Aldershot School in Burlington has been connecting with students on important issues and engaging them in deep conversations this year through the Deeper Dialogue project.
A year-long initiative involving Grade 7-12 students, the Deeper Dialogue project involves printing paper cards that are placed throughout the school highlighting monthly topics that provoke and engage students in fulsome conversations. Staff department leads and student-led equity and well-being committees collaborate to determine monthly topics, card designs and the conversation questions that accompany each card.
So far, topics have included National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Remembrance Day; the topic for January is Love and Kindness.
“The visual images used for the topics allow students and staff to keep a wide perspective on the conversations that derive from it,” says Laura Toperczer, Vice-principal at Aldershot School. “Tent cards are shared across all subject areas with a series of questions that we hope will stimulate dialogue with a wider lens. Students and staff can delve deeper into aspects of the monthly topic that may be familiar or challenging with their peers.”
Toperczer says the hope is that these monthly conversations provoke action within students to make positive changes in school and the broader Halton community.
“Thoughts, questions and ideas will move our students to be change makers and take action for today and tomorrow,” she says.
Keerthana Srinivasan, a Grade 9 student at Aldershot School, says Deeper Dialogue is a great initiative to get her fellow students talking about important themes and topics, to allow everyone the opportunity to understand that each person and situation is unique.
“I am so grateful to be part of a community that redefines societal norms by creating new forms of social engagement,” she says. “Conversation about these topics is important, as it allows us to understand that because of our differences, we are truly able to positively push the world forward.”
“We have connected the Deeper Dialogue cards to each of the five Multi-Year Plan commitments and goals in student classrooms,” she says, noting a company owned by an Aldershot School family helps print the cards. “With these relevant themes, students push the meaningful dialogues in ways they can see themselves and make space for others. Pictures of the Deeper Dialogue cards are shared with Aldershot families in weekly school communication in hopes of extending the conversations at home.”