Let's Talk: Leader Moderation Guide

The goal of every Let’s Talk group is to promote civil discourse to a larger audience. With your leadership, your group will engage students in thorough, constructive, and vibrant discussion about tough issues in a healthy atmosphere. You will help students practice and develop their skills as productive interlocutors in an informal and exploratory forum. An interlocutor is simply someone you talk to, like a discussant. Discourse groups allow various viewpoints to come together for inquiry through collegial discourse and dialectic, allowing members to learn as much as possible about other people’s positions, experiences, and ways of thinking.

A key part of being a Let’s Talk leader is recognizing when to intervene during a heated discussion. FIRE has created this Leader Moderation Guide to prepare leaders for their role as moderator and to give them the tools to diffuse tensions in conversation.