Recent Conference Presentations by Oscar Graybill
COSA’s 32nd Annual Conference
WASA/AWSP Summer Conference
AWSP Principals' Conference
WSASCD Annual Conference
Olympic ESD 114 Summer Leadership Conference
Contracted Workshops
The Art and Practice of Dialogue
June 25, 2010
Liberty Junior High School
Bethel School District
Spanaway, Washington
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The Art and Practice of Dialogue
October 28, 2010
Westbrook Public Schools
Westbrook, Connecticut
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Why are Facilitating, Training, & Consulting Necessary?
Educators are likely to require considerable training in group processes and continued reinforcement in order to develop skills as collaborators.
Rick Dufour
Professional Learning Communities at Work
Facilitating
Effective facilitation of genuine dialogue is a skill that few school leaders possess. Bringing in a dialogue facilitator provides the knowledge, skill, and experience to immediately begin creating shared understanding among all stakeholders and transforming school culture. Experienced dialogue facilitators know the appropriate strategies, techniques, and protocols necessary to meet the needs of each unique school or district.
Training
Experts in dialogue facilitation understand that their job is complete only when they are no longer needed. Our goal is to work ourselves out of a job. How fast this happens depends on the present culture of the organization, and the rate at which leaders learn, practice, and reflect upon their new knowledge and skills. Tom
Trainings prepare leaders to engage others in the practice of dialogue. Trainings are highly interactive and experiential. Some majors topics and skills include:
- Understanding the differences and uses of dialogue, skillful discussion, and debate
- Establishing ground rules and norms for dialogue
- Participating in and facilitating a variety of structured dialogue protocols
- Participating in and facilitating text-based seminars that build shared understanding
- Developing plans to introduce and practice dialogue in a district or school.
For a more detailed description of a one-day introductory workshop, please click on The Art and Practice of Dialogue.
Consulting
Consulting begins with the first conversation and continues beyond the last conversation. Best practices of professional development are on-going and in the context of the organization's real work. Organizational leaders discover as their knowledge and skill in dialogue facilitation increase, new challenges and questions arise. Having a skilled dialogue facilitator and consultant who knows the organization, knows the people, and is committed to seeing the organization transform, ensures professional growth for leaders and for the whole organization that is sustainable and meaningful.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFERINGS
Trainings are customized to meet the individual and unique needs of each client and organization. Trainings are offered in one, two, or three day formats. Customized planning ensures clients gain the important skills they need to effectively facilitate dialogue. Each training includes district/school follow-up visits that add personalized coaching and consultation in the skills of dialogue facilitation.
For more information regarding how facilitating, training, and consulting in dialogue can meet your leadership needs, please contact Oscar Graybill.