North Carolina. As president and CEO of Generation Y Life Coaching, this former delinquent is now inspiring youth to become self-motivated and take control of their lives.

Start Date

10-26-2017 9:45 AM

End Date

10-26-2017 11:00 AM

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Oct 26th, 9:45 AM Oct 26th, 11:00 AM

Fiery Conversations: Facilitating The Heat Without Getting Burned

They're the topics that you just KNOW could cause conflict - but does it really have to lead to physical and verbal drama? These are called Fiery Conversations - and for a reason! Come to this heated - but also HEALTHY - dialogue focused workshop to learn how to FACILITATE multiple points of view with young people. You'll learn not one but FIVE different way to facilitate the Fiery Conversations and ensure that everyone can speak their mind… and agree to disagree.