Teaching Thought #112

Teacherscribe's Teaching Thought #112

Teach a controversial topic. On purpose.

I’m stealing this hack from James Alan Sturtevant, a high school history teacher.  Here is his website where he posts his work and thoughts on teaching.

Kelsey Johnson strongly recommended this when I stopped by the media center to grab some summer readings from our professional development library. 

Hacking Engagement Again: 50 Teacher Tools That Will Make Students Love Your Class.

Hack 58 - Navigate the Rollins Seas of Controversial Topics.

This one fascinates me.  What I like about this is that instead of avoid controversial topics, we try to delve right into them.  And the point is NOT to persuade or convince.  It's simply to explore the topic.      The point is to explore the topic objectively (an adverb that is used far too little in our current world). 

I think this is perfect for my exploratory essay in College Comp 2.  It might be even more interesting if we ALL choose one topic and explore it as a whole class.  I would first have us (using Padlet probably) get our own biases out of the way regarding the topic.

So if we were to pick a topic that is near and dear to my heart, gun control, we could anonymously put our own biases out of the way on Padlet.  Once we see where we all stand, then we can get to exploring the topic with that out in the open. 

I would probably randomly pass out different aspects of the topic to explore: why does gun control work in other countries?  Is it logical to argue the comparison to drug use (drugs are illegal and criminals still get them.  Does this apply to weapons too?  I've even seen it argued that gun control is like prohibition.  People still made (and abused) alcohol on their own.  But could a person still make an automatic weapon on their own?)  What kinds of limits should be put on guns?  How many cases have guns saved lives?  How often do permit owners really save lives?  Why does the press seem to just note cases of gun violence and not instances where guns prevent crimes and save lives?

Another one, vaccines.  Do they really cause autism?  Who were the authors of the study?  What controversies surround them?  What happens if a child isn't vaccinated?  What about the rights of Native Americans when it comes to this?  Isn't it ironic for a nation of people who had thousands upon thousands die from the Small Pox disease that some would refuse to vaccinate their kids (I'm basing this off a Native American speaker at our school several years ago)? What are the dangers of vaccination?  What are the benefits?  What diseases have been conquered as a result of vaccines?  What does Jenny McCarthy have to do with this?  What evidence does exist about vaccines? 

Again, the overall point is to explore a topic in as much of its entirety as we possibly can instead of condensing it down to three supporting details or aspects.

Remember, the goal is to prove to the students (and their teachers) that we live in shallow world where people can post anything on Facebook (regardless if it's true or not - no Einstein didn't convince his teacher of the existence of God and no the Seattle Seahawks didn't burn a flag in their locker room and no teachers in Finland don't make as much as lawyers and doctors) without even seeing if it's true or not.  I just saw a post that read "So and so smashes the concept of gun control in 60 seconds."  No.  That's impossible.  Very few topics are that thin that they could be denounced in just 60 seconds.