Classroom
Deliberation
 “Disciplinary
literacy involves the use of
reading, reasoning, investigating,
speaking, and writing required to learn
and form complex content knowledge
appropriate to a particular discipline.”
 DL involves close/critical reading of complex
texts, deep understanding, collection of
evidence across sources, an inquiry
approach to learning, collaborative inquiry,
and reflection.
 DL
is not a new term for “reading in the
content areas” and general literacy
strategies about accessing and organizing
text.
 DL’s goal is to help each student read and
comprehend the texts of each discipline,
and develop discipline-specific habits of
reading, writing, speaking, knowing, and
communicating that will help develop both
his/her content and literacy.
Knowledge and thinking go hand in hand
2. Learning is apprenticeship
3. Teachers as mentors of apprentices
4. Classroom culture socializes intelligence
5. Instruction and assessment drive each other
1.
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Sourcing
 Examine source information
 Analyze primary sources
Corroboration
 Read multiple accounts and perspectives
Contextualization
 Understand context
Close reading
 Use evidence to support claims
 Ask good questions
 Read, analyze, write
Value inquiry
 Understand and apply civics concepts/civic
knowledge
 Critical analysis of information
 Consider multiple perspectives
 Evaluate ideas
 Draw logical conclusions
 Defend a position (or stand) through evidence &
reasoning
 Synthesize knowledge
 Identify & critically discuss cause-effect
relationships


Accountable Talk refers to:
 Accountability to the Learning Community: is “talk that
attends seriously to and builds on the ideas of others;
participants listen carefully to one another, build on each
other’s ideas, and ask each other questions aimed at
clarifying or expanding a proposition” (Michaels et al.,
2007).
 Accountability to Standards of Reasoning “is talk that
emphasizes logical connections and the drawing of
reasonable conclusions.
 Accountability to knowledge: “is based explicitly on facts,
written texts or other publicly accessible information that
all individuals can access.”
 Rigorous
learning environments
 Classroom norms that reflect high
expectations and habits of mind
 Large amounts of close, purposeful,
rigorous, and critical reading followed by
discussions
 Writing
 Ongoing academic discussions,
collaborations
 Much teacher modeling, facilitation, &
monitoring of student learning
To
Dr. Vicky Zygouris-Coe of
the University of Central
Florida for the preceding
information on disciplinary
literacy and accountability
talk!
In this presentation, we will:
• talk about a model for classroom discussion:
deliberation
• discuss appropriate purpose statements,
subject matter, and opening questions for
deliberation
• provide examples of how a deliberation
model might be organized in the classroom
Walter Parker (2001):
 “A kind of shared inquiry, the desired
outcomes of which rely on the expression
and consideration of diverse views”
 Requires an “inquisitive stance”
 An activity by which “shared understanding”
may be achieved
 Important both as a “way of knowing” and as
a “democratic way of being with one
another”
 Deliberation

Discussions aimed at deciding on a plan of action
that will resolve a problem that a group faces
 Purpose


Reach a decision about what “we” should do
about a shared problem
Improve discussants’ powers of understanding
 Subject

Alternative courses of action related to a public
(shared, common) issue or problem
 Opening

Matter
Question
What should we do?
 Selecting

a Powerful Issue
“Powerful” means an enduring issue that is
important to the unit of study at hand
For SS.7.C.3.8/3.9 (Legislative Branch/Process)
Possible focus questions for the legislative
process: “Should Congress pass a law about violent
video games? If so, what should the law say?”
http://www.deliberating.org
In this instance, students would be deliberating
AND role-playing a Congressional committee.
 Articulating

the Purpose of the Deliberation
On what problem/issue do we need to try to
reach consensus?
 The
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
Teacher’s Role in the Deliberation
Provide the opening prompt: “See if you can
come to a consensus on this issue, or at least
clarify the disagreement.”
Circulate among the teams to listen and keep
students on track.

Establishing Norms for the Deliberation
 Hear all sides equally
 Listen well enough to respond to and build upon
each other’s ideas
 Don’t use loud talking as a substitute for reasoning
 Back up opinions with clear reasons
 Speak one at a time

Using the Structured Academic Controversy Model
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Students research one or several points of view and then
communicate their findings in a structured format.
SACs promote teaching about a controversy without
requiring students to take a dualistic stance or
marginalizing students whose personal beliefs are
different from those of the majority.
Students are asked to state their perspective, compare
their perspective with others, and come to a consensus
agreement with their peers.
The research and discussion stages require students to
think divergently, find out more information about the
issues, and reason constructively about alternative
solutions or decisions.
SACs should give students adequate class time to present
content knowledge and diverse perspectives, as well as
time for clarification questions, small-group discussion,
large-group discussion, and consensus-building.
In groups of 4, students read background
material on the issue
 Each group breaks into two pairs; each pair is
assigned a different position on the issue (pro
and con) and given readings to study supporting
arguments for their side
 Each pair plans and presents its position to the
other pair
 Then, pairs switch sides; each pair “feeds back”
the other pair’s position until each is satisfied
that they have been understood
 The pairs “dissolve” and become a team of 4
again; they drop their previous positions in order
to reason together towards consensus on the
issue

 There
are other discussion methods that
work well:
Press Conference
 Town Meeting
 And of course, the jury trial involves its
own form of deliberation, which we will
look at shortly.

Let’s look at an example of each from the
classroom of Mrs. Wendy Ewbanks
(Annenberg Foundation video).

Simulations on Congress and Executive Branch

http://congress.indiana.edu/e-learning-module-thedynamic-legislative-process (The Legislative Process)

http://congress.indiana.edu/e-learning-module-howmember-decides-vote (How Members of Congress
Decide to Vote)

https://www.icivics.org/curriculum/legislativebranch (Lawcraft, Voting in Congress)

http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/cabinet/
(Presidential Cabinet Simulation)
 Simulations


on Judicial Branch
https://www.icivics.org/games/supremedecision (Supreme Decision)
https://www.icivics.org/node/210/resource
(Argument Wars)
C.3.11
and C.2.6 Lesson
Plan
“Twelve Angry Men”