Yes, You CAN Talk Politics began as a series of workshops that I developed for the members of Crossing Party Lines, the nonprofit that I helped to found. Many of those members volunteered to test out this workbook and have helped me develop a recommendation for the most effective way to learn these skills.
As it turns out, neither the workshop format nor this self-paced book is perfect:
- Workshops provide the opportunity to practice with others, hear how others are understanding the concepts and talk about their answers to the activities.
- The self-paced workbook format provides time to really think about the concepts and skills and dig deep into the inner workings of our own politics.
That’s why I recommend that if at all possible, you gather a few (4 to 6) friends or family members and create a study group to work through this book together. Based on the experience of the volunteer testers, I recommend the following format:
- Set up regular meetings, either weekly or twice-monthly.
- Read through the material and do those exercises designed to be done solo.
- Use meeting times to talk through the material, then practice the interactive activities together.
- Plan on about 12 sessions:
- Lessons 1.1 – 1.5
- Lessons 1.6 – 1.9
- Lessons 2.1 – 2.3
- Lessons 2.4 – 2.6
- Lessons 3.1 – 3.3
- Lessons 3.4 – 3.6
- Lessons 4.1 – 4.3
- Lessons 4.4 – 4.5
- Lessons 5.1 – 5.3
- Lessons 5.4 – 5.5
- Lessons 6.1 – 6.3
- Lessons 6.4 – 6.5
- Lessons 71 – 7.2
- Have fun