Method 2: As equals (Respect for self and others)

(State of mind for engaging in dialogue, Respect for self and others, dialogue scene 8, in English 7)

The goal is to learn to understand what it means to establish a relationship of equals (as opposed to unequals) with another person. The objective is to understand that every person has the same value as human beings. This means that everyone has a right to think as they do and to express their thoughts. Freedom to share one's thinking as an equal member of the group is a central principle of dialogue and dialogue-based knowledge creation. When one has an insight into the same value of every individual and the significance of equality, one knows how to value oneself and others. This means that one respects oneself and others.

Instructions

• Observe your actions and evaluate: how do they show that in some situations of dialogue or knowledge creation you automatically consider yourself in some way superior (better, more skilled or more knowledgeable) to others?
• Write down your observations.
• Observe your actions and evaluate: how do they show that in some situations of dialogue or knowledge creation you automatically consider yourself in some way inferior (worse, weaker, less skilled or less knowledgeable) to others?
• Write down your observations.
• Observe your actions and evaluate: how do they show that in some situations of dialogue or knowledge creation you consider yourself equal (you have the same value as human beings) with others?
• Write down your observations.
• In small groups, talk about feeling superior, feeling inferior and feeling equal and how this can be seen in one's activities.
• Weave a synthesis of this dialogue to help you improve your activities.
• Choose one of your insights pertaining to how you should develop your activities to show equality and share this insight with the others.
• The time used on this task can be generous, since the task focuses on one of the core issues of dialogue and dialogue-based knowledge creation.

Reflection in the learning community: The whole group jointly reflects upon their experiences of the task and thinking that it caused. One useful question for this reflection is ”What did you become aware of during this task?” Another, more demanding question, is ”What did you learn from this task?” The purpose of the reflection is that several participants, not only some, share their thinking and experiences. When the reflection part is completed, every participant has gained an understand-ing of the fact that each member of a group should be able to participate in dialogue as an equal with everyone else. This enables them to continue practising in real life situations.