• Start as a club: Consent is one of our core values. Research shows that if young people actively choose to be a part of an activity, they'll be more engaged and committed. If you want to go deep and develop a long-term conversation community, start by forming a small, opt-in club with ~6 young people.
• In the classroom...small groups and youth choice: Start by making small groups (~6-8 young people in each group). Each group should choose their topic for each session. These groups should be consistent so that they develop a rhythm and sense of trust over time. In-person or using Zoom breakout rooms we recommend that groups are made beforehand (put folks who are friendly together).
  
  A day or two before the conversation, young people should choose the episode they're going to explore. At home, before the conversation, they can listen to the episode and use the journaling prompts in the guide. After the conversation they can do the activities together or at home individually. We recommend that for a while groups choose episodes and topics from the first two sections below. We had been working together for almost two years when we had most of the conversations in the third section.
  
  
• Pre-listen: We recommend, especially in the beginning, that you listen to the podcast before having a discussion. It models active listening, authentic sharing, and storytelling around the topic at hand. That said, if some folks don't have the chance to listen, no worries! We've made the guides accessible no matter what!



• No grades, no forced participation: This Teenage Life is meant to help develop trust and relationships based on personal storytelling and identity-based conversations. Thus, these conversations and the affiliated work shouldn't be graded. In addition, cold-calling or cajoled participation shouldn't happen either. People will talk when they feel comfortable and when they have something to say.

Each conversation and activity guide goes with an episode of the podcast, This Teenage Life, which can be heard in the "episodes" section of this website, and on podcast apps including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

If you're an educator using these guides with your students, below are some of our recommendations.