Building peace through dialogic teaching: the Civic Conversations teacher professional development program

More than ever, the capacity to engage in discourse addressing challenges we face as a nation is necessary. Young people must be able to navigate complex relationships in a diverse society. Yet, student capacity for constructive engagement across difference in classrooms is limited, and teachers lack the capacity to support students in dialogic communication, openness to difference, or other key peace education skills. This study thus reports on Civic Conversations, a professional development program for teachers modeling dialogic teaching in classroom contexts. Drawing upon data from multiple cohorts, the study shows that this program helps teachers develop a dialogic stance: belief in the value of dialogue as a foundational approach to teaching. Data suggests that the dialogic structure of the professional development program played an especially important role in facilitating teacher development of this belief and in enabling teachers to understand how dialogue allows them to build stronger classroom community while stepping back from being the center of focus in the classroom.