A 60-card deck to reflect on our interior condition for democratic culture.
Learning to show up in the world of education with democratic values in mind
How you show up in the world matters. This is why Cards for Democracy are an important tool today. They help us develop our interior condition to support democratic environment in our life and work.
Ready to use the Cards for Democracy? We offer some suggestions for you in the form of loose frameworks in which you can develop your creativity, as an educator, facilitator, or trainer.
These frameworks – we call them “Scenarios” – are intended to help you find inspiration to create your own activities.
L2C will share activities for download regularly in the C4D community of practice: Cards for Democracy Facebook group and on its media pages.
For an Introduction to the Cards for Democracy click here.
Observation is an effective tool to “diagnose” our and students’ learning gaps.
Carried out regularly, observation allows for gathering unexpected information (and data if done in the frame of action research).
Peer observation stimulates reflections about one’s own and others’ behaviors and elicits effective communication, the opportunity to be more observant and able to state our observations in interpersonal situations.
The cards below can inspire peers to observe themselves and each other, exchange about how they are practicing the cards in real-life, and/or how they see others practice and model these behaviors.
They then reflect on possible futures and ways to grow.
Here is an example of such an activity.
Participants will:
*the environment can be of many sorts: classroom, school, university, sports club, training…
Make sure you have printed all the cards that you want to use (this may vary depending on what you have explored and how long you want this part of the session to last).
The cards are available in the products section of Learn to Change.
You can become a member by clicking here.
• Prepare a PPT presentation with the pictures and the 4 C4D below. Margritte’s picture can be downloaded from here.
The first 2 slides show the same painting. In the first one the caption is cut off and in the second the whole painting is shown, uncut (as shown below).
• Make sure you have enough space for all participants to feel comfortable and discuss in pairs (no special arrangements).
• Paper and pens to take notes during discussion are suggested.
• Flipchart or any kind of board.
Project slide 1:
Ask participants What do you see? Round robin and very quickly
Project slide 2:
Allow time for participants to comprehend the difference of the 2 pictures. Inform participants that the author is René Magritte, and the painting was named The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), 1929. The painter highlights the gap between language and meaning.
Tell them: this is not a pipe; it is a painting of a pipe.
Project the C4Ds below. Ask participants to pair and relate this card to their visual experience in step 1.
Each pair writes 2 findings.
Ask participants to share their findings. Write notes from the findings on the flipchart.
Introduce the concept of labelling and use the definition:
To label someone is to categorize someone into a particular stereotype without nuances. It can negatively affect them.
Project the C4D below. Ask participants to use the card below to explain the differences between describing and judging. Each pair writes 2 findings.
Ask participants to share their findings. Write the findings on the flipchart.
Tip: these are the key pitfalls that should be mentioned if not raised by participants:
Possible questions for debriefing that we have found generative are:
Ask pairs to share one observation with one another : something, a behavior she/he/they displayed in the activity that was helpful for cooperation. They write it on a paper
“I observed you (NAME)… do (ACTION) and that was helpful”.
Before leaving the room they hand it to their peer.
Teachers learning with the Cards for Democracy
By downloading Scenario 4 – Observation practices, you will have a PDF resource to keep and consult for your activities.
In this article we answer some questions regarding the decision to transform Learn to Change from an association to a collective.
In this article, we talk about what we mean by Collective – the new form chosen by L2C – and how you can join it.
Learn to Change’s members held a General Assembly in fall 2022, in which the decision was taken to transform the association into a less formal, and more agile entity. Therefore, we will change status, going from an ‘organization’ to a less formal entity that we name “The collective”
If you feel you are committed to the vision and mission of the association, then your place is here.
We are sure that becoming a member will benefit you in many ways. Read the product description for more details or click sign up now.
