Mass killings, police shootings, protests, refugees, racial and religious discrimination, and all the other heavy stuff going on this Summer makes me uneasy. Smartphones, through viral videos, tweets and the hyper-sharing of news articles and comments by populist pundits, bring this stuff into the hands and the heads of students at all levels. What ever is going on in the world is going on in the classroom. Students are uneasy too. And teachers shouldn’t ignore it.
If you’re teaching in the fall, I invite you and your students to tackle the social, economic and cultural shifts, changes, upheavals … not sure what they are yet, (only herstory will tell) that are happening now. Here’s why:
- It’s happening in real time. That means that the content is current, students have access to it and probably have an opinion.
- It’s interdisciplinary. Topics like Brexit, police brutality, terrorism and discrimination cut across subject areas—history, economics, sociology, political science, geography, and language arts. You are bound to find a topic you can cover in your classroom
- It involves critical thinking. It must or you’re doing it wrong. Students need to hear different opinions and learn to support their own opinions in a discussion.
To prepare for my courses in the fall, I’ve been thinking of ways to support lively, informed discussions, encourage critical thinking and reduce (can’t avoid it entirely) the likelihood that some of my students might get angry, cry, walk out or some other act that says, ‘this is too much!’
“Topics like Brexit, police brutality, terrorism and discrimination cut across subject areas.”
Here are some tips:
1. Review your course syllabus or plan to ensure that what you’re teaching meets education goals. All of what you teach doesn’t have to meet course goals but some of it should. Also, it will help justify your teaching topics to higher ups.
2. That said, course content and discussions should also prepare students to live in our increasingly complex world. Students need to learn to hear and understand different points of view, especially POVs that are different from that of their own family, racial, ethnic, and religious or language group. Students need to learn to examine any view that is presented as “established.” Be careful here though, as there are many places in the world where examining the established view, even in the classroom, is an act of sedition, seen as immoral or can get you arrested or worse. So, know and understand where you are the world and teach in a way that keeps you and your students safe.
3. Establish guidelines for discussions: This is the most important thing you can do. At the beginning of the class session, I have students come up with a list of rules for how class members and the teacher should behave during discussions. A student often volunteers to compile the list. I make copies and everyone signs it. Or, if possible, the list is displayed in the classroom so that the students and the teacher can refer to it during the course. The list has rules like:
- Raise your hand and wait to be called before you speak.
- Don’t interrupt someone who is speaking. Wait till he/she is finished.
- Don’t laugh or make fun of people when you don’t agree with them.
- Don’t record any part of the discussion. Cell phones off.
… I’m sure you and your students can think of others.
Mostly, students come up with the same rules in every class, but there are some unique ones each time. I’m amazed how carefully and consistently students enforce the rules.
“…students come up with a list of rules for how class members and the teacher should behave during discussions.”
Before the rules are complied, be sure that you and your students explore and agree on things like ‘What is a discussion?’ or ‘How do you have a discussion?’ This is something I started doing last year, as I realized that some students didn’t understand what a discussion was or didn’t know how to have a discussion. For some, it meant- I talk and everyone listens. For others, only the teacher is supposed to talk and we write it down. Some students (and they voiced their opinions) believed that the research and opinions of other students were not valuable and shouldn’t contribute to their education. You may have to explain that this isn’t the case on more than one occasion.
4. Study the context of the topics you discuss. Context, the conditions or circumstances that form the setting for an idea or event, is an integral part of discussions of contemporary events, especially charged subjects like discrimination, immigration and terrorism. Courses and discussions should be structured so that students know the historical, political, social and economic context of any issue. Context supports deep discussions of issues. The idea is to answer the question: How did we get to this moment? For example, a deep discussion of Brexit, might include: a history of the formation of the EU; a look at how decisions are made within the EU; EU regulations governing work and free travel and how it affects member states; Britain’s role (economic and social) in the EU etc.
Often, knowledge of context can help students see the complex nature of human life and I’ve seen students change their stance when contextual factors are revealed. Be sure to make context age appropriate, but, at the same time, don’t be afraid to challenge students with resources in various media. They often surprise you with their interest and enthusiasm.
“Context supports deep discussions of issues.”
5. Vary your contextual resources: This is mentioned in the section above, but deserves its own section. Use documents, speeches, books and videos. If it’s possible, bring speakers to the classroom. And, most excitedly, have students seek their own knowledge, do their own research, this could involve going to the library, interviews, creating online forum for public participation. Give them a chance and students will think of amazing things.
6. Include some learner-centered teaching: I say some because, lately, I’ve been leaning towards a mixed approach. In a mixed approach, there is some learning centered teaching, some lecturing, even times when I employ rote learning because it works better than group-work and the guided question format of the learner centered approach.
Why am I mixing approaches? For many students, the learner-centered approach is strange and weird, not even teaching. You need to introduce them to it slowly. A learner-centered approach takes time, a rare commodity in many classrooms. And, depends on what you’re teaching. Bucking the current trend, practice informs me that sometimes, methods, other than child-centered learning, might be …better for student learning and understanding.
In a learner-centered approach, the teacher guides the lessons and creates opportunities for students to learn on their own through group work, teaching other students, explain themselves to the class. For more details, check out this post.
“In a mixed approach, there is some learning centered teaching, some lecturing, even times when I employ rote learning because it works better…”
7. Ask questions. Let students ask questions. Wait for answers. Listen. Ask for clarification: Asking questions and waiting for responses is part of a learner-centered approach and part of being a great human being. It’s also one of the hardest things for many people to do, especially teachers, largely because of the unequal power relationship between students and teachers. It’s hardest when the listener doesn’t agree with the speaker or when the speaker has made a factual error.
I’ve found that a great way to listen is to take notes while someone is talking. You can also try to not formulate a response while a person is speaking. That way you’re not just waiting for your turn to speak. You and your students can make a habit of repeating the main points of a speaker before you give responses. This will help you and your students make focused, salient responses. Additionally, you can make questions, listening and waiting for answers one of the discussion rules so that everyone in the room enforces it. If all else fails, bite your tongue.
Happy Teaching
The weather is already getting cooler. But things haven’t cooled down in many parts of our complex world. I hope you’ll venture to discuss some of the many newsworthy items that occurred this Summer. It’s a great way to ditch the textbook, and create lively, relevant discussions in classrooms. This is where real learning takes place. Happy teaching.
