Have a Better Conversation
Can We Talk? is an experiential learning program that has been featured in The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. It introduces students (and adults) to skills and habits that promote productive dialogue across differences. It tries to counter the political polarization and student anxiety that plague our nation.
We don’t shy away from tough political conversations. Instead, we frame them for reflective engagement. We provide skilled moderators, resources, and prompts.
The program, run by the Pennsylvania Project for Civic Engagement, has worked with over 1,500 students in 60 high schools and colleges around the Commonwealth and the rest of the U.S. In evaluations, students give Can We Talk? an average score of 8.7 out of 10 for being “valuable” and 9 out of 10 for whether they’d recommend it to a friend. Read these case studies of how teachers have deployed Can We Talk? in their classrooms, and see coverage from Philadephia’s 6abc of the program at work in local classrooms.
High school teachers can now incorporate the program into their classrooms in Pennsylvania.
Is your class interested? Connect with PPCE co-directors Chris Satullo at csatullo@gmail.com or Harris Sokoloff at harrisjsok@gmail.com.
A Roadmap For Successful Conversations
These assets help generate productive dialogue in your classes and communities. Keep scrolling for a full package of exercises for students.
Ice Breakers
We always begin a Can We Talk? dialogue with an ice breaker. During a CWT? event, participants will discuss issues that can prove contested and emotional. You need to warm up the dialogue muscle before diving into the harder work.
Ground Rules for Productive Dialogue
For classroom or intraschool discussion to thrive, students should agree to a set of ground rules that will guide everyone’s behavior during the dialogue.
2026 Essay Contest
2026 brings the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Can We Talk? invited students from across Pennsylvania to consider how our country is living up to one of the most important passages of the Declaration.
Discussion Prompts for Students
Before each CWT? forum, we work with students to identify topics on their minds. Then we shape discussion prompts to frame the issue in a neutral way and makes clear young people’s stake in them.
Teacher Testimonials
Read from teachers who have used Can We Talk? in their classroom.
Foster Dialogue in an AP History Classroom
An essay by Andy Warren, Social Studies Teacher, Susquehannock H.S., York County.
A Note To Parents
We want to make sure parents are fully aware of what their students are learning through Can We Talk? Here’s our open letter explaining more about the program. Contact us with any questions!
Exercise and Activities
These exercises range from 15 to 40 minutes in length and can be used in sequence or free standing. You can use these in a classroom or afterschool activity. They are designed to practice the skills necessary for students to develop the ability to have productive dialogue with people from different backgrounds.
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Table of Contents
A suggested pacing guide for the Can We Talk? curriculum, organizing all five units and their exercises in recommended order.
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E Pluribus Unum?
An introductory slide-deck exercise reviewing evidence that political polarization is reaching crisis levels, inviting student discussion at each slide. Materials are provided as a downloadable PowerPoint and PDF.
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Ground Rules for Listening – Can We Talk? Style
Deepens students’ understanding of the Can We Talk? ground rules for dialogue, reviewing why each rule matters and how to put it into practice in classroom discussion.
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What Are Your Bubbles?
Guides students to recognize the “bubbles” — social, cultural, geographic — that shape their worldview, and to identify strategies for stepping outside them to learn from people and experiences different from their own.
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American Values: What are they?
Helps students identify the range of values Americans hold and recognize how those values can come into tension with one another, not as good versus evil, but as competing goods worth discussing.
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How to Be an Active Listener
Introduces the components of active listening — focusing attention, listening to connect, checking understanding, and acknowledging the speaker — through paired and small-group practice activities.
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Three Questions: A listening exercise
A get-to-know-you interactive exercise where students practice active listening skills with classmates, useful for launching a Can We Talk? unit or preparing students for more explicit listening instruction.
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Asking Different Kinds of Questions
Teaches students to ask different types of questions — clarifying, build-upon, and more — that show genuine interest and deepen conversations, building on a physicist’s story about the value of well-framed questions.
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The Five Whys
A 20-25 minute exercise, framed by Einstein’s advice to spend most of an hour defining a problem, that teaches students to dig past a surface complaint to find the real, underlying issue.
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The Kitchen Table Question
Helps students discover that their own key issues aren’t the only ones worth caring about, and that others may frame a shared issue very differently, through a process adaptable to national, state, or local topics.
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The Friend’s Dilemma
Sparks discussion about the pros and cons of students’ own community, revealing how people can view the same facts differently, using Force Field Theory to identify what helps and hinders positive outcomes.
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Story Core
A 40-80 minute exercise where students assess how well a system or organization is working, applied to anything from their school to a historical situation, to practice fair-minded, evidence-based evaluation.
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How to Handle a Difficult Conversation
Prepares students to navigate difficult conversations by identifying pitfalls in advance and reframing them as opportunities to learn, rather than to win or avoid entirely.
A Note to Parents
We want to make sure parents are fully aware of what their students are learning through Can We Talk? Read our open letter explaining more about the program. Contact us with any questions!