ERIC Number: EJ1225176
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Oct
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0037-7724
EISSN: N/A
Using Classroom Discussions: Great Risks Yield Great Rewards
Gibbs, Brian C.
Social Education, v79 n5 p261-264 Oct 2015
This article describes a discussion activity centered on a topic of interest to students, and how it helped teach seventh graders the rules of civic dialogue while engaging students with a range of academic abilities. The protocol asks students to closely read the text or texts given to them, take a position, write their position out in a short paragraph, discuss their analysis and argument with a partner, choose a side, move to that place, develop a larger argument as a team, make that argument, then defend it. Students also have the responsibility to listen carefully to opinions that are different from their own, and they have the freedom to change their opinions if they wish. Everyone's opinions are on the table. The teacher is involved in this entire process, moderating airtime, helping to develop arguments, asking good questions, and keeping everyone passionately engaged. The teacher might slow down the action by asking a student who has changed opinion and shifted position to explain why he or she did so.
Descriptors: Discussion (Teaching Technique), Civics, Social Studies, Grade 7, Student Attitudes, Opinions, Junior High School Students, Debate, Learner Engagement, Persuasive Discourse
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A