The art of conversation
Her first principle, Acknowledge one another as equals invites us to reframe conversations, to become about listening, sharing, respecting. Sitting together, being face to face facilitates good conversations. It’s what we all could do, what good teachers do.
Listening as the centerpiece invites us to stay curious about each other. Away from social media we offer help to become better listeners. Teachers do the same with their students. To step away from fleeting words and go inside, be with ourselves, we slow down so we have time to think and reflect.
Conversation is the natural way we humans think together. Early humans stored knowledge telling stories around the campfire. Without knowledge and information in our memories thinking remains hollow, susceptible to soundbites, mis– and disinformation. Conversation was a mantra in my classroom and now emphasized in my publications.
Evoking Wheatley’s final principle, we expect it to be messy at times, surprises emerge, insights abound, novelty appears, disagreements arise, joy and sadness surface. Predictability and routines take a back seat. We welcome the unexpected hoping to lead us to common understandings.
You know people who are reluctant to engage, perhaps spending their hours on TV all day or scrolling on their phones. Teachers understand that many of their students spend time being distracted, being lured away from themselves. But they know when they close their door, they can invoke Wheatley’s principles to activate conversations that matter. No devices present, no phones, no computers. ‘Just us,’ the teachers says to herself, ‘my students and me (and Margaret Wheatley).’ The goal: to have conversations, not tribal diatribes.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward” (Kierkegaard)
I write to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century. My latest book, Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way is available on Amazon. And I welcome comments here on my Blog or by email at frankthoms3@gmail.com
