265: Growth Discourse: A Framework for Discussing Hard Topics with Students

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Jennifer Gonzalez

Education, Teaching, Instruction, Classroommanagement, Educationreform

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We're living in a time when having a difference of opinion is a potential minefield of hurt feelings, emotional outbursts, and severed relationships. If this has caused you to avoid certain topics in your classroom, the growth discourse framework used by the School of Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL) may offer a way to re-engage in these conversations. In this episode, I talk with SEGL founder Noah Bopp about how the growth discourse model works and how teachers can get started using it.

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Thanks to foundry10 and SchoolAI for sponsoring the episode. To read a full transcript of this conversationa and find links to the growth discourse guidelines and the sample lesson plan we talked about in the episode, visit cultofpedagogy.com/growth-discourse.

To learn more about Grammar Gap Fillers, visit cultofpedagogy.com/grammar.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Jennifer Gonzalez, welcoming you to episode 265 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.
0:05.9	In this episode, we're going to learn a framework for discussing hard topics called growth discourse.
0:27.7	We're living in a time when having a difference of opinion about anything other than pizza toppings is a potential mindfield of hurt feelings, emotional outbursts, and severed
0:34.1	relationships. This is a problem that has occupied my thoughts quite a bit over the past
0:39.8	10 years, and I have found very few solutions. So when I learned about the growth discourse framework
0:46.7	used at the school for Ethics and Global Leadership, or SEGL, I wanted to know more.
0:53.9	SEGL is a semester-long residential program for high school juniors from across the U.S.
0:59.9	The curriculum emphasizes ethical thinking skills, leadership development, and international
1:05.2	affairs, and their mission is for students to graduate ready to create positive change
1:10.4	in our world. A foundational
1:12.5	piece of their programming is growth discourse, an approach to discussion that equips students
1:18.0	to have productive conversations about topics many of us would be hesitant to bring up in a group
1:22.8	setting. Looking at SEGL's growth discourse guidelines, I liked what I saw. Their approach acknowledges and
1:30.3	makes room for the heavy role our emotions and vulnerability play in these kinds of conversations,
1:36.6	while also prioritizing courage and honesty in moving those conversations forward.
1:42.6	And because it's pretty simple and straightforward, I believe it's a
1:46.0	framework that could be replicated by any teacher who wanted to have better discussions in their
1:50.6	own classrooms. So I'm sharing it in this episode. Joining me is Noah Bob, who founded the school for
1:57.7	ethics and global leadership in 2009 and currently serves as the head of
2:01.8	school. In our conversation, he shares the story of why he founded SEGL, then walks us through
2:08.6	their growth discourse model, including a classroom example, so teachers can understand how to apply
2:14.6	it with their own students. I had a couple of big takeaways in this
	...

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