Seminars & Trainings for Educators
StirFry Seminars Educational Keynote, Dialogue & Training Series
StirFry Seminars is proud to present our exciting new Educational Keynote & Dialogue Series for incoming freshmen and graduating students. In addition, we are also offering a supplementary Training Session on communications and diversity issues to help faculty and staff seeking to create a stronger sense of community and trusting relationships in their classrooms and amongst students of different cultures. This new program culminates in an evening Film Showing Program designed to bring together the community and the school through the viewing of one of our award winning films followed by an open and authentic dialogue around learning how to listen and to learn from each other.
We are presenting these new offerings for educational institutions that want to present a more inspired and fulfilling program to start off their new year through dialogue and the building of community. In the words of Lee Mun Wah, “I believe that what community is truly all about is when it is practiced in our daily lives with those we love and with those we have been taught to fear. It is my belief that when we value others for their uniqueness and differences, we enhance the possibilities for our children and for ourselves.”
Keynote Topics for New Incoming Freshmen (choose one)
The World Is All Around Us
As we enter into this new year, what will it take for each of us to truly get to know each other? How do we walk across the room and engage in a conversation with someone who is different from ourselves? What kinds of skills and types of knowledge will help us in developing a truly authentic and respectful relationship with each other? In this dynamic and interactive keynote session, we will learn about some of the fears and some of the hopes that combine to create a sense of community with each other. We will come to learn that our differences are something to celebrate and to embrace and that diversity includes all of us. There are no good stereotypes, only narrow biases that exclude and divide us from ourselves and from others. We will also discover that a multicultural community requires time and trust and important personal choices. To achieve the world we want, we each must become the change that we desire. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?
What Stands Between Us
Someone once said that westerners are very good at honoring diversity, but not very good at practicing it. If we are ever going to learn about someone who is different from ourselves, we are going to have to leave the comfort of our familiar world and begin a relationship, not just by talking about ourselves, but by truly wanting to make a connection through honesty, curiosity and our willingness to be open to new ideas and relationships. That kind of relationship will require sharing stories, listening with a desire to learn, being moved, and wanting to establish a friendship of mutual understanding and respect. The world is not a plane flight away. It has always been close at hand. We can never become a community until we have first learned about those who are next to us, our next door neighbors, and those we have been taught to be afraid of. What we are talking about is breaking down the walls we have created out of fear and truly desiring to confront what stands between us.
Keynote Topics for Graduates (choose one)
A Promise Still to Keep
As each young person is about to graduate into the world to pursue their dreams and hopes, what will be their mark on the world? What will they be remembered for? These are the questions that have lingered in the halls of each generation and echoed in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. when he made his famous speech, “I Have a Dream”. In that speech heard around the world, he called on this country to make good on its promises that were embedded in the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution.
As this graduating class enters into a new era, how will they be remembered? Will they pursue their private dreams or will they give back to their communities? Will they help those less fortunate? Will they fight for justice and against poverty and hunger? Will they work towards saving and preserving our environment or will they be one more generation that neglects its responsibility and depletes its resources? These are the questions and these are the challenges that each young person must decide upon as they become the next generation. Will they remember the words of those who tried to make a difference - that there is a promise still to keep.
Only a World Away
As a new world of different cultures enters into our communities and workplaces, what is needed to begin this journey together? How does one come to appreciate all the myriad of new perceptions and insights, resources and skills? Where does one begin? How does one avoid making mistakes or saying something offensive? And as we move into a global relationship, what now needs to be understood and respected? How does one come to appreciate and make use of all of the differences in language, customs, and beliefs? Discover the tools and mindsets needed to sustain this new relationship and partnership. Learn how to listen and to respond cross-culturally, so that each person feels valued and appreciated, supported and acknowledged. For in reality, we really are only a world away.
Dialogue Sessions for Students (choose one)
How to Have A Dialogue Across Cultures
So often we are afraid to begin a conversation on diversity issues because we have had a bad experience or feel others will say something wrong or hurtful. This dialogue seminar is particularly exciting and satisfying, because it helps everyone to practice talking to someone who is different from themselves in a compassionate and honest way. Students will learn that they are not alone in their fears and though we all lack a “model” of how begin this type of conversation and will probably hurt or anger each other, the most important ingredient is our sincerity and our willingness to learn from and understand each other.
We will practice sharing with each other through small group interactions, role plays, and personal stories. Students will learn:
- Noticing the impact and intent of our communications
- Ways to respond compassionately and openly about diversity issues
- How to listen mindfully and with awareness
- How personal stories can affect our perceptions and attitudes
- Ways to create a sense of community through dialogue and stories
- How to work with conflict and hurt when diversity issues are involved
A Cross Gender/Race Conversation
This popular seminar focuses in on the challenges and opportunities present when diverse race and gender groups interact with each other. Though diversity offers tremendous potential for learning and enrichment, moments of conflicts and tension also arise over differences in perspectives and approaches. This program offers the skills necessary to develop and support an effective learning environment where everyone feels valued and acknowledged for their uniqueness and their individual and group contributions.
Using a variety of learning tools, this program will make use of films, personal stories, experiential exercises, discussion and lectures. Participants can expect the following:
- Learn how gender and race issues affect one’s perspectives and behaviors
- Gain a deeper understanding of how gender and race can enhance and stimulate a stronger sense of community and cooperation
- Learn how to work with diverse groups to identify and realize strengths as well as areas needing improvement
- Understand divergent communication styles, perspectives, and expectations
- Practice effective listening and responsive communication techniques
- Discover ways to mediate gender and race issues cross-culturally
- Learn new ways and tools to begin a conversation of gender and race
Faculty & Staff Training (choose one)
Creating Community in a Diverse School Environment
This program provides basic, practical techniques on how to develop alliances and a sense of community between multicultural groups. Much focus will be on how to create an environment of trust and a sense of community where similarities and differences are valued, acknowledged, and found useful. Participants will be taken through a series of exercises that will help them learn more about each other and what each has to offer that is uniquely theirs. In addition, opportunities will be provided for sharing of stories and life experiences that have shaped and impacted who they have become and their aspirations for the future. A very intimate and moving experience, participants often leave feeling they have grown closer in friendship and in understanding. We highly recommend this seminar for those participants who have either grown up or worked in mostly monocultural environments.
Participants will learn the following:
- Insight, ideas, and suggested resources needed to build and maintain alliances interpersonally and cross-culturally
- Strategies to motivate and retain multicultural groups
- Techniques on how to listen and respond to intercultural communications
- Ways to integrate mainstream cultures with new entries into the workplace
- The Art of Listening & Responding
- Nine Healthy Ways to Communicate
Resolving Conflicts in the Classroom
Many discussions around diversity issues are bound to have communication issues and possibilities for some form of conflict or misunderstanding. The Buddhists say that conflict is both an opportunity and a sign of danger. At StirFry we call it a “dangerous opportunity! In our experience, conflicts can often be an opportunity for growth and a time for deeper understandings to take place. In this very dynamic and exciting seminar we will explore a myriad of techniques to more effectively mediate diversity conflicts and misunderstandings.
We will be using Lee Mun Wah’s “The Art of Mindful Facilitation” and various other communication techniques that will help in de-escalating a conflict within minutes. Through the use of role plays, personal stories, films, listening exercises, and mindfully responding techniques, participants will learn facilitation and inquiry techniques normally reserved for advanced trainers.
Participants will learn the following:
- How to de-escalate a conflict with minutes
- Observing the intent and impact inherent in all communications
- The Importance of a Conflict History Assessment
- The Art of Listening & Responding
- Ways to Mindfully Observe What Is Being Said and What Is Not
- Nine Healthy Ways to Communicate
Unlearning Racism in Schools
One of our most popular seminars, Unlearning Racism, provides a forum for participants to discover the conscious and unconscious ways in which racism permeates our attitudes and behaviors in our schools and in our relationships with each other. Intimately powerful, this program is experientially based and designed to foster a deeper appreciation of our individual and cultural differences through personal stories, group exercises, a variety of films and articles. Participants will receive many hand-outs on how to successfully communicate cross culturally as well as how listen and respond effectively in stressful and conflictual situations involving diversity issues.
Using various learning modalities, with an emphasis on experiential learning, discussion and lecture, participants in this program will learn the following:
- Understand how one’s personal and community history affects one’s self-esteem and sense of safety
- Explore, experience and learn how to converse from a diverse perspective
- Understand how racial differences can affect relationships, communication and behaviors
- Learn how to listen and respond to personal experiences from a cultural perspective
Diversity Conversations In The Classroom
So many times educators are afraid to begin a conversation on diversity issues because they have had a bad experience or feel they will say something wrong or hurtful. This seminar is one of our most exciting and satisfying ones, because it helps everyone practice talking to someone who is different from themselves in a compassionate and honest way. Participants will learn that they are not alone in their fears and though we all lack a “model” of how begin this type of conversation and will probably hurt or anger each other, the most important ingredient is our sincerity and our willingness to learn and understand each other.
We will practice sharing with each other through films, small group interactions, role plays, and personal stories. Participants will learn:
- Noticing the impact and intent of our communications
- Ways to respond compassionately and openly about diversity issues
- How to listen mindfully and with awareness
- Learning how personal stories can affect our perceptions and attitudes
- Discover ways to create a sense of community through dialogue and stories
- How to work with conflict and hurt when diversity issues are involved
Evening Film Program
Introductions
Dyad Exercise
Film Introduction
Film (Choice of The Color of Fear, Last Chance for Eden
or If THese Halls Could Talk)Film Questions for Dyads
Group Discussion
Closing
Acknowledgements
* Suggested AgendaMORNING PROGRAM:
Keynote (30-60 minutes)
Student Dialogue Groups (2 hours)
LunchAFTERNOON PROGRAM:
Training Session for Faculty & Staff (4 hours)
EVENING PROGRAM:
Film Showing (3 hours)
IF THESE HALLS COULD TALK: In the summer of 2010, Lee Mun Wah brought together eleven college students from around the country to to explore issues of race on their campuses. In the process of sharing their stories and different life experiences with each other, they discover and expose the complexity and anguish that accompany those experiences, while trying to be understood and validated in a predominantly white environment. Their stories are starkly emotional and the issues they provoke are equally perplexing, begging to be heard and confronted.
THE COLOR OF FEAR 1 is an internationally acclaimed film about eight men of various ethnicities engaging in an intimate and honest dialogue about race and the effects of racism on their lives and families. In 1995 Oprah Winfrey aired a one-hour special on Lee Mun Wah and The Color of Fear cast, which was viewed by over 15 million people around the world.
LAST CHANCE FOR EDEN 1 is about nine women and men who spend two weekends together talking about racism. On camera for 24 hours, they struggle to find a way to understand each other’s differences. In the second half, they ask each other questions they have always wanted answered. Their responses and reactions are compelling and revealing, but also intimate and honest.
*For ongoing seminars, film showing programs, and trainings please refer to our StirFry Seminars Catalog which can be downloaded here or call us at 510.204.8840 extension 101 and talk with our Seminars Director.
