Different Views, Shared Respect: The LACE Dialogue
Students learn and practise the LACE dialogue routine—Listen, Ask, Check and Explain—to respond to differing opinions without ridicule, interruption or personal attack. Through scenario sorting, structured exchanges and a two-week classroom trial, they seek understanding, protect dignity and express disagreement with reasons and respect.
Purpose
This method turns respect for different opinions into observable behaviours. It helps students slow reactive responses, paraphrase accurately, ask genuine questions, explain their own view with reasons and recognise when speech becomes demeaning, discriminatory or unsafe. The class tests shared dialogue routines and reviews their impact.
Use and Learning Outcomes
- • Distinguish disagreement about an idea from ridicule, personal attack, stereotyping, misinformation and discriminatory or threatening speech.
- • Use the LACE routine—Listen, Ask, Check and Explain—during a structured exchange with a person holding a different view.
- • Summarise another person’s view accurately and check understanding before responding.
- • Express agreement, uncertainty or disagreement using reasons, evidence and language that protects the other person’s dignity.
- • Agree, apply and review classroom routines that make different opinions safer to express and examine.
Wellbeing References
Details & Preparation
Room Requirements
• A standard classroom or meeting room with movable seating for groups of three or four. Students should be able to face one another without creating a public “stage”.
• Board, projector or large paper on which the LACE routine, dialogue boundaries and sentence starters can remain visible.
• A quiet writing surface and enough physical space for students to pause, change partners or take a short regulation break without drawing attention.
• Accessible seating and communication options for students using mobility, sensory, language or augmentative communication supports.
• For online/hybrid delivery: accessible breakout rooms, captions where available, chat or shared notes, a visible “pause” signal and a clear process for reporting harmful comments privately.
Time for preparation
45 minutes
Preparation
Preparation tasks (35–45 minutes)
1. Review the group-level result for WELL³ Sensor statement 28. Note the settings in which disagreement may be difficult—whole-class discussion, group work, online communication, peer feedback or school consultations—without trying to identify individual respondents.
2. Read the full method and Handout 5. Check the school’s safeguarding, anti-bullying, anti-discrimination, behaviour and online-safety procedures. Confirm how students can raise concerns privately and which adult will follow up.
3. Select two or three low-stakes practice prompts from Handout 3. Do not begin with identity-based, traumatic, party-political or highly polarised topics. Avoid prompts that invite students to debate whether a group deserves dignity, rights, safety or inclusion.
4. Print Handouts 1–5. Prepare one LACE card per student, scenario cards per group, role/checklist sheets, the class agreement and anonymous pulse. Provide accessible digital or enlarged versions where needed.
5. Plan mixed groups of three or four, while considering known conflicts, bullying patterns, language support and accessibility. Do not require a student to represent a social, cultural, religious, disability, gender or other identity category.
6. Prepare a brief model exchange using a neutral prompt. Rehearse both an unhelpful version and a LACE version so that the contrast is clear but not humiliating.
Principles for success
• Respect is owed to people; ideas and claims may be questioned. Respectful disagreement does not require agreement, approval or pretending that all claims are equally accurate.
• Freedom to express a view is accompanied by responsibility for impact, evidence and the rights and safety of others. Threats, harassment, humiliation and discriminatory speech are not treated as ordinary “differences of opinion”.
• Students may pause, pass, contribute in writing or request a different partner. No one must disclose personal experiences or defend an identity.
• The facilitator remains responsible for correcting misinformation, interrupting harm and protecting the learning environment. “Neutrality” does not mean allowing demeaning or unsafe speech to continue.
• The aim is understanding and reasoned response, not winning, changing someone’s mind or forcing consensus.
Materials
• Handout 1 – LACE Dialogue Card, Sentence Starters and Respect Check (one per student).
• Handout 2 – Response Sort and Repair Scenario Cards (one set per group).
• Handout 3 – Practice Prompts, Dialogue Roles, Observer Checklist and Perspective Exchange Record.
• Handout 4 – Class Respectful Disagreement Agreement, Two-Week Log and Anonymous Pulse.
• Handout 5 – Facilitator Boundary and Safeguarding Guide.
• Pens/pencils, sticky notes or index cards, large paper/board, timer and optional “pause” cards.
• Optional extension video for students aged approximately 15+: Julia Dhar, “How to disagree productively and find common ground” (preview before use).
Sequence of Steps
Create safety and define respectful disagreement
8“People can see the same situation differently. A respectful classroom is not one where everyone agrees; it is one where people can express and examine different views without being mocked, silenced or attacked. Today we will practise a routine for understanding first and responding second.”
• State the boundaries: discuss ideas rather than naming classmates; no imitation, ridicule, labels, slurs or personal attacks; no requirement to reveal personal experience; students may pass, write, pause or request another partner.
• Say explicitly: “Respecting a person does not mean accepting every claim as true. We may question reasons and evidence. If a comment targets someone’s dignity, identity or safety, I will pause the discussion and follow it up.”
• Ask students to complete the anonymous starting pulse in Handout 4.
• Write two phrases on the board: “I disagree with your idea” and “There is something wrong with you.” Ask students to identify which addresses an idea and which attacks a person.
Do not invite examples of recent classroom conflict. Keep the opening conceptual and low risk.
Sort responses and identify what needs repair
10• For each card, groups underline the exact behaviour that shaped the classification: interruption, ridicule, false agreement, genuine question, accurate paraphrase, reason/evidence, stereotyping, threat or boundary-setting.
• Ask groups to rewrite one “needs repair” response so that it addresses the idea and preserves dignity.
• Debrief under three headings: understanding behaviours; response behaviours; boundary behaviours. Emphasise that tone matters, but respectful language cannot make a discriminatory or threatening message acceptable.
• Clarify the difference between a preference (“I prefer individual work”), a reasoned position (“I think…because…”), a factual claim that can be checked, and a harmful statement about a person or group.
If a real incident is disclosed, acknowledge it, stop public exploration and arrange private follow-up according to school procedures.
Teach and model the LACE routine
10• Stop preparing a rebuttal. Attend to the speaker’s main point, reason and concern. Notice your own reaction and take one slow breath or brief pause if needed.
A – ASK
• Ask one genuine, non-trapping question: “What leads you to that view?”; “What matters most to you here?”; “What example or evidence supports that?”
C – CHECK
• Paraphrase neutrally: “Have I understood correctly that you think…because…?” Allow the speaker to correct the summary before continuing.
E – EXPLAIN
• State your own view with a reason or evidence: “I see it differently because…”; “I agree with… but not…”; “I am not sure yet because…” Address the idea, identify any common concern and state what remains different.
• Model a 60-second unhelpful exchange and then a LACE exchange. Ask students to identify where listening, curiosity, accuracy and explanation became visible.
LACE is a dialogue routine, not a script that forces agreement. A participant may end with: “We understand the difference and do not agree.”
Practise LACE in triads
15• Round 1 (5 minutes): Speaker A explains a view for up to 45 seconds. Speaker B uses Ask and Check before explaining a different or more nuanced view. The Observer records specific evidence using the checklist.
• Feedback (2 minutes): the Observer names one behaviour that protected respect and one repair. Feedback must describe behaviour, not personality.
• Round 2 (5 minutes): rotate roles and use a second prompt. This time, require the respondent to identify one shared concern before stating the remaining disagreement.
• Final triad reflection (3 minutes): Which LACE stage was easiest? Which was skipped? Did anyone paraphrase in a way that sounded biased or sarcastic? How was it repaired?
Students may use written LACE responses, pair rehearsal, assistive communication or an observer role. Do not penalise a pass or pause.
Conduct a Perspective Exchange without requiring consensus
10• Each speaker gives one view and one reason. Before adding a new point, the next speaker must Check the previous view accurately. The previous speaker confirms or corrects the summary.
• The group completes the Perspective Exchange Record: views heard; reasons/evidence; shared concern; differences that remain; questions or evidence still needed; and any statement requiring fact-checking or adult follow-up.
• Ask groups to produce a final two-sentence report: “We share concern about… We still differ about… because…”
• Emphasise that a successful outcome can be clearer disagreement, not agreement. The quality criterion is whether people were understood, treated with dignity and able to explain their reasoning.
If a discussion becomes personal, targeted or unsafe, use Handout 5: pause, name the boundary, redirect or stop, and follow up privately.
Agree, test and review respectful disagreement routines
7+15• Agree responsibilities: the facilitator makes the prompt and boundaries clear; students use LACE; the observer/recorder notes patterns; the teacher intervenes when harm or misinformation exceeds peer repair.
• Choose at least three forthcoming class or group discussions in which the agreement will be tested over two weeks. Start with low- or medium-stakes topics before considering more sensitive material.
• Students complete a private exit slip: “One phrase I can use when I disagree is…” and “One sign that a discussion needs to pause is…”
Review after two weeks (10–15 minutes)
• Repeat the anonymous pulse and review the implementation log. Ask: Did students understand before responding? Were different views treated with dignity? Did the teacher intervene consistently? Which routine became artificial or difficult to use?
• Retain, adapt or replace routines. Record the decision and brief evidence in the WELL³ Logbook. Refer repeated ridicule, intimidation, discriminatory speech or retaliation through the relevant school procedure rather than relying on dialogue practice alone.
Reflection & Tips
Reflection
• What is the difference between respecting a person and agreeing with an idea?
• Which part of LACE helped you understand a different opinion most clearly?
• How can a paraphrase sound inaccurate, sarcastic or judgemental even when the words appear polite?
• What makes a question genuinely curious rather than a disguised attack?
• How can we correct a factual claim without humiliating the person who made it?
• When should peers try to repair a discussion, and when must an adult intervene?
• Can a respectful discussion end without agreement? What would make that outcome constructive?
• Which routine should become standard in this class and how will we know it is working?
Tips for Implementation
Facilitation and psychological safety
• Begin with low-stakes preferences and school-life questions. Progress to more complex issues only when routines are established and the facilitator has appropriate competence and preparation.
• Do not turn students’ identities, rights, trauma or lived experiences into debate topics. No student should have to defend their humanity, family, culture, religion, disability, gender, sexuality or other identity.
• Avoid false balance. If a question concerns verifiable information, distinguish evidence from opinion and schedule fact-checking. Respectful dialogue does not require presenting unsupported claims as equivalent to reliable evidence.
• Intervene early and calmly: “Pause. That response addresses the person/group, not the idea.”; “Please restate the point without the label.”; “We need to verify that factual claim before continuing.”
• Allow emotion without allowing harm. Offer a short pause, writing route, water break or change of partner. Do not demand immediate calm, disclosure or reconciliation.
• Do not use public scoring, “best debater” awards or forced position changes. These can reward performance, dominance or humiliation rather than understanding.
Access and inclusion
• Provide the prompt, vocabulary and LACE stems in advance where possible. Accept speech, writing, drawing, sign, assistive communication or a supported contribution.
• Students working in an additional language may need extra processing time, a bilingual glossary or pair rehearsal. Do not interpret slower speech as weak reasoning.
• For neurodivergent students or students with anxiety, make turn order predictable, allow a pass-and-return option and avoid sudden public role assignment.
Alternative formats
• Short version (25–30 minutes): Steps 1, 3 and one triad practice round; agree two temporary routines and review in the next lesson.
• Extended version (75–90 minutes): add the optional video, source-checking practice and a second Perspective Exchange using subject-specific material.
• Online version: post LACE visibly, use chat for Ask/Check, require a brief accurate summary before reply, and establish a private reporting route for harmful content.
• Cross-reference WELL³ Students Method 27 for equitable contribution and Students Method 29 for protecting feelings and repairing harm.
Monitoring progress
• Use the anonymous pulse, observer checklist and implementation log as local reflection tools. They do not replace the WELL³ Sensor and should not be used to grade individual students.
• Look for behavioural evidence: fewer interruptions or labels; more genuine questions; accurate paraphrases; reasoned responses; appropriate pausing; and consistent adult action when boundaries are crossed.
Further Readings & Links
Files & Attachments
English