During a socratic seminar, I asked the students to think about why Marcus Garvey was considered controversial. We had previously discussed his advocacy for Pan-Africanism, which prompted a student to ask "wait, why DID he want African Americans to move back to Africa?". The class erupted with responses all at once. Everyone was excited to speak, which doesn’t always happen. While I was thrilled that they all had something to contribute, I wanted the students to speak one at a time so they could hear one another and discuss their ideas as a class. I was torn between either jumping in to pause the conversation and allow the questioning student time to further explain her question, or staying silent and allowing the class to self-facilitate.
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Jared
10th Grade
African American 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 your own classroom, how do you encourage students’ spontaneous enthusiasm for a discussion topic, when, if unchecked, it can contribute to chaos?