The Waynflete 对话 Project

韦恩弗雷特对话项目(WDP)是一个重点倡议，使对话成为高中的基本习惯. 它不是一个单一的项目，而是涉及高中经历的许多方面, in and outside of the classroom. 对话, 在最好的情况下, 是否有一种方法可以弥合个人之间的差异，找到共同点，并从不同的观点和背景中汲取智慧. 因此，对话的主要目的是新巴黎人注册网站和理解，而不是说服.

在韦恩弗莱特，将对话作为一种重要的习惯，将有助于丰富所有学生的教育，帮助他们从差异中新巴黎人注册网站，而不是被差异所分裂，从而帮助韦恩弗莱特避免许多大学的命运, which are too often diverse but divided. 包容性社区也是健康的社区，没有学生应该感到孤独. 除了, because of its power to tap wisdom from diversity, dialogue promotes innovation, 创造力, entrepreneurial thinking, and problem solving.  

By putting dialogue at the center of the student experience, the WDP will deepen learning, strengthen community bonds, and prepare our students to be catalysts of progress in a divided world. 因为教师和行政人员都致力于培养学生的对话能力, we expect that the effort will cultivate that capacity in ourselves as well. We hope it will prove to be a model that other schools want to emulate.

The Genesis of the WDP

从新巴黎人注册网站的使命到新巴黎人注册网站的日常实践，Waynflete是教学对话的沃土. 长期以来，对话蓬勃发展所必需的关键要素一直是韦恩弗莱特经历的标志, including a climate of mutual respect; discussion as a primary pedagogical strategy in the classroom; a premium value placed on teaching students to think; and, thanks to the school’s ongoing commitment starting in the early 2000s, an increasingly diverse student population in the upper school.  

后一种发展——学生多样性的增加——使新巴黎人注册网站对彼此交谈的方式变得更加有意识. 然后，校友们开始告诉新巴黎人注册网站，在高中新巴黎人注册网站这些技能对他们来说是多么重要，因为他们在大学里发现了日益两极分化的氛围. With that in mind, in the fall of 2015, we decided to get more systematic in how we cultivate dialogue. 最近发生在世界各地的新闻事件以及2016年的总统大选，都证实了新巴黎人注册网站致力于对话的选择.

With planning underway, in March of 2016 in partnership with 缅因州 Seeds of Peace, we sponsored and hosted the first annual New England Youth Identity Summit (NEYIS). 这次活动取得了令人难以置信的成功——来自缅因州和新英格兰地区27所学校的近300名学生聚集在韦恩弗特校园，在一个晚上和一天的时间里，主要是学生主导的研讨会和一系列主题的对话——巩固了新巴黎人注册网站促进对话的承诺，并鼓励新巴黎人注册网站将自己视为在更大的社区中这样做的催化剂. 感谢Geoff Wagg校长的领导以及学生事务总监Lydia Maier和发展总监Sarah Plimpton的辛勤工作, 新巴黎人注册网站随后获得了福特基金会的一笔赠款，这将使新巴黎人注册网站有足够的资源支持未来三年的首脑会议以及世界开发计划署的启动.

Early in the summer, Lydia and I started mapping out a launch plan. We defined dialogue by drafting the Waynflete Building Blocks of 对话, 链接在这里. 然后，新巴黎人注册网站开始在7月份举行对话培训，让教师参与到这个项目中来. Although that session was originally intended for 上学校 faculty, 来自其他两个部门以及发展办公室的兴趣使新巴黎人注册网站扩大了参与范围. 当天结束时，将WDP推广到全校的可能性已经被提出. A month later, 高中教师的开幕静修集中在如何最好地促进对话, and the administrative team had discussed making the initiative school-wide.  

What Form will the WDP Take?

The WDP is now being introduced to students in a series of steps. 我在年初对学生的讲话中提到了培养新巴黎人注册网站对话能力的目标. Over the first couple of weeks of school, 一些参与峰会的学生领袖已经听到了更多关于这一倡议的消息. At a recent assembly, 我向全体学生解释了WDP，并请他们参加一个关于MTV视频中所阐述的特权概念的建议午餐对话. My assembly remarks are 链接在这里. 视频是 链接在这里.

下周四，10月6日，Waynflete将主持一个嘻哈表演和教学二人组，Eric和Oliver. Eric is white and grew up in Skowhegan, 缅因州, 热爱嘻哈音乐，但几乎没有接触过产生他所热爱的音乐的人或文化. 随后，他进入布朗大学新巴黎人注册网站，并加入了普罗维登斯的嘻哈圈, where he met Oliver, who is Dominican and from Providence. 两人不仅以嘻哈表演者的身份合作，还在惠勒学校担任多元化教育工作者. 在Waynflete, 他们将为学生表演，然后讲述他们如何弥合分歧，成为艺术合作者和亲密朋友的故事. 那天晚上, with support of the 缅因州 艺术 Commission, they will host a public event in Franklin Theater entitled 嘻哈, Racial Inequality, and Cultural Appropriation: A Night of Cultural 对话 and 嘻哈 Performance.

As the year progresses, we will practice dialogue in advising lunch sessions, in our various dialogue-based activities, and in our classrooms. 除了, the 上学校 team has adopted the Building Blocks as our meeting agreements, which will give us the chance to practice what we teach. In the spring, we will again co-sponsor NEYIS with 缅因州 Seeds of Peace, 让新巴黎人注册网站的学生有机会作为促进者和参与者与来自新英格兰各地的学生进行对话. By year’s end, 新巴黎人注册网站希望在建立对话作为一种基本习惯的道路上走得很好，并且已经享受到进行这种努力的许多好处.

A Final Thought

As noted earlier, Waynflete is fertile ground for dialogue. 事实上, 对话与学校的身份密切相关，对话的基本要素，正如新巴黎人注册网站所定义的 The Building Blocks 好奇心、爱心和勇气也是学校核心价值观的描述. We are currently running ads extolling the importance of questions; when asked to describe Waynflete in one word, “kindness” was always former Head of School Mark Segar’s answer; current Head Geoff Wagg gave the same response when asked to summarize his philosophy in a word; and we ask students to take positive risks daily as a prerequisite to growth. 像这样, when we work at getting better at dialogue, we strengthen our core identity, which in turn makes us better able to learn from each other in dialogue.

It is exciting to think of where this initiative might take us.