Online
Lesson: Conducting a Civil
Conversation
Teachers
Guide
Overview
Every student and teacher knows that conflict
can arise over anything--from international politics to personal
differences. Depending on how it is managed, school-based conflict can:
- Disrupt the learning process.
- Become a valuable teaching tool.
Conducting a Civil Conversation
offers a strategy to avoid confrontation while students address
conflict or differences of opinion over controversial issues.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Discuss conflict and controversial issues
in a safe and structured forum.
- Work together to defuse a potentially
volatile or disruptive situation.
- Recognize that different points of view can
coexist.
- Address a conflict or issue with an action
plan (See Online Lesson: Building
an Action Project).
Materials
Procedure
A. Acknowledge the conflict. Explain
to students that whenever name-calling, bullying, fighting, or other
disruption takes place, the participants are dealing with a conflict or
a controversial issue.
Suggest that conducting a civil
conversation can be an effective method for dealing with
conflicts and controversies.
Distribute Handout:
Conducting a Civil Conversation . Have students review the
Rules for Civil Conversations. Then ask them:
"What is a civil conversation?"
B. Develop a Discussion Question. Conduct
a guided discussion that helps students:
1. Identify the incident or issue that
sparked the conflict.
2. Identify a broader, underlying issue that
is the cause of the conflict.
3. Narrow the broader issue to a single Discussion
Question that can be answered by an "Agree" or "Disagree"
statement and explained by answering "Why?" or "Why not?"
Example 1: A group of
students have become a self-appointed "safety patrol." They are using
the power of the group to bully other students.
Discussion Question: Should
bullying be tolerated? Why or why not?
Example 2: A student has
just seen another student steal an iPod from a locker.
Discussion Question: Should
the witness to the theft report it to the principal's office? Why or
why not?
Example 3: Students have
been harassing other students by sending text messages to their cell
phones and e-mails to their home computers.
Discussion Question: Should
students be able to contact anyone they want with their cell phones and
computers? Why or why not?
4. Write the Discussion Question
students have created at the top of a chalkboard or flip chart. Create
an "Agree" column and a "Disagree" column.
C. Small-Group Work--Agree or
Disagree? Tell students they are going to develop Agree
and Disagree answers to the Discussion
Question. Ask them to:
1. Form small groups of 3-5 students.
2. Brainstorm Agree
answers to the Discussion Question. Give reasons for
your answers. Record your answers on chart paper.
3. Brainstorm Disagree
answers to the Discussion Question. Give reasons for
your answer. Record your answers on chart paper.
4. Have each group select a Reporter to
present the Agree and Disagree
answers (with reasons) to the class.
Important: Explain to
participants that they must brainstorm Agree AND Disagree
answers, even if they feel strongly about one side of the Discussion
Question.
D. Share back. Using the
charts they have prepared:
1. Ask Reporters to present their Agree
and Disagree answers.
2. Record answers in the appropriate Agree
or Disagree column; and
3. Keep a tally of repeated Agree
and Disagree answers by placing a check () or
asterisk (*) next to that answer.
E. Guided Discussion--Choosing the
Best Answers Explain that now they are going to choose the
strongest points of agreement and disagreement about the Discussion
Question. Have students:
1. Review all the answers under the Agree
and Disagree columns on the board.
2. Choose three Agree AND Disagree answers
that have the most checks or asterisks. Are the most popular answers
the best? Are others better? Ask students to explain their choices.
3. Draw a line through the answers that
students think are weakest.
F. Debrief Have students
review the best remaining answers and use the following questions to
discuss:
1. What were the most compelling reasons for
each side?
2. Were there areas of agreement? What were
they?
3. What common ground did you find with
other members of the group?
4. Did you gain respect for other people's
opinions? Which opinions?
5. Did you gain a deeper understanding of
your own opinions? Explain.
G. Taking Action (optional)
Ask students:
1. Does this conflict have an impact on
morale or the learning environment at your school?
2. What can you do to address this problem?
If you decide to create a service-learning Action
Project to address the conflict or controversy you have
discussed, continue on to Online
Lesson Two: Building an Action Project .
