Deliberation

Children engaging in civil conversations where they are resolving an issue. Source: Alan Kotok, Creative Commons

Overview of the Module

In this module, students will learn what it means to effectively deliberate. Deliberation can be a powerful problem-solving tool for students who experience situations where bullying may occur. Students who exhibit strong deliberation skills listen to peers with differing perspectives and respectfully consider diverse or opposing viewpoints. The purpose of this module is not to teach students how to debate issues but rather to provide students with deliberation skills to engage in constructive conversations that arrive at solutions respectfully and effectively.

What exactly will teachers find in this module?

Teachers will find several resources including books, websites and lesson plans designed to help you facilitate productive discussions on deliberation and promote a safe learning environment that will encourage students to share and listen to multiple perspectives.  These lessons and resources are intended to provide a framework to get the conversation started in your classroom and may be used on their own, in conjunction with one another, or across a variety of subject areas. Lessons include whole-group discussions, deliberation and listening strategies and reflections to real world bullying problems.

Why is this module important?

Deliberation is important in this curriculum because it gives students an opportunity to practice listening skills and consider perspectives that are different from their own.

How does this module connect to bullying?

Deliberation skills help students express themselves and respectfully respond to multiple perspectives. When students are able to effectively express their thinking and consider diverse perspectives, they will be better equipped to handle adverse situations.

Content

Additional Resources for Teachers

The resources included below contain books, articles, videos and a handout that will supplement the lessons within this module.

Readings for Teachers
Websites
Video
Handout

Lesson Topics

Deliberation Strategies
Source: USAG- Humphreys, Creative Commons

Lesson Goals: This lesson will aide students with the discussion and listening skills needed to have an effective deliberation.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? This lesson connects with bullying because it allows students to voice their opinions and deliberate over topics such as hate speech and cyberbullying.

Additional Information for the Teacher

  • What is deliberation? Deliberation is discussion aimed at deciding on a plan of action that will resolve a problem that a group faces. It occurs when a group of diverse individuals come together in collaboration to solve a problem. Deliberate comes from the Latin word libra for scale which means “to weigh”.  The essence of deliberation is weighing alternatives.
  • How is deliberation different than debate? Deliberation is different than debate, wherein people who have already formed their opinions gather to endorse or defend them. In debate, two sides with opposing viewpoints meet to argue the merits of their position and seek to expose the weaknesses in their adversary’s ideas. Debate fosters a competitive relationship among individuals by creating a scenario where there is a winner and a loser.  In deliberation, all voices and opinions are valued and everyone contributes to solving the problem. Deliberation encourages you to contemplate all sides of an issue and invites reflection of your own position. In deliberation, you contribute your best ideas and search for the good parts of other’s ideas with the goal of reaching a solution that considers all perspectives.

Additional Information for students

  • What’s in it for me?
    • Deliberation improves listening and communication skills and helps you develop the ability to express your own ideas.
    • Practicing democratic decision-making processes such as deliberation helps to prepare you for your civic responsibility as a citizen within a democratic community.
    • Deliberation improves our society by fostering positive social interactions.
    • Deliberation helps us to understand the responsibility that we have for our ideas and actions.
    • Practicing deliberation prepares you to make collaborative decisions that embrace respectful exploration and discussion of opposing views.
  • How do I engage in deliberation?
    • Contribute your best ideas to be improved upon.
    • Support your claims with logic and reasoning.
    • Listen as well as talk. Take turns.
    • Be sensitive to other’s feelings, hopes and ideas. Don’t rush to judgment.
    • Seek to understand a point of view different from your own.
    • Evaluate yourself and your ideas. This may involve changing your viewpoint!
    • Pose the question “What should we do?” Look for solutions that build upon the ideas of others.
    • Weigh alternative courses of action.
    • Use collective knowledge to reach a mutually agreed upon conclusion.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lesson Structure:

  • Open:
    • We’ve been talking about the ways that we can create a more accepting school community. I’d like for you to think about a time when you’ve found yourself at odds with a person who held an opinion that was different from yours. How did you communicate your differences? Did someone challenge your viewpoint? If so, how did you respond? How did you feel as a result of this interaction? Turn and talk with a neighbor about you experience. Today we will learn about a strategy to effectively and respectfully communicate our ideas within a group people who hold opposing viewpoints. We will learn how we can use this strategy to arrive at solutions for problems within our learning community.
  • Body:
    • The teacher will explain that the students will engage in a discussion that will elicit multiple viewpoints. The goal of the conversation is to agree upon a shared solution.
    • Students will prepare and present a presentation on the following topic: Cyberbullying– Should the school be permitted to punish students who engage in cyberbullying outside of school?
    • Students will work in small groups to prepare and present a 2-3 minute “expert presentation” after  researching the topic, discussing various viewpoints, and coming to a consensus on the issue.
    • Have all students read the following articles before they begin sharing their viewpoints:
    • After 10 minutes of deliberation and additional research students will present their findings with the class. The students will summarize their discussion, and use the research from the articles to back up their claims.
    • During the presentation, each group must provide the class with research related to the understanding of their viewpoint. Groups must explain the evidence they have found and describe its credibility as a source. Groups may present their information to the group on an anchor chart or google doc. The class will evaluate each presentation using the following criteria:
      • Did the group provide the class with a viewpoint related to understanding of one of the current topics?
      • Did the group summarize the evidence and explain their viewpoint?
      •  Did the group explain the credibility or their research?
  • Close:
    • Today, we learned about deliberation and how we can use strategies to effectively communicate our ideas within a group that may have opposing viewpoints. Through deliberation, we can create the accepting and respecting school community that we envision.
    • Active Engagement Strategy: Snowball Fight – https://www.thoughtco.com/ice-breaker-snowball-fight-31389
      • Take out a sheet of paper and write down a deliberation strategy that was most effective in communicating with your group on the topic. After 1-2 minutes, the teacher will instruct students to crumble up the paper with their strategies and gently toss it to the other side of the room. Once all the paper balls have landed, students will pick up the nearest ball to them. The students will take turns reading each other’s strategies aloud to the rest of the class. If someone reads a strategy that is also written on another student’s paper they will sit down. Students will continue reading the slips until no strategies have been repeated and everyone is sitting. Give students an opportunity to share any additional strategies that were effective but not mentioned. Write these strategies on a piece of chart paper and leave it hanging in the room.
      • Exit Slip: Have students quickly write down why deliberation is a valuable skill. Write students ideas on a piece of chart paper and share with them the next day.
Save the Last Word for Me
Source: School of Science, Creative Commons

Lesson Goals: This lesson is intended to help students listen for understanding. Students will be encouraged to look to their peers for answers instead of relying on their own assumptions.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? The lesson connects to bullying because it allows students to reflect on various quotes related to bullying. It also shows students the importance of listening to another person.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lesson Structure:

  • Open
    • The teacher will instruct the students to sit in a circle on the floor in the front of the room. Next, the teacher will present the reasons why students think deliberation is a valuable skill.  The teacher will then explain to students that although deliberation means to voice your opinion, it also means to listen for understanding. The students will turn and talk with their neighbor and discuss what it means to “listen for understanding”.  
  • Body
    • The teacher will have a list of quotes posted in the front of the room. Students will be asked to choose their favorite quote from the list and be able to explain why. Then, the teacher will divide the students into groups of three, labeling one student A, one B, and the other C. Invite the A students to read their chosen quote about bullying to their group. Then, students B and C will discuss the quotation. What do they think it means? Why do they think these words might be important? To whom? After several minutes, ask the A students to explain why they picked the quotation, thus having “the last word.” This process continues with the B students sharing and then the C students.
    • Quotes to be posted in the front of the room:
      • Bullies bully because they have been bullied
      • No one can make you feel inferior without
        your consent
      • Be yourself, because the people who mind
        don’t matter, and the people who matter, don’t mind
      • I am in charge of how I feel
      • No one has ever made himself great by
        showing how small someone else is
  • Close
    • After each person in the group has had a turn to share, students will go back to their assigned seats. The students will list a key idea from today’s lesson that they feel to be important. These ideas will serve as an exit slip for the day’s lesson.

Three Corners
DeltaSet-009, Source: Laura Azcoaga, Creative Commons

Lesson Goals: This lesson helps to students to see that opinions can be fluid. Students will learn that through effective deliberation, opinions can change.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? The purpose of this lesson is to teach students to how communicate their thoughts openly with others in a respectful way. When you teach students healthy and safe ways to deliberate with one another they feel more comfortable speaking up when they see something they do not agree with, such as bullying. When we teach students appropriate ways to express their opinions they will be less likely to be bystanders instead, they will actively stand up against what is wrong.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lesson Structure:

  • Open
    • Prior to beginning the lesson, the teacher will label three corners of the room as follows: agree, disagree, indifferent. The students will begin by sitting in groups of three and discussing the relevancy of deliberation in their lives. In this conversation, students will be encouraged to talk about ways they may begin to use deliberation in their real life. TTW will walk around and monitor conversations.
  • Body
    • After students are finished with their small group discussions they will gather and sit in the front of the room. The teacher will point out the various corners of the room that are all labeled differently. Next, the teacher will ask students to read a series of statements on a handout and select one of the following positions: agree, disagree, not sure. Ask students to provide a rationale for their position. Next, read each statement aloud and ask students to move to the corner of the room that represents their position. Once students are in their places, ask them to find a partner who shares the same position and explain their opinions. After the students have had a chance to meet with people that agree with them, they should then find one person with an opposing view and discuss/justify their opinions. Encourage students to question each other’s evidence and ideas. Walk around during this time and facilitate when needed, but mainly observe what the students are saying to one another.
      After reading each statement and giving students an opportunity to discuss their perspectives with others, ask students to return to their desks and respond to the after deliberation questions on the handout. Students will indicate if someone presented an idea during the deliberation that caused them to change their original perspective. Before beginning the discussion, the teacher will remind students about norms for having a respectful, open discussion of ideas.
    • Discussion topics:
      • Bullies are victims too
      • Bystanders are just as guilty as bullies
      • Bullying is just a normal part of growing up
  • Close
    • Return back to the carpet after students respond to the follow-up prompts on the handout. Ask for volunteers to share something that they learned from the person they spoke to with an opposing view. The teacher will listen to responses and record on the board.
Socratic Circle
Source: Daniel X.O’Neil, Creative Commons

Lesson Goals: This lesson will facilitate open discussions about bullying topics that have no right or wrong answer.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? The lesson connects to bullying because it facilitates a deliberation between controversial bullying topics.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lesson Structure:

  • Open
    • Before the lesson the teacher will write several open-ended questions on an index card. For example:
      •       Why do bullies bully?
      •       How can we stop bullying?
      •       Is cyberbullying considered real bullying?
      •       Can you bully your friends?
      •       Should you intervene if someone older than you is being bullied?
    • The teacher will ask for a volunteer to draw a question from the bowl and pose it to the class. Students will turn and talk about their ideas/position on the topics.
  • Body
    • After a series of questions have been discussed, the teacher will explain to students that they will participate in a Socratic circle. A small group of students will arrange themselves in a seated circle in the front of the room. Those in the circle will discuss a predetermined topic. They will seek to build their understanding by listening to the thoughts of others. Only those inside the circle are allowed to contribute to the conversation. When time is up, another group will assemble in the circle and discuss.
    • Possible topics:
      • Why do bullies bully?
      • Can a bully also be a victim?
      • Does a bully ever have an excuse, or a
        pass, to bully someone?
  • Close
    • At the end of this activity, students will discuss, as a class, how it felt being outside of the circle as well as inside. Students will also reflect on the importance of listening to others during a deliberation.

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