Navigating Difficult Conversations
June 3, 2025Start Early With Norm Setting
Establish classroom norms at the beginning of the year.
Allow students to co-create these norms, encouraging respectful disagreement and shared ownership of the classroom environment. Below are two methods of creating classroom norms for discussion.
- Norm Building Activity from Greater Good in Education.
- Need Norms Now? Living Room Conversations has a terrific list to explore with your students.
Looking for effective ways to build a positive classroom culture?
Ready to Use Resource:
The “Building Collaborative Classroom Norms” lesson from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley is a powerful classroom activity.
It supports social-emotional learning, student voice, and inclusive classroom management.
Ready-to-use teaching resource guides students through a reflective and participatory process to co-create classroom norms—helping them feel safe, respected, and heard.
By empowering students to help define behavioral expectations, this lesson fosters student ownership, builds a stronger sense of classroom community, and lays the foundation for respectful classroom dialogue throughout the school year.
Consider using the Conversation Agreements from Living Room Conversations.
These ready-made, student-friendly guidelines—like “Be curious and open to learning” and “Show respect and suspend judgment”—offer a quick and effective way to set the tone for respectful, inclusive dialogue in your classroom.
Use the questions below to help students reflect on how they relate to the Conversation Agreements from Living Room Conversations and prepare for thoughtful, respectful dialogue:
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Which agreement feels easiest for you to adopt, and why?
(For example: Is it natural for you to listen without judgment? To speak authentically?) -
Which agreement will be the most challenging for you to follow?
(Why might this be difficult in a group conversation setting?) -
How does the topic of the dialogue influence your answers?
(Would your comfort level with these agreements change depending on whether the topic was personal, political, or controversial?)
Suggested Norm Themes:
- Take responsibility for your impact on others.
- Avoid sweeping generalizations.
- Treat diverse opinions as learning opportunities.
- Acknowledge that identities are complex and varied.
- Be mindful of how your words might affect others.
- Don’t place the burden of explanation on one individual or group.