How do we talk about issues that matter?

As a teacher, I believe it’s important to remain neutral when discussing important issues because there will be so many opinions in the classroom. It’s important to keep the conversation safe for yourself & for all your students. These discussions should be for educational purposes and to reflect on the things that have happened, are happening, and will happen in the future. Another thing to think about is to encourage your students to be vocal about their beliefs, their culture, background, etc. This will create a welcoming classroom and provide your students with an inclusive environment. It’s also important for you to teach your student’s that everyone has different opinions, and that’s okay. We don’t have to agree, but we have to be respectful of our classmates beliefs. 

Asking open-ended questions will allow your students to be in the driver seat of the discussion, but it’s important to monitor the conversation as some things might need to be redirected. Picking the topic to discuss is also very important because some things are necessary for classroom instruction. Pick something the students need to learn about and that will benefit them, but also make it interesting so they are eager to learn and communicate with their peers about this topic. I think it’s also important to allow students to discuss how the conversation made them feel and why they think it made them feel that way. This will be able to show the teacher how the discussion went and will allow students to communicate their feelings and opinion.

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