Fostering civil discourse in the classroom is crucial in today's world, but conversations that touch on emotional topics or spark controversy between students are often labeled difficult. Yet research shows that when students engage in discussions of contemporary issues, they're more engaged in school and show improved communication and critical thinking skills, increase civic knowledge, and a higher likelihood of participating in civic life as adults. The full PDF of our Fostering Civil Discourse guide can be found in the resource library at facinghistory.org, which contains even more tools and strategies to prepare students to engage in difficult conversations. Start with yourself. The first step in fostering civil discourse is understanding yourself and your context. Reflect on your own identity using reflection questions, like, how do my life experiences and beliefs influence my teaching? What topics do I find challenging to talk about in class? How do I handle conflict or challenging moments? Coordinate with colleagues and caregivers. Begin by determining what school or district policies are in place that could affect the way you teach these topics. What your approach to teaching controversial issues will look like, and discuss with leaders how the administration can support your approach. Keeping channels of communication open with caregivers throughout the school year can also be helpful. Make sure to share your teaching goals and explain how discussing current or controversial events advances those goals and aligns with standards for your subject area. Consider your role. For this step, consider your role as a teacher, and how you can get to know your students, create community norms, and a brave democratic learning environment. The main elements of a democratic classroom are controversy with civility, where varying opinions are accepted. Owning intentions and impacts, in which students acknowledge and discuss instances where a dialogue has affected the emotional well-being of another person. Challenge by choice, where students have an option to step in and out of challenging conversations. Respect, where students show respect for one another's basic personhood. And no attacks, where students agree not to intentionally inflict harm on one another. Get to know your students and prioritize relationships. A great way to foster this kind of environment is to continually give your students opportunities to share aspects of their identities and experiences. Co-create community norms. One way to help classroom communities establish shared norms is through contracting. Contracting is the process of openly discussing with your students how classroom members should treat each other. If you do not typically do this, we recommend using Facing History's contracting teaching strategy to help guide you. Establish classroom routines. Classroom routines can be a key component of a brave and reflective classroom community. Beginning and/or ending class with routines can help students experience school as a predictable, meaningful, and supportive part of their day. Introducing and practicing routines can help your class navigate controversial topics or emotionally challenging moments. Select topics and craft strong discussion questions. Effective planning is key to successful discussions. When choosing topics and crafting questions, opt for questions that are open rather than settled. Open questions are those for which there are multiple and competing reasonable views. Settled or closed questions are those that may have been open in the past but are no longer controversial, and that usually contain an ethically or morally important component. Therefore, students should be taught that there is one generally agreed upon answer to the issue. For example, should women have the right to vote? Prepare students for discussion. You know your students best and should carefully preview any materials you're considering using in a class discussion to make sure they are high quality, fair, and lend themselves to meaningful dialogue, as well as a space to process information and reflect. It is also important that students have enough information to meaningfully engage on the issue. As students explore topics you discuss in the classroom, it's important to encourage strong media literacy practices by asking students to assess what they find, and ask whether they think the news sources they follow reinforce what they already believe or challenge them with a broader array of perspectives. It is also helpful to give students time to be thoughtful and articulate with their ideas privately, before asking them to engage in small or large group discussions. As a tool for silent reflection, keeping a journal helps students develop their ability to critically examine new information and ideas. To find more ideas for integrating journals into your class, explore our student journaling teaching strategy. Identify discussion strategies aligned to your goals. Identifying a discussion strategy can help create a supportive structure and offer students multiple ways to participate and learn. Small group discussions give students the opportunity to test out ideas and promote equity of voice and conversation with their classmates. Strategies, such as learn to listen, listen to learn, enable students to reflect on a topic in their journals, share their reflections in a small group, and then present their ideas to the whole class. Whole-class discussions create space for diverse viewpoints, encourage active listening and speaking skills, and let students co-create knowledge with their classmates. For example, the fishbowl strategy helps students practice being contributors and listeners in a group conversation, and is a useful structure for discussing controversial or difficult topics. Reflect and debrief. After a discussion, it's helpful to give students time to reflect on both the content and the process of the conversation for themselves. At the end of a conversation, it's also useful to take time to debrief the process of the discussion itself with your students. Processing breaking news. Discussions on current or controversial events tend to function best when you have time to plan and prepare with your students. However, breaking news that impacts students well-being, safety, or ability to concentrate on their material may require unplanned discussion. After reflecting on your own reactions and perspective, decide whether to provide students with a structured space to share their reflections, reactions, or questions. If you choose to do so, utilize Facing History's teaching strategy, Head, Heart, and Conscience to help guide you. Address misinformation or inaccurate information. If a student brings up misinformation or disinformation during class, it is best not to attack the source of information or criticize the student for sharing it. Instead, encourage your students to think critically about the news reports they came across. Remind them of any media literacy strategies you have shared with them to help verify information, such as looking at other news sources, slowing down and reading or watching the piece again, and reading the news coverage again in a week to see if new information emerges. Repair and strengthen community. Establishing classroom norms and a strong class community can help ensure that discussions go smoothly. However, every community experiences moments of conflict. And it can be helpful to plan ahead for how you will address a breach of class norms during a discussion or moments that create a rupture in your community. If a class conversation becomes unproductive or harmful, it can be helpful to pivot the discussion to questions about a student's values or needs, rather than directly discussing the topic. It is important to follow up with students after a challenging moment. Check in one on one with students who are directly involved or impacted by the incident, and set aside class time for community building activities. Fostering civil discourse in the classroom involves understanding yourself and your context, building a strong community, planning and facilitating effective discussions, and at times, being prepared for unexpected moments. By implementing these strategies, you can create a more inclusive and engaging learning environment. For more resources and further reading, including the full PDF guide on Fostering Civil Discourse, visit the resource library at www.facinghistory.org.
