The students were placed in small groups to discuss school rules that they felt should be changed. As a class, they narrowed the list down to the five most deeply and widely felt issues. One of them was the school dress code. As they were conversing, they were all focusing on their own experiences as opposed to how or even why we should address the issues they were experiencing. I wanted to jump in to shift their train of thought, but I didn’t want to bring the conversation to a grinding halt. It was so clear to me that students needed more support in conceptualizing how to take civic action on this complex issue at our school. Yet, I thought that injecting myself into the conversation would inherently take away the agency and excitement students were feeling at that moment.
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Sigal
10th Grade
US History
First Year Teaching
- What is the teacher's dilemma? Consider the teacher's goals, possible actions, beliefs about the situation and the students, and their own self-perceptions.
- Complete or modify the following sentence in a way that captures the teacher's central tension in the situation: "While on the one hand, the teacher believed/wanted/felt/did __________, on the other hand, they believed/wanted/felt/did __________."
- Thinking about a time when your students were excited about a discussion topic, how do you direct students towards discourse that takes up the topic more directly, when intervening threatens to inhibit student ownership of the discussion?