How to use the questions for reflection
As you listen, write down the things that strike you, that surprise you, that feel significant. Not everyone hears the same things. Your notes will be especially important for any group discussion.
For most stories, we offer a series of questions that can be used for self-reflection and group discussion. With audio and video, one can’t easily point back to the text to remember what was said, so it helps to begin by sharing your initial insights and then to use questions of clarification – what does the speaker say? what is going on here? We recommend starting conversation with these broad, descriptive questions rather than hot-topic, often polarizing questions, as we have found this method eases listeners into the conversation and often reveals other issues interconnected to the main theme of the story.
We also recommend listening to the story again. You will hear more the second time around once you have a sense of what the speaker will share. It may help to read the discussion questions before listening the second time.
We are gradually adding questions, so some stories only have a few questions, and others don’t yet have any. If you have questions you think would be good to add or adapt, please email us, or post the question in the comment box next to the story.
Request a Facilitated Conversation
We have developed 30-minute, 60-minute, 2-hour, & half-day facilitated conversations that pair Welcome Project stories with civic reflection. These programs, tailored to the needs of your organization or group, invite participants into a process of civic reflection about the experience of difference and diversity in the work they do. Using stories from the Welcome Project, facilitators will lead participants into a discussion of their values, choices, beliefs, assumptions and commitments by reflecting on the experience of people in our communities. We will focus on the challenges participants face on a daily basis but may not have taken the time to discuss deeply or complexly with one another. This conversation will be designed with your organization to select those stories that can most meaningfully help participants think and imagine concretely ways in which to generate a dynamic, inclusive organization. Examples of where we have facilitated:
- Pacific Lutheran University
- Indiana University Northwest
- Indiana Campus Compact retreats
- Professional development sessions, such as Center of Workforce Innovations & Valparaiso University’s Student Counseling Center and Residential Learning Coordinator training
Civic - Service organizations such as United Way of Porter County, Rotary & Kiwanis
Staff and board meetings, such as Valparaiso’s YMCA & Porter Memorial Hospital - Classrooms
Contact us by email: welcome.project@valpo.edu
Projects that have inspired us
- Finding ways to think about why you do what you do with Center for Civic Reflection
- Preserving stories with StoryCorps
- Collecting personal views on race in brief – The Race Card Project
- Exploring identity, stereotypes and diversity – Defying Definitions, a public conversation and community engagement program co-sponsored by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and the Maryland Humanities Council
- Using video and first-person experience to respond to bias in light of Boston marathon tragedy
- Documenting the stories of US immigrants – The Immigrant Archive Project, a Spanish-language website
- Celebrating Afro-Latino perspectives, issues and stories – The LatiNegrxs Project
- Connecting people through stories to strengthen communities – The Facing Project
- Giving faculty, staff and students at Rhode Island School of Design an opportunity to inspire others about the difference each of us can make in the world – RISDiversity: Community Narratives Project
How to leave comments, ideas, and feedback
The Welcome Project is an on-going project, and this site is a live, growing archive. We are looking for comments, ideas, and feedback. Please feel free to email us at welcome.project@valpo.edu. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you for visiting the Welcome Project.