Classroom Deliberation

 “Disciplinary literacy involves the use of reading, reasoning, investigating, speaking, and writing required to learn and form complex content knowledge appropriate to a particular discipline.”  DL involves close/critical reading of complex texts, deep understanding, collection of evidence across sources, an inquiry approach to learning, collaborative inquiry, and reflection.

 DL is not a new term for “reading in the content areas” and general literacy strategies about accessing and organizing text.  DL’s goal is to help each student read and comprehend the texts of each discipline, and develop discipline-specific habits of reading, writing, speaking, knowing, and communicating that will help develop both his/her content and literacy.

1. Knowledge and thinking go hand in hand 2. Learning is apprenticeship 3. Teachers as mentors of apprentices 4. Classroom culture socializes intelligence 5. Instruction and assessment drive each other

 Sou rcing  Examine source information  Analyze primary sources  Corroboration  Read multiple accounts and perspectives  Contextualization  Understand context  Close reading  Use evidence to support claims  Ask good questions  Read, analyze, write

 Value inquiry  Understand and apply civics concepts/civic knowledge  Critical analysis of information  Consider multiple perspectives  Evaluate ideas  Draw logical conclusions  Defend a position (or stand) through evidence & reasoning  Synthesize knowledge  Identify & critically discuss cause-effect relationships

 Accountable Talk refers to:  Accountability to the Learning Community: is “talk that attends seriously to and builds on the ideas of others; participants listen carefully to one another, build on each other’s ideas, and ask each other questions aimed at clarifying or expanding a proposition” (Michaels et al., 2007).  Accountability to Standards of Reasoning “is talk that emphasizes logical connections and the drawing of reasonable conclusions.  Accountability to knowledge: “is based explicitly on facts, written texts or other publicly accessible information that all individuals can access.”

 Rigorous learning environments  Classroom norms that reflect high expectations and habits of mind  Large amounts of close, purposeful, rigorous, and critical reading followed by discussions  Writing  Ongoing academic discussions, collaborations  Much teacher modeling, facilitation, & monitoring of student learning

 To Dr. Vicky Zygouris-Coe of the University of Central Florida for the preceding information on disciplinary literacy and accountability talk!

In this presentation, we will: talk about a model for classroom discussion: deliberation discuss appropriate purpose statements, subject matter, and opening questions for deliberation provide examples of how a deliberation model might be organized in the classroom

Walter Parker (2001):  “A kind of shared inquiry, the desired outcomes of which rely on the expression and consideration of diverse views”  Requires an “inquisitive stance”  An activity by which “shared understanding” may be achieved  Important both as a “way of knowing” and as a “democratic way of being with one another”

 Deliberation  Discussions aimed at deciding on a plan of action that will resolve a problem that a group faces

 Purpose  Reach a decision about what “we” should do about a shared problem  Improve discussants’ powers of understanding  Subject Matter  Alternative courses of action related to a public (shared, common) issue or problem  Opening Question  What should we do?

 Selecting a Powerful Issue  “Powerful” means an enduring issue that is important to the unit of study at hand For SS.7.C.3.8/3.9 (Legislative Branch/Process) Possible focus questions for the legislative process: “Should Congress pass a law about violent video games? If so, what should the law say?” In this instance, students would be deliberating AND role-playing a Congressional committee.

 Articulating the Purpose of the Deliberation  On what problem/issue do we need to try to reach consensus?

 The Teacher’s Role in the Deliberation  Provide the opening prompt: “See if you can come to a consensus on this issue, or at least clarify the disagreement.”  Circulate among the teams to listen and keep students on track.

 Establishing Norms for the Deliberation Hear all sides equally Listen well enough to respond to and build upon each other’s ideas Don’t use loud talking as a substitute for reasoning Back up opinions with clear reasons Speak one at a time

 Using the Structured Academic Controversy Model  Students research one or several points of view and then communicate their findings in a structured format.  SACs promote teaching about a controversy without requiring students to take a dualistic stance or marginalizing students whose personal beliefs are different from those of the majority.  Students are asked to state their perspective, compare their perspective with others, and come to a consensus agreement with their peers.  The research and discussion stages require students to think divergently, find out more information about the issues, and reason constructively about alternative solutions or decisions.  SACs should give students adequate class time to present content knowledge and diverse perspectives, as well as time for clarification questions, small-group discussion, large-group discussion, and consensus-building.

 In groups of 4, students read background material on the issue  Each group breaks into two pairs; each pair is assigned a different position on the issue (pro and con) and given readings to study supporting arguments for their side  Each pair plans and presents its position to the other pair  Then, pairs switch sides; each pair “feeds back” the other pair’s position until each is satisfied that they have been understood  The pairs “dissolve” and become a team of 4 again; they drop their previous positions in order to reason together towards consensus on the issue

 There are other discussion methods that work well:  Press Conference  Town Meeting  And of course, the jury trial involves its own form of deliberation, which we will look at shortly. Let’s look at an example of each from the classroom of Mrs. Wendy Ewbanks (Annenberg Foundation video).Mrs. Wendy Ewbanks

 Simulations on Congress and Executive Branch  dynamic-legislative-process (The Legislative Process) dynamic-legislative-process  member-decides-vote (How Members of Congress Decide to Vote) member-decides-vote  branch (Lawcraft, Voting in Congress) branch  (Presidential Cabinet Simulation)

 Simulations on Judicial Branch  decision (Supreme Decision) decision  (Argument Wars)

 C.3.11 and C.2.6 Lesson Plan  “Twelve Angry Men”