Creating Safe Spaces for Civil Classroom Discussion

Engaging with difficult topics in the classroom equips students with skills they will use throughout their education and their lives. As they learn to express, defend, and explore differing ideas with their peers, they enhance their critical thinking and reasoning skills and develop tolerance for and understanding of others’ perspectives.

Share My Lesson has many resources to help educators create safe, welcoming classroom spaces where students have productive conversations that broaden their perspectives and encourage empathy.

At an early age, students can begin to develop healthy conversational skills as they become more aware of others in relation to themselves and learn how to exchange ideas and questions with each other. “Global Citizenship: Activities for Under 5s” is a five-lesson unit for children ages 3 to 5 that emphasizes the importance of friendship, similarities and differences between people, and collaborating to solve problems. In “Communication: Peacemaker Skills,” students in grades 3–5 learn to distinguish between types of communication and to appreciate diversity and uniqueness.

For upper elementary grades through high school, SML partner Journeys in Film created “How to Facilitate Inclusive, Thoughtful Discussions” to help educators create an open, respectful, and distraction-free space for meaningful classroom discussion. Tips include practicing “whole body listening” and taking a collective breath or break to reset if conversations become heated. And the “Civil Discourse in the Classroom” unit by SML partner Learning for Justice helps students in grades 6–8 hone their public speaking and argumentative reasoning skills on a variety of topics.

SML also has several webinars (each offered for one hour of professional development credit) devoted to helping educators create discussion-friendly classrooms. In “Deliberating Community Issues: A Framework for Student Engagement,” learn how the deliberative process builds empathy and appreciation for diverse perspectives while helping students consider how to solve community problems. “Harkness: Honing Civics Skills in All Classrooms” guides educators on implementing the Harkness method of student-led discussions and providing an environment where all students experience ownership and agency in discussing challenging topics with their peers.

In “Using Inquiry to Fortify Civic Education,” discover how methods of inquiry—which encourage asking questions, researching, and exploring ideas—can drive students’ learning and civic engagement. Although tailored for social studies educators of grades 6–8, the strategies can be applied with older students and across the curriculum to help students approach challenging topics with reflection and deliberation, compromise and seek consensus, and manage conflict. “Dig Deep: Exploring Current Events Through Interactive Online Tools and Lessons” gives tips for teaching challenging topics while fostering empathy and shares technology tools that can aid in classroom discussion. And because myths, conspiracy theories, misinformation, and disinformation can hinder civil discourse, the webinar “Debunking Disinformation: Empowering Educators with Tools and Strategies” provides a toolkit to help educators constructively address disinformation in the classroom and at home.

Finally, as AI continues to evolve, it can help educators support civil classroom discussions—so long as we have the digital literacy to use it effectively. SML is growing its “AI and Education” community (sharemylesson.com/ai) with resources and webinars that are putting educators in the center of the conversation.

If you have questions or want more resources on civil discourse, or if you want to share any additional ideas or requests, please reach out to us at content@sharemy
lesson.com.

Republished from American Educator.