The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has been a leader in the fight for TANF reform. Their leaders have presented at national congressional hearings related to the necessity to reform the welfare system, with emphasis on the TANF Program.
6 Core Principles, Virtually!
Respect. Safety. Engagement. Inclusion. Relevance. Immediacy. These six core principles drive our work at Global Learning Partners (GLP).
Persons with Disabilities: From Experience to Principles
I am a visual learner so I tend to prioritize visual learning when designing learning experiences: showing what I mean using diagrams and pictures, drawing on visual metaphors to invite new connections, and calling on learners to draw tables, flow charts, and diagrams that demonstrate causal or relational links from one idea or action to the next.
Shared Power: Differences in Dialogue with Children and Adults
“Dialogue Education sounds great, but what does it look like with children?”
Disability Etiquette!
A while ago I had the joy of reading a fascinating theological book called Copious Hosting: A Theology of Access for People with Disabilities. In that gentle and prophetic text, Catholic disability-advocate Jennie Weiss Block sets out to define disability and...
A Structure for Effective Check-Ins*
While facilitating a day-long or week-long learning event, setting aside some time for a “check-in” can give participants the pause they need to process and prepare for what’s next. It allows them to reflect, re-energize, and reconnect before jumping back into a...
How to Ensure Effective and Efficient Meetings
At the end of our graduate class “Community Development: The Art of Facilitation and Design” with Jeanette Romkema we reflected on how principles and practices of Dialogue Education could also help ensure more effective and efficient meetings. It was eye-opening! Most...
Maximize Successful Community Engagement: Tips from Africa
Safety and respect are key to ensuring community engagement. This is as true in rural Ghana where I work, as it is in most places in the world. Here are some tips that I have found helpful for the African context: Understand the cultural dynamics. It is important that...
Put Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes
A while ago, my colleagues and I invited the people in our training to imagine they were someone they were not. For a while they had to “be” this person and experience the joys and challenges of this role. They had to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and look from a different perspective.
Help Me, I’m an Extrovert
Ever since Susan Cain’s Ted talk and book, Quiet: Being an Introvert in a World that Just Can’t Stop Talking, I have become more attentive to introverts in my meetings, learning events, and other gatherings.
Applying Core Principles to ‘Question Design’
Adults learn best when respect, safety, inclusion, relevance, immediacy and engagement are all present within the learning experience. A distillation of years of educational research, these six core principles are the building blocks of Dialogue Education™. Effective...
Celebrating a Life
In her recent book The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker impels us to prepare well for our gatherings. She reminds us to probe with questions such as: Who is this event for? What do they most want to get from it? Whether preparing for an executive leadership retreat, a...