ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE SEMINAR

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed:4 days
Correlation to English I SCS 1.02, 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 6.01, 6.02
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C8, PI9, PI10, PI13, PI14, PS16, PS17

Lesson Objectives:

Students will work to form an educated opinion about a controversial issue by researching the issue, reflecting through a discussion of the issue in a seminar environment, and articulating their opinion in an editorial about the issue.

Materials Needed:

1. Newspaper/Magazine Articles:

   Articles from the Asheville Global Report and The Nation that advocate a non-violent or more measured (in the case of the Nation articles) response to the September 11 attacks are available on-line.
   http://www.agrnews.org/issue_archive.html
   Issue#147- US massacres civilian village; bombings escalate
   Issue#146- Pentagon plans on Ramadan bombing campaign
   Issue#145- US ground forces involved in Afghan firefight
   Issue#144- US bombing increases civilian death toll
   Issue#143- Civilian casualties in US war against Afghanistan
   Issue#142- People march for peace in US, worldwide
   Issue#141- White House continues push for war
   Issue#140- US prepares for war
   Issue#139- US financial and military centers attacked

   http://www.thenation.com/index.mhtml?i=20011008#toc
   Justice, Not Vengeance
   Barbara Lee's Stand
   A Sense of Proportion
   A Just Response
   http://www.thenation.com/index.mhtml?i=20011015#toc
   Dreaming of War
   Blowback
   Letter From Ground Zero
   A Peaceful Justice?

Description:

As teachers, we're afraid to talk politics with our students, even if our reasons for choosing the profession are political. We complain about state politics, to be sure, especially when they affect our salaries, but we tend to avoid talking about the juicy stuff because we don't want to be "controversial." The thing is, most of our students are at a point in their lives when they're developing their own political perspectives. They're interested in the juicy stuff, and need opportunities to work with issues, throwing them around to see what bounces back. Their passion allows us to introduce politics into our classrooms without preaching our own political perspectives. The trick is to let them do all the talking, which is why a seminar-type discussion works so well with controversial issues.

Recent events allow students the opportunity to discuss the idea of non-violence and a just response to terrorism, but the steps in this lesson are easily adapted to another controversial issue. Though it's possible to examine a controversial issue using mainstream media sources, the advantages of using articles from sources outside of the mainstream media are twofold: it's easier to identify bias in these sources than in the mainstream media, and it raises student awareness of alternate sources of information.

1. Work with students to formulate a definition of the term "social justice." Write the term on the board/overhead and invite student responses to the following questions:
• What is social justice?
• Who needs it?
• What issues are involved?
• What are the goals of people who work for social justice?
• What would a just world look like?
2. Discuss the role of bias in the media with students. Explain that all the articles they'll be reading will be biased, and that their task is to identify that bias and determine whether to accept or reject it.
3. Read/think a sample article aloud to students, interjecting to model questioning, summarizing, predicting, and clarifying strategies and identify bias. The best description of this process can be found in Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms (Schoenbach et al.) or in Reading Reminders (Burke)
4. Allow students time to read a collection of newspaper and magazine articles relevant to the controversial issue, taking notes on points they agree with and points they disagree with in each article. Encourage them to write down quotes (with appropriate citation) that they would like to discuss in the seminar.
5. Introduce the concept of an educated opinion. The following are processes which help develop educated opinions:
   • Research
   • Discussion
   • Reflection
   • Articulation
   Point out to students that the reading and note-taking they've been doing fulfills the research part of the process, and explain that the seminar will fulfill the discussion requirement, while they'll be using processes of reflection and articulation to write their editorials.
6. Work with students to determine the process and ground rules of the seminar. Allow students to determine how they want the discussion to work, how they'll make sure everyone is involved, and who will "police" the discussion to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. It's also helpful to explain how the notes students have taken from the articles they've read will be used in the seminar. Give students an example: "In this article from É they say thatÉbut I disagree becauseÉ" It's also helpful to point out how they can use their notes to frame a question for discussion with a simple "what do y'all think?" Homework before the seminar is a list of 10-15 good questions for discussion. It's not a bad idea for the teacher to formulate the same list as a backup.
7. Give students a list of the seminar ground rules and allow them to discuss the issue. The teacher can pose the initial question and give students the responsibility of keeping the discussion going, intervening if necessary.
8. After the seminar, work with students to generate a list of characteristics of editorial writing. Some questions to use in determining these characteristics:
   • Who writes editorials?
   • For whom are they writing?
   • What is their purpose in writing?
   • How do they want their audience to respond?
9. Re-read the article (or another article or editorial) used for the think-aloud, giving students a copy. Ask students to identify elements of style and organization that they think are good writing or bad writing. Make a chart on the board of characteristics of good editorial writing. Interesting discussion usually arises over the question of whether clear bias is a good or bad thing in an editorial.
10. Give students a list of requirements for their editorials and allow them time to write their own editorial addressing the appropriateness of a non-violent response to a terrorist attack.

Assessment:

Seminar ground rules are useful as an informal rubric for grading seminar participation. The assessment process for the editorial is in two parts. In the first part of the process, the teacher models assessment using the article read aloud to students, basing assessment on the four criteria for an educated opinion (Is it researched? How do you know? Does it show evidence of discussion with others? Does it show evidence of reflection? Is it well-articulated?). Students then exchange papers and go through the assessment process, writing their assessment and the grade they think is right on the front of a separate sheet of paper. The process is repeated, with the second reader writing on the back of the same sheet of paper. Students get their editorials and assessments back, write their own comments, and hand them in. In the second part of the process, the teacher gives the editorials a grade based on conventions of spelling, mechanics, and usage.

Additional Notes:

If students need help organizing their notes on the articles they're reading, the following format may be useful:

Teacher's Notes:

Controversial Issue Seminar

In our discussion about a controversial issue, we will discuss the following question:

Is a nonviolent response effective against terrorism (or other forms of violence)?

We will spend today reading articles that promote a non-violent response in preparation for the seminar. You may want to write down passages (with citation) from articles that you'd like to speak to in the seminar.

You will be graded on the seminar (the discussion) and on your Seminar Paper. Your Seminar Paper should state your position on the issue clearly, with well-developed ideas and arguments. It should be at least two typed pages long, but no longer than five typed pages. The Seminar Paper is due __________.

Rules for Seminar Discussion:

• Criticize the idea, not the person.
• Give people positive feedback.
• Stay seated.
• No interrupting.
• Take turns talking.
• Say things that are relevant. Say only things that are relevant.
• Don't dominate discussion. Everyone should talk.
• No private conversations.
• Keep the volume down.
• Take notes on other people's ideas (you'll need them for your paper).

____/ 20 Comments are relevant
____/ 20 Comments are well thought-out
____/ 20 Willingness to involve peers in discussion
____/ 20 Demonstration of respect for others' opinions
____/ 20 Demonstration of attention to others' ideas

Rubric for Seminar Paper:

____/ 20 Organization (it has a beginning, middle, and end)
____/ 20 Position stated clearly
____/ 20 Well-developed ideas
____/ 20 Well-reasoned arguments
____/ 5 Neatness
____/ 5 Grammar
____/ 5 Spelling
____/ 5 Punctuation

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