Delving into debt justice: engaging with controversial issues in the classroom Debt and Development Coalition Ireland Sian Crowley NUIG School of Education 17 th February 2015

Objectives To explore methodologies that enable students to become confident in exploring complex or controversial issues, such as global debt. To consider the characteristics of successful democratic and cooperative learning. To introduce difficult issues; our primary focus is debt, but we will touch on other development or global issues to show how you can adapt these activities to different issues.

Two key focuses of this workshop: 1. Engaging with challenging issues. 2. Encouraging the participation of your students. And also… Building your own confidence to use different types of methodologies in the classroom.

Setting the context: development education Shift from teacher-led to student-centred learning. Shift from teachers doing all the talking (and most of the work!) to students taking more responsibility for learning and being challenged to think for themselves. Shift from teaching content towards more emphasis on the development of students’ skills.

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment: Key Skills

Whirlwind of activities... Using a combination of NCCA key skills guidelines, innovative participatory methodologies, a variety of texts, images, and media which examine controversial or politically charged issues. We are going to compress them so that you get a flavour of them and have the confidence to do them yourself. Obviously this is not a real classroom situation, and you would spend a lot more time on each of these activities with your students.

NCCA Key skill: Being personally effective Giving and receiving feedback. Becoming more flexible in thinking, and more likely to persevere when difficulties arise. Becoming more confident and assertive in themselves in the context of their learning and generally.

NCCA Key skill: Working with others Identifying responsibilities in a group and establishing practices associated with different roles in a group. Developing good relationships with others and a sense of well-being in the group. Acknowledging individual differences, negotiating and resolving conflicts.

Teaching controversial issues Creating a Conducive Climate - Class Agreement or Ground Rules; either spend time at the start of the year agreeing values which underpin relationships and behaviour in the classroom. Review during the year. If not possible, make an effort to incorporate a group agreement before dealing with difficult issues; race, gender, war, debt. Our group agreement… From Palestine and Israel: How will there be a just peace? A citizenship education resource for Transition Year.

Creating a Group Agreement Agree principles together, for example… Respect others’ opinions Challenge yourself What’s said in the classroom stays in the classroom Be aware of other people’s feelings Don’t speak over others ‘Thinking classroom’ – it’s ok to express opinions, think them through together, and to allow our opinions to change

“No easy answers” When difficult issues arise or there is strong disagreement in the class, recording these on a No Easy Answers Board allows you to come back to them at a later date. Flipchart Recording challenging outcomes or unresolved questions Very simple activity, with multiple uses.

Understanding causes and consequences The Problem Tree Draw a tree on the board. As you are having a discussion about the issue, ask questions like… What are the root causes of this issue? What are the consequences? Are there any ‘grey’ areas? Ie. Is poverty a root cause or a consequence of inequality?

Problem Tree As the students respond, you can write in the ‘root causes’ into the roots of the tree. Write the ‘consequences’ into where the leaves and branches of the tree are. Write the ‘grey’ areas into the trunk of the tree. Invite students to be active and to fill it in themselves.

Diamond ranking Diamond ranking is a thinking tool that gets students to prioritise and make judgments. It helps them to analyse and evaluate the criteria that they have used for making their judgments. It’s important that there is no single right answer but a range of possible responses. Encourages debate, challenges students to articulate how they feel and think, doesn’t evoke one single ‘true’ response.

In groups of 3 work together to rank the cards Organise into groups of 3 or 4 (Maybe have ‘role’ cards in your classroom). Don’t let students self organise. Divide responsibilites: Appoint a facilitator, timekeeper and reader.

In groups of 3 work together to rank the cards

Moving debate You could also turn this into a ‘moving debate’. Choose two or three statements from the pack. Clear a space in the middle of the room, push tables to the side. Stick a sign saying “I completely agree” to one wall, and a sign saying “I completely disagree” to the opposing wall. Read out a statement, ask students to move around the room and to stand in the place that most correctly represents what they feel. Invite students to explain why they chose where to stand. Invite students to move around and change their position if the discussion alters their opinion. Movement transforms energy in the room if it’s stale, energises students, and gets students more ‘into’ the bodies.

How did that go? How do you feel about this method? Would you use it yourself? If you feel there are issues with it, is there a way you could make it work?

Research Suggests that students learn best when they ‘construct’ their own meaning are actively engaged in learning engage in reasoning not just reproduction check their own and each others learning/understanding learn from each other, e.g. use peer explaining, peer teaching, think-pair-share, group work.

Pathways to citizenship: Building democracies requires democratic learning To what extent are students active in their learning? making decisions? are their voices heard? encouraged to find solutions to real world problems? given opportunities to engage with power or effect change?

Why is active engagement in learning so important? We remember 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30% of what we see 50% of what is discussed with others 80% of what we experience personally 95% of what we teach to someone else According to William Glasser

‘Children may work in groups in classrooms but they very seldom work as groups.’ Ken Richardson Elements of Cooperative Learning Positive interdependence Individual accountability Face to face interaction Interpersonal and group work skills Reflection and group processing According to David and Roger Johnson

NCCA Key skill: Communicating in the classroom Analysing and interpreting texts and other forms of communication Expressing opinions, speculating, discussing, and engaging in debate and argument Engaging in dialogue, listening attentively and eliciting opinions, views and emotions

Example of using video and song: Money Money Money ‘There’s a Hole in the Bucket’ Video How the World Works 2 p 36 & 37 eB-zIIA Watch video, read lyrics, and answer 3 questions afterwards.

Three questions: 1. What are your reactions (feelings and thoughts) to the video and song? 2. Read the lyrics slowly and then discuss what the key message is. 3. The songwriter uses the image of a hole in a bucket to describe the problem. Do you think this is a good image? Could you come up with any other images that would also describe the situation?

NCCA Key skill: Critical and creative thinking Examining patterns and relationships, classifying and ordering information Analysing and making good arguments, challenging assumptions Hypothesising and making predictions, examining evidence and reaching conclusions Identifying and analysing problems and decisions, exploring options and alternatives, solving problems and evaluating outcomes Thinking imaginatively, actively seeking out new points of view, problems and/or solutions, being innovative and taking risks

Examples of using images : Analysing Images To employ creative and critical thinking From How The World Works 2, p 14 Organise students into groups of 3 or 4 Assign roles: time-keeper, facilitator, recorder, person who feeds back. Some great extension activities in the book.

Analysing Images Groups have fifteen minutes to discuss four images (just under four minutes per image) In a classroom, you would distribute hard copies and allow plenty of time. Discuss the images: Record what you can see and what you can tell from the images provided Record what you don’t know and can’t tell from the images

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Harvest Feedback Teacher harvests the conversation… Don’t forget you can use The Problem Tree, or the No Easy Answers sheet to structure the outcomes of the discussion.

Image 1 A beach at near Ashqelon in Southern Israel. Ashqelon is believed to be the birthplace of Herod the Great.

Image 2 A woman works in a garments factory in Bangladesh.

Image 3 Pupils from Langat Road primary school run past riot police as they try to reclaim their playground in Nairobi, Kenya. (The Guardian)

Image 4 Palestinians ride on a donkey cart after receiving food supplies from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza May 5, 2008.

Progression of activity: Compass Rose

Compass Rose; using images is used to raise questions about development issues and their interrelationship with environmental, social, economic and political issues, as well as the relationship between these dimensions is particularly useful for helping us to focus on the commonality between what can appear to be quite different situations can be used to help enquiry about places, issues, or photographs representing a place or situation

Compass Rose; using images You can place an image or an ‘issue’ in the centre of the ‘compass’. Questions can be generated for each of the four ‘compass points’. These could then be compared with questions generated about an apparently different situation, and the commonalities between them then explored. Helpful in analysing power.

Compass Rose using images Who decides? These are questions about power, who makes choices and decides what is to happen, who benefits and loses as a result of these decisions and at what cost. Natural These are questions about the environment - energy, air, water, soil, living things and their relationships to each other. These questions are also about the built as well as the ‘natural’ environment. Social These are questions about people, their relationships, their traditions, culture and the way they live. They include questions about how, for example, gender, race, dis- ability, class and age affect social relationships. Economic These are questions about money, trading, aid, ownership, buying and selling.

How did that go? How do you feel about this method? Would you use it yourself? If you feel there are issues with it, is there a way you could make it work?

Tips for successful group work Agree ground rules / group agreement Set clear tasks – provide ‘structure and guidance’ Avoid friendship groups and keep groups small Ensure everyone has a role (no passengers) Create positive interdependence – mutual goals, shared resources, complementary roles, shared product/grade Allow time for group processing of both the task and process Create a classroom culture in which students feel that everyone has something to contribute. See handouts or more help in organising group work and and (key skills toolkit)

Your role 1. Decisions – size of group, roles, arranging room, planning materials 2. Setting task – explaining the task, explaining criteria for success, reminding groups of desired behaviours/ground rules 3. Monitoring and intervening 4. Evaluating and processing feedback on the students’ learning and giving them positive feedback

Some strategies To begin with – keep it simple Use strategies such as Read and explain pairs Think-pair-share Think- pair-square

Examples of using text 1. Read and explain in pairs 2. Placemat activity 3. Compass Rose using text Split into groups of four Assign roles In twos, read and explain/discuss article

Placemat Activity; using text

In groups of 4 work on creating a Placemat Set ‘higher order’ question to consider. Based on reading provided: What is unfair about the debt crisis? Or, based on a general topic: Why is there so much poverty in the world? Adapt the difficulty of the question according to junior cycle / senior cycle.

Placemat activity; using text Assign roles: Facilitator, time-keeper, person who feeds back, what other roles can you think of? 5 minutes; write / doodle your own thoughts in the box Return to group discussion, share ideas Agree on top 3 findings / thoughts All groups feed back their top 3 things

Compass Rose; using text Fintan O’Toole article Who decides? (Power and control) Natural (Environment and resources) Social (People, relationships, history, culture, community…) Economic (Finance, debt, trade, national budget, profits…)

How did that go? How do you feel about this method? Would you use it yourself? If you feel there are issues with it, is there a way you could make it work?

More advanced: Jigsaw learning Jigsaw groups is another good cooperative learning methodology. A different topic related to the same theme is given to 4 or 5 groups. Each group must study their topic and prepare to ‘teach’ it to the other groups. When they are ready, the groups are re-organised so that there is ‘an expert’ from each of the different topics in each new group. Within their new groups they each take turns teaching their topic. Also take feedback at the ned of an activity and encourage discussion amonst the class.

Jigsaw Technique Step 1: Students are arranged into groups. Students must be competent in the subject matter before they move on to step 2. Step 2: Rearrange groups. Students ‘teach’ their area of expertise to the rest of the group.

Tips on dealing with controversial issues  Make the classroom a safe place to ask questions and discuss ideas (e.g. agree values and ground rules)  Sometimes useful to find out what students already think or feel about an issue before opening up a discussion  Expose students to multiple perspectives  Promote critical thinking – questioning and probing without fear  Teach the skills needed for dialogue and active listening  Model respect and fairness; know when not to share your own opinion on an emotive or controversial issue

Full list of activities and tools we discussed today Group Agreement No Easy Answers Problem Tree Diamond Ranking / Moving Debate Money Money Money (using a video) Analysing Images Compass Rose (using image and text) Placemat Activity Jigsaw Activity

Final thoughts What kind of classroom do you want to have? Are students active in their learning and discussing real-world problems?

Evaluation Something that challenged my thinking One practical idea I’ll try out with my students Suggestions for how the session could be improved

Useful tools and links DDCI :How the world works 2, and other resources NCCA: Key Skills Project; Teacher Reflection Sheets Palestine and Israel – How will there be a just peace? Developmenteducation.ie will-there-be-a-just-peace-a-citizenship-education-resource-for-transition-year-and-key- stage-4.html

me if you have any questions! Thank you