Seminars and Deliberations

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Seminars and Deliberations
Strategies for Engaging Students in Civil
Discourse
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Why Lead Students from Idiocy to Citizenship

• Helps students understand the value of public
  interest versus personal interest
• Promotes appreciation of diversity in ideas
• Teaches Perspective-taking
• Promotes Moral Development
• Promotes better understanding of academic content
  
• Makes connections to life outside of school

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Forms of Discussion

• Cognitive-Moral Dilemma Discussions (Kohlberg,
  1971)
• Seminars and Deliberations (Parker, 2003)
• Structured Academic Controversy (Johnson and
  Johnson, 1995 Larson, 1996)
• Socratic Seminar (Adler, 1982)

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Source Parker, Walter C. (2003). Teaching
Democracy Unity and Diversity in Public Life.
New York Teachers College Press
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Socratic Seminar

• Purpose enlarged understanding of the ideas,
  issues, and values in or prompted by the text
• Text Can come in different forms
• historical novel
• primary source document
• Essay
• photo
• Film
• Play
• painting

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Selecting a powerful text

• One that arouses discussants intellectually and
  morally
• Disagreements about meaning broaden horizons as a
  shared meaning is constructed
• Typically deal with text excerpts (4-5 pages)
  which leads to more intensive work over a smaller
  ground.

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Preparing to lead a seminar classroom management
decisions

• Arrangement of students
• Whole-class
• Fish bowl
• Microseminars
• How to hold students accountable for completing
  the reading?
• Is participation in the seminar required and
  graded?

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Preparing to lead a seminar classroom management
decisions

• What norms will be posted
• Dont raise hands
• Listen to and build on the comments of others
• Invite others into the discussion
• Support opinions by referring to passages in the
  text
• Tie your knowledge of the struggle for civil
  rights into your interpretation of Kings letter.
• Teaching students how to challenge or seek
  clarification from one another
• I have a different opinion
• I disagree, let me explain

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Preparing to lead a seminar the opening question

• Most important part of seminar facilitation
• Should be interpretative not factual or
  evaluative
• Is concerned with the meaning of the ideas,
  issues, and values in a text.
• Other questions (e.g., evaluative) can be used
  later.

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Debriefing a Seminar

• Did we achieve the purpose
• Ask for each participant to make an observation
  about the seminar
• Problems that can be addressed immediately or in
  the next seminar should be clearly identified and
  addressed.
• Students could be asked to write a follow-up
  essay expanding on their original understanding.

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Deliberative Discussion

• Purpose Deciding on a plan of action to solve a
  problem
• Central Activity
• Clarifying the problem
• Considering Alternatives
• Opening Question What should we do about this?
• Some overlap with Seminars but the purposes and
  emphases are distinct

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During a Discussion of a Controversial Issue

• Am I listening to what other people are saying or
  am I missing important points?
• Am I making claims clearly and supporting them
  with facts?
• Am I critiquiting ideas not individuals and being
  respectful of others viewpoints?
• Am I helping to develop a shared understanding of
  the problem or issue

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During a Discussion of a Controversial Issue

• Provide an overview of the controversy pro and
  con
• Assign students evenly into pro or con position
  and groups of four (with a pair representing each
  position)
• In pairs of similar position discuss best reasons
  for support (or not)
• Reassign students into pairs of opposing
  positions and explore best reasons for support
  (or not)
• Invite students to establish their own position
  and hold large class discussion
• Write a dialogic essay reflecting on the
  controversy

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5 Conditions for Ideal Deliberation

• Students are engaged in integrated
  decision-making discussions that involve genuine
  value conflicts that arise out of relating to one
  another at school
• Discussion group is diverse enough that students
  have the benefit of reasoning and social
  perspectives different from their own.
• The discussion group is free of domination --
  gross or subtle
• The discussion leader is skilled at comprehending
  and presenting reasoning and perspectives that
  are missing, countering conventional ideas with
  critical thinking , and advocating position that
  are inarticulate or being drummed out of
  consideration
• Discussions are dialogic
• Source Parker, Walter (2005). Teaching against
  idiocy. Phi Delta Kappan. January

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Bibliography

• Adler, M. (1982). The paideia proposal. New York
  McMillian
• Kohlberg, L. Turiel, E. (1971). Moral
  development and moral education. In G. Lesser,
  ed. Psychology and educational practice. Scott
  Foresman.
• Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T. (1995). Creative
  controversy Intellectual challenge in the
  classroom (3rd ed.). Edina, MN Interaction Book
  Company.
• Parker, Walter C.(2003). Teaching Democracy
  Unity and Diversity in Public Life. New York
  Teachers College Press.

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Resources

• For Discussion Strategies
• Kohlbergs Cognitive-Moral Development
• http//tigger.uic.edu/lnucci/MoralEd/
• Deliberation Structured Academic Controversy
• http//www.cooplearn.org/pages/academic.html
• Seminars Socratic Seminar
• http//www.studyguide.org/socratic_seminar.htm
• Sources for Powerful Texts
• Zinn, Howard and Anthony Arnove (2004). Voices of
  the American People. Seven Stories Press New
  York.
• Ravitch, Diane. (1990). The American Reader.
  Harper Collins New York
• Sources for films, books and other materials
• http//socialstudies.com/