Teaching the Tough Issues: Problem Solving from Multiple Perspectives in Middle and High School Humanities Classes

by Jacqueline Darvin

Overview

Teaching the Tough Issues introduces a groundbreaking teaching method intended to help English, social studies, and humanities teachers address difficult or controversial topics in their secondary classrooms. Because these issues are rarely addressed in teacher preparation programs, few teachers feel confident facilitating conversations around culturally and politically sensitive issues in ways that honor their diverse students’ voices and lead to critical, transformative thinking. The author describes a four-step method to help teachers structure discussions and written assignments while concurrently assisting them in addressing Common Core State Standards. Designed to aid students in both developing their own viewpoints on contentious issues and in actively critiquing those of their teachers and peers, these practices will enhance any humanities curriculum.

Book Features:

• Offers guidance for exploring difficult and/or controversial aspects of course content.
• Provides an excellent means of differentiating instruction and promoting critical literacy.
• Helps teachers to foster positive behavior and decision-making with their students.
• Enables students to improve their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and observation skills.
• Assists teachers in attaining the CCSS and other curricular mandates in their secondary humanities classrooms.

“Darvin has provided us all with a powerful tool for guiding students as they explore their identity, unafraid to explore what it means to be human.”
—From the Foreword by Douglas Fisher, professor of educational leadership, San Diego State University

“Darvin takes on the big, important issues in adolescents’ lives that often go unaddressed in most classrooms. With an equal balance of sensitivity and directness, she exhorts teachers to name, deconstruct, and think curricularly about the cultural and political forces influencing and being influenced by today’s youth.”
—William Brozo, professor of literacy, George Mason University, author of Wham! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across the Curriculum

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807773789
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	05/24/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Jacqueline Darvin is associate professor of secondary literacy education, program director for adolescent literacy education, and deputy chair of the Secondary Education and Youth Services (SEYS) Department at Queens College–City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword Douglas Fisher ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

The Need for CPVs in Secondary Classrooms 1

What Are Cultural and Political Vignettes (CPVs)? 2

The Birth of CPVs as a Pedagogical Strategy 4

A CPV Event in a Secondary Social Studies Classroom 6

The Role of CPVs in Secondary Arts, Literature, and History 10

1 The Four CPV Stages and How CPVs Help Teachers to Realize the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 13

CPV Implementation as a Four-Stage Curricular Model 13

Bullying: An Example of a Teacher Working Through the Four Stages 16

Guidelines for Creating CPVs 20

Tailoring Content and Presentation of CPVs to Different Levels 21

How to Avoid Common CPV Pitfalls and Strengthen CPV Prompts 24

CPVs as a Means of Differentiating Instruction 26

Importance of Classroom Culture and the Teacher's Role 28

The Need for Collaboration with Others and Obtaining Parental Permissions 31

How CPVs Help Teachers Realize the CCSS and Develop Capacities of Literate Individuals 32

2 Stage 1 of CPV Implementation: Responding to Teacher-Created CPVs in Writing 35

Critical Literacy and Narratives of Experience Provide Theoretical Frameworks for Stage 1 35

Middle School Students Responding to "Behavioral" CPVs 38

Middle School "Behavioral Examples" and Links to the CCSS 40

High School Students Responding to "Content-Driven" CPVs 42

High School "Content-Driven" CPV Examples and Links to the CCSS 45

Closing Thoughts on Stage 1 of CPV Implementation 47

3 Stage 2 of CPV Implementation: Students Create and Exchange Their Own CPVs 48

Critical Literacy and Inquiry Learning Provide Theoretical Frameworks for Stage 2 49

Guidelines and Suggestions for Creating and Exchanging Student CPVs 50

Example: 7th-Grade Student CPVs on Overcoming Adversity and Facing Challenges 52

Three Variations on the Create-and-Exchange Process 53

Example: 10th- and 11th-Grade Student CPVs in Global Studies and American History 63

Closing Thoughts on Stage 2 of CPV Implementation 71

4 Stage 3 of CPV Implementation: Situated Performances of CPVs 72

Situated Cognition and Situated Performance Provide Theoretical Frameworks for Stage 3 72

Variations in the Situated Performances of CPVs 74

Example: Interracial Dating, Racial Pride, Profiling, and Police Brutality Explored in a 9th-Grade English Class 77

Example: Homelessness in America Investigated in a 12th-Grade Social Studies Participation in Government Class 85

Reducing Student Performance Anxiety 94

Closing Thoughts on Stage 3 of CPV implementation 96

5 Stage 4 of CPV Implementation: Read and Revisit 98

Narratives of Experience and Assessment Theory Provide Theoretical Frameworks for Stage 4 98

Variations in Duration of Read-and-Revisit CPV Activities 100

Example: Date Rape, Sexual Assault, and Peer Pressure Examined in an 8th-Grade Language Arts Read-and-Revisit Unit 103

Example: Understanding Islam and Preventing Religious Discrimination and Violence Against Muslims in an 11th-Grade Social Studies Read-and-Revisit Unit 112

Eleventh-Grade CPV Read-and-Revisit Activities and Links to the CCSS 120

Closing Thoughts on Stage 4 of CPV Implementation 122

6 Conclusion 123

How CPVs Have Improved My Teaching 123

Three Key Learning Gains Reported by Teachers Using CPVs 124

Beyond the CCSS 128

Appendix: Directory of CPVs by Grade Level, Subject, and Topic/Tough Issue 131

References 133

Index 139

About the Author 148

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A powerful tool for guiding students as they explore their identity, unafraid to explore what it means to be human. "
— from the foreword by Douglas Fisher, professor of educational leadership, San Diego State University

"Darvin takes on the big important issues in adolescents’ lives that often go unaddressed in most classrooms.With an equal balance of sensitivity and directness, she exhorts teachers to name, deconstruct, and think curricularly about the cultural and political forces influencing and being influenced by today’s youth."
—William Brozo, professor of literacy, George Mason University, and author of Wham! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across the Curriculum