Orientation
If you are taking this orientation at home: please allow 50 minutes for the entire orientation (this page + the Diet and Climate page). This first page covers course expectations, course assumptions, ground rules and communication skills.
Facilitators who are leading a group orientation session: see this page for a complete lesson plan.
Facilitators whose group is completing the orientation at home: at least one week before your first meeting, send a reminder email with link to this Orientation page. Here is a template for your email.
Very important: we want you to have *fun* doing DOVE.
DOVE delves into serious topics—like global warming, corporate greed, and animal suffering. But we also want DOVE to bring you joy, and lift your spirit. We created DOVE to give you hope and courage.
So have fun in the kitchen, and with each other. Remember to take pictures along the way. (We hope you will want to share them on DOVE's Facebook page, but that is certainly not required.) Even if just for internal congregational use, make sure to document the smiles and laughter, scenes of sharing and learning.
Honoring our differences
Let us acknowledge from the start that each participant's "personal food journey" is unique. In other words, our history with food, how we experience the act of eating, the meaning we attach to food, and our access to food—all of this is different for each of us. And "journey" reflects the idea that how we relate to food is not fixed; rather, it continues to change over time, along with changing interests, income, family structure, location, age, and other factors.
Some of us have experienced the hardship of hunger and food insecurity. Some of us have struggled with an eating disorder. Some of us must take in nourishment by way of a feeding tube.
Some of us observe religious dietary laws. Some of us live with food allergies. Some of us have dietary constraints resulting from surgery (bariatric or otherwise).
We come from different family traditions, different economic means, and different cultures.
So if you find that a section of this curriculum does not speak to you, try taking the anthropologist's approach: use it as an opportunity to grow your understanding of a perspective that differs from your own. Also, if you can suggest ways to make the course more inclusive and accessible, please gift us with your feedback.
Your exit ticket
At the end of DOVE, you will be asked three questions:
Your group might decide to record your commitments on index cards and display them on a bulletin board at your congregation. Doing so might inspire others to join you! But at the very least, everyone in your DOVE group should share their exit ticket with one another, and with the curriculum authors.
Ground rules and communication skills
Since the topic of food can bring up strong feelings and opinions, let us agree to make DOVE a space that is safe for learning.
Let us:
When another person is doing something that makes your life "less than wonderful" (to use the words of psychologist Marshall Rosenberg), you may find it helpful to use objective rather than evaluative language when you call attention to their actions. Most people don't see their own actions in a negative way, so evaluative language just tends to escalate a situation. When you call their attention to what they are doing without evaluating it, they are less likely to react in a defensive way. Some instructive examples are provided here (click this link).
Exaggerating, making assumptions, and making generalizations can also derail your communication efforts. It can be helpful to make statements that are as accurate as possible.
"Nonviolent Communication," or NVC, is one method of teaching effective communication techniques such as these. If you are not familiar with NVC and want to learn more, follow this link to see Marshall Rosenberg's "The Basics of Nonviolent Communication" workshop online. It is in four parts; average length of each part is about 45 minutes.
Facilitators whose group is completing the orientation at home: at least one week before your first meeting, send a reminder email with link to this Orientation page. Here is a template for your email.
DOVE delves into serious topics—like global warming, corporate greed, and animal suffering. But we also want DOVE to bring you joy, and lift your spirit. We created DOVE to give you hope and courage.
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| DOVE at First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, NY (photo credit) |
So have fun in the kitchen, and with each other. Remember to take pictures along the way. (We hope you will want to share them on DOVE's Facebook page, but that is certainly not required.) Even if just for internal congregational use, make sure to document the smiles and laughter, scenes of sharing and learning.
Honoring our differences
Let us acknowledge from the start that each participant's "personal food journey" is unique. In other words, our history with food, how we experience the act of eating, the meaning we attach to food, and our access to food—all of this is different for each of us. And "journey" reflects the idea that how we relate to food is not fixed; rather, it continues to change over time, along with changing interests, income, family structure, location, age, and other factors.
 |
| Our journeys are unique (photo credit) |
Some of us have experienced the hardship of hunger and food insecurity. Some of us have struggled with an eating disorder. Some of us must take in nourishment by way of a feeding tube.
Some of us observe religious dietary laws. Some of us live with food allergies. Some of us have dietary constraints resulting from surgery (bariatric or otherwise).
We come from different family traditions, different economic means, and different cultures.
So if you find that a section of this curriculum does not speak to you, try taking the anthropologist's approach: use it as an opportunity to grow your understanding of a perspective that differs from your own. Also, if you can suggest ways to make the course more inclusive and accessible, please gift us with your feedback.
Your exit ticket
At the end of DOVE, you will be asked three questions:
- As you reflect on this shared experience, what positives will you remember?
- Do you feel more aware or informed than before?
- What individual or collective action will you take, as a result of this course?
Your group might decide to record your commitments on index cards and display them on a bulletin board at your congregation. Doing so might inspire others to join you! But at the very least, everyone in your DOVE group should share their exit ticket with one another, and with the curriculum authors.
Course assumptions and values
DOVE is based on the following set of assumptions:
1. Revelation is unfolding, not sealed. Fallibility comes with being human. And we are all capable of growth and change. (Optional: follow the links to learn about revelation and fallibility.)
2. Ethical reasoning, science, and love can point the way to food choices that better reflect our values—values of health, justice, compassion, and sustainability.
3. Appeals to "tradition" do not justify oppressive practices or institutions.
4. While it is important to heed our conscience, we should also be gentle with ourselves and with others, and express ourselves with humility and compassion.
DOVE is based on the following set of assumptions:
1. Revelation is unfolding, not sealed. Fallibility comes with being human. And we are all capable of growth and change. (Optional: follow the links to learn about revelation and fallibility.)
2. Ethical reasoning, science, and love can point the way to food choices that better reflect our values—values of health, justice, compassion, and sustainability.
3. Appeals to "tradition" do not justify oppressive practices or institutions.
4. While it is important to heed our conscience, we should also be gentle with ourselves and with others, and express ourselves with humility and compassion.
Since the topic of food can bring up strong feelings and opinions, let us agree to make DOVE a space that is safe for learning.
Let us:
- be gentle with one another,
- share what we know,
- and stay humble, too (since we can always learn more).
 |
Seek first to understand, then to be understood. —a helpful communication principle, from Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. |
Exaggerating, making assumptions, and making generalizations can also derail your communication efforts. It can be helpful to make statements that are as accurate as possible.
"Nonviolent Communication," or NVC, is one method of teaching effective communication techniques such as these. If you are not familiar with NVC and want to learn more, follow this link to see Marshall Rosenberg's "The Basics of Nonviolent Communication" workshop online. It is in four parts; average length of each part is about 45 minutes.
NVC might enrich your DOVE experience. Beyond DOVE, NVC might have a positive impact on your life. If it does, please consider purchasing your own copy of the workshop DVD from the Center for NVC.
2 Comments:
I really appreciate the little picture of phrases to use to seek to understand, then to be understood. Seeing it written like that is helpful.
Thanks for this feedback, Rebecca. "Seek first to understand" is such a key principle in effective communication! It's great to hear that you found the illustration with sample phrases helpful.
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