‘People Can Only Hear When They’re Heard': Navigating Divisive Conversations
Special Report
Special Report
Teaching Opinion

‘People Can Only Hear When They’re Heard': Navigating Divisive Conversations

How curiosity can help
By Jaclyn Borowski & Elizabeth Rich — September 19, 2024 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

We all have personal biases; it comes with being human. When it comes to students, though, educators might feel challenged by how to help them understand what their biases are and keep an open mind in spite of them.

Journalist and author Mónica Guzmán says educators can help students overcome their biases, but doing so requires building a muscle of their own. There’s one tool at everyone’s disposal to help reduce the tendency to make assumptions about others. Guzmán, who wrote I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, believes that building the skill of curiosity can help us get to a better place when it comes to addressing difficult conversations.

In this video, she talks about how to foster curiosity in ourselves and in students so that we can build greater understanding across divides.

Coverage of leadership, social and emotional learning, afterschool and summer learning, arts education, and equity is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Events

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Q&A How the World Cup Can Build Students' Sense of Belonging
A pair of healthcare researchers say simple activities tied to the mega-competition can support mental health.
8 min read
Morocco's Achraf Hakimi (2) and France's Kylian Mbappe (10) hug after the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, on July 9, 2026.
Morocco's Achraf Hakimi, in the red jersey, embraces France's Kylian Mbappe after the World Cup quarterfinal between France and Morocco on July 9, 2026. Mental health experts see creative options for engaging students through the competition.
Steven Senne/AP
Teaching Opinion Teach For America's New CEO: 'We're Working to Reinspire Belief' in Public Education
The new TFA chief explains what’s behind a 43% uptick in its incoming class.
6 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Teaching Opinion How You Can Teach Students to Be More Grateful
When students learn to look for the good, they’re building far-reaching habits.
10 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Opinion Teachers: Here's How Your Students Say You Can Reach Them
High schoolers advise teachers on what it takes to get students interested in learning.
6 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week