Since the Jewish Dialogue Group and the Public Conversation Project created our guidebook for dialogue facilitators in 2006, JDG has developed a number of new questions, exercises, and materials that you may find useful in your dialogue programs. We are beginning to post them here in the form of Microsoft Word documents that you can download, print, and edit as needed.
You can use these materials as they are, modify them to suit your group's particular needs, or just read them for inspiration. We are continuing to create additional supplements. Please check back soon!
Invitations for Dialogue Programs
Dialogue on a College Campus
A
sample announcement for a one-time dialogue session for Jewish students
at a single college. The invitation provides detailed information
about the goals and format of the program, as well as the time, the
location, other logistical information, and instructions for signing
up. Feel free to download and modify the invitation for use in
publicizing your own programs. Although
this sample is designed particularly for campus dialogues, it can
easily be adapted to publicize synagogue dialogues or dialogues
that take place within organizations.
Introductory Cross-Community Dialogue Session
A
sample announcement for a one-time dialogue session that brings
together Jews who are
affiliated with a variety of synagogues, schools, or organizations, or
who are not unaffiliated with any group. We have found that these
cross-community programs can be a good way to foster dialogue across
wide political and religious differences; to bridge divides within a
local Jewish community; and to introduce our dialogue methodology
to people who may want to use these tools in their groups or to
participate in more intensive multi-part dialogues in the future.
Pre-Dialogue Questionnaires
This is an example of the questionnaires that we use to learn about participants' backgrounds, hopes, and goals before a dialogue programs. Pre-dialogue surveys help us to set up and facilitate our programs in ways that match the participants' specific needs and interests. The sample questionnaire is hosted by SurveyMonkey, a free/low-cost online survey program. We have found that SurveyMonkey allows us to create questionnaires and to collect and analyze participants' responses quickly and efficiently. Several other good programs are available as well, including Google Forms.
In some cases, we also talk with each participant one-on-one by phone several days before the dialogue. These pre-meeting conversations give us an opportunity to learn even more about the participants' needs and hopes. They also allow us to ensure that the participants understand what to expect during the dialogue, and to help them prepare themselves to speak and listen in ways that will most effectively serve their purposes.
Off-Line Survey
This Microsoft Word document contains the same questions as the electronic survey described above. You can send a document like this as an attachment to an email, or print it and ask participants to fill it out and return it to you before the dialogue.
Sample Dialogue Agendas
Dialogue about the Gaza Flotilla Crisis -- June 2010
We
developed this agenda for dialogues that bring people together to explore
their responses to and questions about the Gaza flotilla
crisis. It is similar to our agenda for regular introductory dialogue
sessions, but
it includes questions that focus on current events.
Agenda
for an
Introductory Dialogue Program (with updated questions)
We use this agenda for many of our
one-time community dialogue sessions. It includes some new questions and other features that we've developed over the past
few years.
Evaluation Forms
This form will enable you to gather feedback from participants after a one-time dialogue session. It includes both quantitative rating-scale questions and open-ended questions.
