Controversial Topics in the Classroom Questions and ideas to help discuss tough topics

Objectives- participants will be invited to: Reflect upon their own assumptions in order to critically examine positive / negative classroom practices Assess student needs in respect to the practice of engaging in the critical examination of ideas, difficult ideas, and controversial ideas Consider three specific ideas to accomplish #2 Discussion and suggestions

What ultimately are my goals for my students? Assumptions Really, why am I teaching? What is the purpose of higher education and my place in it? What ultimately are my goals for my students?

Updating “tough-Minded” The term “tough-minded” often implies tenacity, resilience, courage, flexibility, optimism, and a sense of proportion or priorities. Tenacity: persistence, determination, perseverance, doggedness, indefatigability, resoluteness, staunchness, steadfastness, staying power, endurance… Resilience: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Flexibility: to be able to endure strain without being permanently injured. Optimism: an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome. This Emotional Life – PBS Resilience and happiness are closely connected. People who have the close relationships and social supports that help them during times of adversity also experience much joy and satisfaction in these relationships during everyday life. People also get feelings of pleasure and meaning from doing things well, including the actions that help to overcome adversities. NOT Feeling Good, but Having a Good Life. Does not mean a life free from adversity Close link between negative and positive emotions. Many of the positive emotions cannot happen without being vulnerable, and sometimes they come in response to negative emotions. For instance, FORGIVENESS AND COMPASSION are responses to being wronged. CREATIVITY AND FLOW involve taking risks, sometimes failing, and trying again. AWE, INSPIRATION, SERENITY, AND GRATITUDE mean recognizing something outside of and larger than yourself. GENEROSITY requires acknowledging other people’s needs and wants and sometimes putting aside your own desires. Study of the interplay between negative and positive emotions conducted by psychologists Jack Bauer and George Bonanno. They interviewed people six months after they had lost a spouse and kept track of positive and negative comments they made about the lost relationship. They followed up two years later, and the people who were managing the best were the ones who had about five positive comments to each negative one. People who were more negative were not doing as well—and neither were those who had only positive comments. The ones who adjusted the best were those who could acknowledge the sadness of their situation without being overwhelmed by it. STUDIES SEEM TO INDICATE THAT OUR HAPPINESS LEVEL IS, APPROXIMATELY, 50% DETERMINED BY OUR GENES. Fuel for resilience Positive emotions are the “fuel” for resilience. They help people find meaning in ordinary and difficult events. Finding meaning in life events leads to more positive emotions, which in turn leads to a greater ability to find meaning and purpose. Fredrickson calls this an “upward spiral” of greater well-being. They also found that resilient people still felt as many negative emotions as less happy people, often very intense ones. But they felt more positive emotions, and it was the positive emotions that accounted for “their better ability to rebound from adversity and stress, ward off depression, and continue to grow.” Their increase in happiness came from feeling good; not from avoiding feeling bad.

What are my biases? To what extent do I see “those people” Assumptions What are my biases? To what extent do I see “those people”

Assumptions To what extent am I actually open to various perspectives? What’s my adaptability quotient?

How well do students engage in the critical examination of controversial ideas? How do I create a safe and open place in my class, cultivate that, and practice it with people not used to it? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Various ways to teach basic communication skills

Consider three specific ideas to accomplish #2 1. Separate self / use models

Consider three specific ideas to accomplish #2 2. Apply key principles

Consider three specific ideas to accomplish #2 3. Practice inviting: “who thinks differently?”

Discussion and ideas to share: