Strategies Exemplary Social Studies Teachers’ Implement When Facilitating Discussions About Race

Candice Jasmer
Dissertation Defense

Background

• Teachers at the secondary level of public education who teach courses under the umbrella of social studies and civic education are charged with the responsibility to teach and discuss with students global and often “sensitive and controversial issues (SCIs)” daily (Kello, 2016, p. 35).

Discussions about sensitive and controversial issues such as race, can be dangerous, emotionally charged, and unpredictable.

Controversial issues are the source of ever-changing and often opposing opinions and perspectives formed by groups about a multitude of societal concerns (Gindi & Erlich, 2018).

Controversial Issues

• Soares (2013) posited schools should be a place where discussions about different beliefs, values, and perspectives can be shared, as well as, a place to break down barriers where division as formed.

Copur and Demiral (2016) suggested the current era requires that individuals are raised with communication skills which allow them to think, question, and produce.

Social studies teachers’ lack of confidence, when teaching and discussing SCIs, has contributed to teachers choosing to either include or completely avoid SCIs (Alongi et al. 2016; Childs, 2014; Misco, 2016).

“Teacher identity is an essential element in the professional development of teachers and therefore needs close attention” (Van Beveren et al., 2018 p.187).

Günel (2016) emphasized the relevance of professional development that aims to develop how teachers can remain open-minded and empathetic to the differences of others and their diverse viewpoints while teaching current events and SCIs.

Pedagogical Strategies

• The use of both primary and secondary source analysis has been reported to encourage higher-order thinking and communication skills (Walker & Carrera, 2017).
• Make connections between the past, present, and future (Van Straaten, Wilschut, and Oostdam, 2016) .

Statement of the Problem

Teachers do not feel comfortable and lack the confidence to teach SCIs. In fact, they often reflect on teaching these issues as a continuous stress (Gindi & Erlich, 2018; Misco, 2016; Steinberger & Magen-Nagar, 2017; Van Beveren, Rutten, Vandermeersche & Verdoodt, 2018), and also have doubt about students’ “ability or maturity to engage in meaningful discussions” which involve SCIs (Maxwell et al., 2018, p. 197).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to identify strategies that exemplary secondary social studies teachers implement when facilitating classroom discussions about sensitive and controversial issues, specifically racial issues, framed within Singleton and Linton (2007) and Singleton’s (2015) Four Agreements of Courageous Conversations.

Conceptual Framework

Singleton and Linton’s Four Agreements of Courageous Conversations were developed to help teachers not only begin to identify and relate to their personal experiences with race, but facilitate conversations with students, and engage in conversations with their peers and colleagues (Singleton & Hays, 2008).

Four Agreements of Courageous Conversations

• Stay Engaged
• Speak Your Truth
• Experience Discomfort
• Accept and Expect Non-closure

STAY ENGAGED
“Staying engaged means remaining morally, emotionally, intellectually, and socially involved” in conversations regardless of the level of commitment to others (Singleton & Linton, 2007, p. 59).
EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT
Overlooking or disregarding people’s differences not only invalidates important racial nuances but also nullifies others’ perspectives.
SPEAK YOUR TRUTH
Speaking one’s truth requires absolute honesty regardless of what a person thinks others want to hear.

EXPECT AND ACCEPT NON-CLOSURE
Acceptance does not mean agreement.

Effective Communication Skills

Research Design and Methods

• Qualitative, instrumental case study analyzed how exemplary social studies teachers engage students when facilitating difficult conversations.

Population and Sample

• Four purposefully selected secondary social studies teachers
• Three males and one female
• Recipient of the National Council for the Social Studies, Outstanding Secondary Social Studies Teacher of the Year award.
• Current or previous SS classroom teacher

Data Collection

Data Collection

• Purposeful or purposive sampling methodology.
• Emailed list of ten recipient names, who were awarded Outstanding Secondary Social Studies Teachers of the Year between the years of 2010 to 2019.
• Four of ten teacher participants responded and agreed to participate in this study.

Instrumentation

• Primary source of data were semi-structured, online one-to-one internet-based interviews.
• Secondary source of data were data gathered through websites, lesson plans, multi-media tools and resources shared.

Data Analysis

The clusters of ideas and concepts identified and illustrated became the foundation for the narrative findings and subsequent support for the emerging themes.

Primary Data Sources

Interview Protocol

• In what way do exemplary social studies teachers discuss race with students to help them stay engaged?
• In what way do exemplary social studies teachers facilitate how to speak one’s truth when sharing one’s perspective with another person or group?

Interview Protocol

• In what way do exemplary social studies teachers facilitate how to accept experiencing discomfort when participating in and staying engaged in conversations which one might feel uncomfortable?
• In what way do exemplary social studies teachers facilitate how to expect and accept non-closure when not all issues can or will be resolved?

Interview Protocol

• What are the challenges encountered by exemplary social studies teachers regarding facilitating courageous conversations with students?

Data Analysis-Primary Source

• Two coding passes, bottom-up, and coding through questioning (Ivanka, 2015; Nixon, 2014; Patton, 2015).
• The Primary data sources were read multiple times and highlighted to identify re-occurring phrases for analysis and possible theme distinction.
• The data were then grouped within a coding matrix according to similar and interrelated ideas and concepts (Gale, Heath, Cameron, Rashid & Redwood, 2013).

Secondary Sources

Data Analysis-Secondary Sources

• Proofreading the material and underlining key phrases used in context.
• Causal relationships indicated by words and phrases found in the primary and secondary sources.
• Analysis of the analogies used by the teacher participants.

Findings

RQ1 Identified Themes

• Relating historical content to student-lived experiences and scenarios
• Building and reinforcing an intellectually safe environment
• Challenging and disrupting metanarratives

RQ2 Identified Theme

• The consensus of the teacher participants was that tantamount to the dissemination of content, concepts, and social studies related curriculum, social studies teachers must teach and model how to share one’s perspective backed by evidence and reasoning effectively.

RQ3 Identified Themes

• Teachers' willingness to continuously and consistently evolve.
• Critical inquiry and group activities.

RQ4 Identified Themes

• Perspective and perception.
• Acceptance does not mean agreement.

RQ5 Identified Theme

• The need to be sensitive to individual beliefs, whether through assignments or class discussions.

Interpretation

Stay Engaged?

• “Resist the natural inclination to move away from conversations” (Singleton & Linton, 2007, p. 60)
• Soares (2013) stated the educational curriculum must be structured to prepare students using real-life experiences, which will help them better reach and sustain “life outside schools’ walls” (p. 69).
• Childs (2014) alluded to the need to create a safe place within the social studies classroom to not only engage in issues surrounding race but reverse or challenge the messages sent through popular culture and the media that tend to seep into these sites of learning and “reinforce old ideas about how individuals from certain groups should behave or think” (p. 299).

Speak One's Truth?

• This finding is supported by Copur and Demirel (2016), who argued student communication skills are strengthened when students are taught civic education, and the skills and values learned through civic education.
• Cho (2018) suggested teaching and modeling civic education is relevant not only to facilitate discussions that challenge students to think critically but to develop students’ social action skills to challenge the status quo and enact change.

Experience Discomfort?

• . According to Fish (2017), to meet the needs of a diverse population of students served, teachers need to evolve to assure all students obtain the education they are entitled to receive and are well adjusted and able to thrive within the educational setting.
• Singleton (2015) acknowledged the demands placed on teachers when he stated that teaching “requires remarkable skill, substantial knowledge, and significant effort” to continuously evolve to meet students’ educational needs with passion and desire (p. 19).
• Alongi et al. (2016), who suggested that students benefit from in-class discussion and debate, which teaches them to effectively convey their thoughts, improve inferencing, and higher-order thinking, problem-solve, and make informed decisions.

Accept and Expect Non-closure?

• The findings were supported by the idea that one must align their beliefs and ideals (intrapersonal thoughts) to those of their intellectual and relational obligations (interpersonal actions) (Singleton, 2013).
• Singleton (2013) suggested that the Nine Healthy Ways to Communicate cultivates more “mindful facilitation” in preparation for and during courageous conversations by encouraging individuals to try to understand how a person’s past affects who they are and how those experiences affect their relationship with you, by staying with the process and the relationship, not just the solution, by being curious and open to what others are trying to say, and by being emotionally present and willing to try to relate how an individual is feeling (p. 46).

Challenges?

• Singleton and Hays (2008) and Soares (2013) argued schools should be a place where discussions about different beliefs, values, and perspectives can be shared when teachers are sensitive and empathetic rather than a place where real-life issues are ignored and perpetuated.
• Singleton and Hays (2008), who noted that because discussions about sensitive and controversial issues can be dangerous, emotionally charged, and unpredictable, teachers must be willing and able to facilitate conversations with others such as students, peers, colleagues, and by extension, parents.

Implications for Practice

• Teachers should not shy away from addressing controversial issues in the classroom.
• Teachers should have a passion for education, their profession, and the growth potential of all students.
• Educational staff should reflect on how their attitudes, behaviors, and opinions impact students within the learning environment.

Implications for Practice

• Teachers need to have a desire to fight for racial equality in schools and communities.
• Teachers should avoid silencing others’ realities.
• Educators should not overlook and disregard people’s differences.
• Educators must understand that not all individuals are ready, willing, and equipped to discuss how sensitive and controversial issues such as race impact students within the learning environment.

Recommendations for Future Research

• Study the teaching strategies of secondary SS teachers within a specific state or region of the United States.
• Replicate the study interviewing teachers from other core content areas.
• Students’ perceptions of the strategies used by secondary SS teachers to facilitate discussions about sensitive and controversial issues.

Limitations

• human participants are different...the most we can ever realistically hope to achieve in educational research is not prediction and control but rather only temporary understanding” (Simon & Goes, p. 2).
• Small sample size.
• Teacher and participant bias must be considered.

Closing Remarks