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K-State Today

August 30, 2016

Faculty Exchange for Teaching Excellence fall teaching workshop: Facilitating challenging conversations in and out of the classroom

Submitted by Sara K. Kearns

Whether leading an uncomfortable discussion in the classroom or anticipating a conversation with a student about grades, graduate teaching assistants, faculty and instructors regularly engage in challenging conversations. K-State's Faculty Exchange for Teaching Excellence fall workshop will offer models to approach challenging conversations with confidence and inclusiveness. The workshop will be from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room.

The first half of the two-hour workshop will focus on difficult one-on-one conversations. Participants will discuss how to handle conversations based on dramatizations presented by graduate drama therapy students.

Scott Jones, student life; Camilla Roberts, honor and integrity; and Jay Middleton, Counseling Services, will be available to answer questions during this exercise.

During the second half, four K-State faculty members will share their methods for introducing, guiding and otherwise handling difficult conversations in a class. Topics that may lead to difficult classroom conversations include trigger issues such as suicide; identity such as race, gender or politics; and opposing viewpoints that must be discussed and investigated. The panel will include Soumia Bardhan, communication studies; Tom Sarmiento, English and gender, women, and sexuality studies; Don Saucier, psychological studies; and Be Stoney, curriculum and instruction.

To register, visit K-State's Teaching and Learning Center website or sign up using the online registration form

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