Healthy NewsWorks student reporters who are serving as ambassadors for their schools have been working hard to prepare for the upcoming Healthy Conversations event, where they will facilitate discussions about the student-created films screened at the event.
To prepare for the role, the students have been working with Lisa Rogoff, an expert in facilitation and leadership. Specifically, they’ve been focused on how to be good listeners, how to ask good questions in conversations, and how to help build on ideas when facilitating group conversations.
More than 20 student ambassadors from 11 schools will facilitate table discussions during Healthy Conversations on Tuesday, April 29. The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Independence Blue Cross in Center City Philadelphia.
Several of the student ambassadors say the sessions are helping them understand how they can be good listeners and encourage more conversation, not just passively hearing someone talk.
“I have to work on not zoning out when someone is talking,” said K’Dyn Reynolds, a student reporter from the DePaul Healthy Trailblazer. “But when I focus on listening to make sure I understand and repeat back what someone was saying, it becomes easier.”
Lisa calls this “levels of listening,” or going beyond hearing what someone says and actively listening to understand what someone is saying. “It is so hard to listen well,” said Lisa. “This is why we’re learning and practicing. Any time you notice that you zoned out or weren’t listening, that means you’ve strengthened your listening muscle—if you’re aware, it means you can get better.”
In addition to learning to listen actively rather than passively, student ambassadors also learned how to ask “powerful questions,” or questions that are open-ended and can generate detailed responses rather than yes-or-no answers. They also learned about “articulating back” in response to answers to powerful questions, which involves summarizing what you understand someone to have said and giving them or another person an opportunity to add to or clarify what they meant.
“Articulating back and powerful questions help people open up and keep the conversation going,” said Mia Mesa, a student ambassador from St. Cecilia School and a reporter for the Catholic Partnership Schools Healthy Courier.
