Facilitating Critical Discussions With Adolescents

Abstract

This chapter highlights one pre-service teacher's approach to facilitating critical conversations during his student teaching experience. Situated in a 6th grade English language arts classroom, the pre-service teacher aimed to engage his students in small and whole class discussions around issues of race, immigration, and stereotyping during a world cultural literature unit he planned. Using excerpts from classroom discussions, data suggest that he responded to student dialogue in one of three ways: advancing student dialogue that was consistent with his instructional goals, 2) disrupting student dialogue that was inconsistent with his goals, or 3) overlooking uncomfortable or complex student dialogue that was inconsistent with his instructional goals. Implications from this research suggest the need for more opportunities during teacher education programs for pre-service teachers to engage in approximations, calculated planning, and mentoring conversations designed to better prepare pre-service teachers for facilitating academic discourse around controversial topics.