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3.7
Practicing Generosity of Interpretation
Submitted by Shannon Wheatley Hartman
This activity helps participants develop a practice of patience and generous interpretation during discussions. By crafting and practicing specific “mind tricks,” participants can learn to listen and engage in discussions with a more generous mindset.
Learning Goals
Improve patience and decrease negative, reactionary impulses in a discussion.
Practice generous interpretation by ritualizing mental tricks.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Organize participants into small groups (4-6 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Create Patience Principles (10 min)
As a full group, invite participants to generate a list of statements that are designed to encourage patience and generous interpretation in a discussion.
Share some of the following examples to spark ideas.
Language is imperfect and we are all imperfect speakers.
What is said and what is heard are not always aligned.
None of us are perfect listeners.
Focus on the idea, not the person.
Being inarticulate means to struggle with big ideas.
Innovative ideas are often misunderstood at first.
Look for the “nuggets of truth” in all statements.
Never aim to embarrass or humiliate.
Step Two: Identify Common Annoyances in Discussions (5 min)
In small groups, ask participants to quickly identify 5 - 10 common discussion annoyances that tend to incite a harsh or impatient reaction from them. For example,
When someone shares inaccurate information with a lot of confidence
When someone says something that is culturally insensitive
When someone speaks from a place of anger
Instruct each group to select their top three annoyances.
Step Three: Craft Mental Tricks for Generous Interpretation (20 min)
Invite participants to craft three specific mental tricks they can use in a discussion to help them practice patience and even generous interpretation in response to each of the annoyances their group identified. Prompt:
For example, when someone makes a statement that you think is completely wrong or even bizarre, what sort of mental trick can you employ that would force you to pause and practice generosity?
Maybe you could try to reimagine the person who made this comment as your most respected professor or colleague.
If this person made the comment, how would you respond? Maybe you would still be confused and even disagree, but how would you express yourself to this person?
Would you ask clarifying questions? Would you speak respectfully? Would you put yourself through mental gymnastics to try to understand their perspective?
The “mental trick” is to now extend these generous responses to a person who you do not know.
Step Four: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Let’s start with annoyances! What are our top and favorite discussion annoyances?
What are some of the strategies or mental tricks that you created to address these annoyances?
What are some common themes or strategies in our mental tricks?
When is this approach a bad idea? When should we not seek out the most generous interpretation of what someone is saying?
TIME
45
min
MODULE
Critical Collaboration
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity might be considered high energy or more playful than other activities.
This activity is focused on developing or supporting listening skills. See Sample Listening Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
Have any helpful suggestions or modifications for this activity?
Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 7:01:33 PM
Another all time favorite. I really recommend this activity when you are trying to think about the complexity of a social topic and who/what is impacted by it. It pairs well with the Divergent Thinking/Surround the Topic activity. This activity also includes a really helpful worksheet for capturing types of stakeholders.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:59:07 PM
I really like this activity. It is a fun way to figure out what matters most to us as a group. For example, if you need to figure out the theme for a discussion series or a topic for a group project, try out this activity. It helps participants to reflect on their own civic passion but also negotiate together the civic passions of the group. It could be paired with the value activities in Module One.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:54:13 PM
I the process in this activity ("surround the topic") a lot. It is particularly useful as facilitation preparation. It also helps with generative thinking.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:52:01 PM
This is an all time favorite. Use it as a warm-up activity or whenever you have a group that feels stuck and can't think of new ways of engaging a topic or problem.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:49:22 PM
Similar to the previous activity (1.7 Taking Inventory of CD Skills), this activity includes a google survey that participants can complete at the beginning of a program or class. Instructors or facilitators can use this information to then tailor future activities to best fits the discussion needs of their group.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:46:46 PM
Use this as pre-class or pre-workshop preparation! These self-evaluations will help teachers or facilitators to better understand the starting point of each participant and an aggregate view of the group. The survey results are shared only with the instructor/facilitator. This is a really helpful resource (and you can modify the survey to fit your needs).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:43:42 PM
This activity and the previous (1.5 Understanding Values) are great for difficult conversations. I would use this as the prep work before diving into potentially tricky conversations. It helps participants to look for the values that inform opinions (and not just dismiss ideas that they don't like).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:41:01 PM
This is also known as "Identity Pie." It's a great warm up and way for participants to get to know one another. I would use this early in a group setting to help build connection.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:39:24 PM
I think we all know that creating guidelines is important. I introduce activity 1.1 What is Collaborative Learning? first and then use the positive and negative attributes that they generate to help form our group guidelines.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:36:43 PM
I always recommend that folks start off with this activity and pair it with 1.3 Creating Guidelines. It is a great way to set the tone and emphasize the importance of collaborative discussion.