Diversity, equity and inclusion through conversation roles
How do you get the most out of your lessons? How do you promote student engagement in your class? How do we promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom by assigning conversation roles? I initially wrote this blog with students in mind and wanted to specify discussion roles. When I finish creating the poster, I think assigning roles is also essential to support adult learning and ensure everyone is included in a conversation.
School leaders, please consider using conversation roles as an effective meeting strategy. Thinking back my reflection and learning on Professor Amy Edmondson’s work on teaming in my previous blog post, “Teaming: Collaborate to Innovate and Impact”, she mentioned that before teams can collaborate and innovate, it is crucial to create psychological safety, and one of the strategies is to create opportunities and questions for people to speak up. Leaders intentionally create psychological safety for others by inviting others to share their ideas and opinions and making them feel safe. I think using conversation roles can help create a feeling of inclusion and allow participants (learners) to explore topics or issues further.
“How people work together was an important element of what allows organizations to learn in a changing world.”
Amy Edmondson
One way to facilitate communication and ensure everyone’s voice is heard in a meeting or a lesson is by assigning roles to each person in the discussion or conversation. Students should have an opportunity to experience different roles in different conversations. I also think this is how students can practice forming different identities and exploring their strengths as different roles require specific skills. Learning is a shared responsibility between the teacher and learners. Teachers can empower students by creating time and structures to guide them to share perspectives and build confidence. Most importantly, knowing the task and the role learners are required to play will reduce their anxiety and increase psychological safety in the learning environment.
While there are many different types of roles teachers can assign, here are six popular conversation roles that make sure every learner gets the chance to share their opinion or ask questions as part of the discussion.
Facilitator
The facilitator is responsible for ensuring everyone has an opportunity to speak and creating a positive environment where constructive conversations can occur. They follow the structures and norms; use protocols (processes) to keep the conversation on track, preventing it from going off-topic or derailing entirely.
It’s crucial that everyone feel welcomed in a discussion. To get started, consider using a few simple protocols to create an inclusive learning environment. In my post, “Comprehensible Output Through Discussion By Design“, I shared nine discussion protocols to facilitate discussion and promote inquiry.
Timekeeper
To encourage efficiency, the timekeeper stays aware of using time, how much time is assigned to each task, and how much time the team is to accomplish a specific task. The Timekeeper can cut off conversations (politely) if they’re running over their allotted time, keeping things moving along at a brisk pace.
Recorder
The recorder is responsible for taking notes during a discussion or brainstorming session. They jot down facts, discussions, action items and responsible person, and any other points that are brought up in conversation. These notes then become an invaluable resource to keep track of what happens in conversation and provide something to refer back to if people cannot remember what was said.
Resource Manager
The resource manager’s role is to provide resources, including articles, supplies, and technical support, to ensure that others in a team can accomplish the task. They also listen for helpful ideas, tips and/or suggestions shared. They record a list of resources and share them with the team later.
Process observer
The process observer ensures all voices are heard, and everyone is respectful, attentive, and responsive to others during a conversation. They observe the group discussion to ensure everyone feels comfortable speaking up and watch out for any people who might be feeling unconfident about what they want to say. If one person dominates a conversation, they encourage others to chime in.
Synthesizer
After each person shares their idea in a discussion, it’s common to hear someone say something like, “Let me summarize what I heard.” The synthesizer listens attentively to everyone speaking and summarizes what they have heard. They combine different ideas and consolidate thinking to create a new understanding and offer alternative viewpoints. This also helps the recorder check and take accurate notes.
Conclusion
An effective way to make everyone feel heard is by focusing on conversation roles. While I wrote this post with students in mind, this method also works well for teachers in professional development sessions or meetings. We need to reframe meetings. Whenever we bring a group of people together, it’s a learning opportunity. Encouraging everyone to speak openly about their views, experiences, and perspectives promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion; allows us to learn from one another. Teachers/leaders need to let go of their power in the classroom or in the meeting, help participants make sense of their learning, expand their perspectives by exchanging ideas with others and embrace their assumptions and biases. It also helps learners unlock empathy and have a mindful conversation with others. However, the condition for conversation roles to work is when participants feel safe sharing ideas and being respected without feeling judged in the learning environment, whether online or in person.
Conversation roles poster
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Jamboard Templates
If you are facilitating a discussion online, an idea is to communicate the expectations on the first page of the Jamboard. Participants can use the text box or sticky note function to indicate their role before starting the conversation. You can make a copy of the DEI through the conversation roles Jamboard template below.
Resources
- Student roles to promote cooperative learning by Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
- Possible Student Roles Within the Group Group Management Tips by College of Education, Illinois State University
References
- Edmondson, Amy C. The Fearless Organization : Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Hoboken, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2019.
