Philosophical Chairs- Let’s debate!

Philosophical Chairs- Let’s debate!
Learning takes place when critical thinking is happening.  Being able to think critically about an issue to solve a problem is a skill that students need not only to be successful in school, but throughout life.  Teaching students how to discuss and debate an issue (rather than argue) based on facts and information is not only a great, but powerful way to enhance students critical thinking skills. Philosophical Chairs allows students to think and discuss on a critical thinking level, and then allows them to apply their ideas or opinions to writing.			As seen here, my students recently participated in their second Philosophical Chairs debate on the "Christopher Columbus Day issue."  You see each of the opposing sides lined up across the room from each other, as well as the "neutral" kiddos seated in the middle.
The Power is in the discussion! Get your kids thinking deeply and critically about texts and issues, and watch their learning soar.
	When you hear students develop their own opinions about a topic based on what they’ve read, researched, and discussed, that’s when you know all your efforts as a teacher are worth it!  Over the past couple of years where I have really started incorporating a lot more collaborative conversations, philosophical chairs, and socratic seminars, I have noticed that my kids will start researching topics on their own.  Often they come into class and tell me how they researched a topic that we had learned/discussed in class and what they learned about it.  To me that’s extremely powerful because not only are they learning what I taught them to do, they are making those connections and applying them to their everyday lives.  They're starting to think critically all on their own! #TeacherGoals
“For good ideas and true innovations, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, and debate” -Margaret Heffernan Here are my student's engaging in their first Philosophical Chairs debate this school year (read below for more details). Although not perfect they're off to a great start!
You can get started right away preparing your students for Philosophical Chairs! Here are some simple steps to take:
	Often times you can simply use the Essential Question for the week in our Wonders adoption to focus your debate around. If not the exact question, you can use it as your focus area of study, and then reword it appropriately for the debate.  In the video just above, my students are debating the weekly Essential Question from Wonders that stated “What are the positive and negative effects of new technology?” With this being the basis of study for that week and also the week before having had a similar theme, students had opportunities to read many texts and gather information within our Wonders curriculum.  Additionally I found 3 articles on Newsela.com (a GREAT site that has current news articles for kids) that also discussed pros/cons of new technology. The students read and took notes on these as well. The question I posed for the Philosophical Chairs debate was “Are advancements in technology more helpful or harmful to our society?” If using the Essential Question in Wonders (or something closely relating to) then majority of your reading and information gathering is already presented in the Wonders texts and curriculum.  Guide students through note-taking and discussion on the topic.  I always find additional sources for them to read and take notes on such as Newsela articles and even short video clips from Discovery Education or YouTube. Once all research and notes have been gathered, I have students write a couple of Level 2 and Level 3 questions (Costa’s) about their learning. This is so they have some ideas/questions of their own prepared to discuss. I will display the prompt(question) that will open the debate and then have them gather their notes and move to the side of the room they most agree with.  In this case they were choosing between whether new technology is more helpful, or that it is more harmful to our society.  Students who are “neutral” or unsure stay in the middle of the room.   Students may only speak one at a time.  The person speaking will step forward and present his/her idea, thought, or question.  Then a student from the opposing side will step forward, summarize (or restate) what the previous person just said, and then add his/her rebuttal.  Students in the middle may also stand up and ask questions at any time. Students need to wait until 2 other people on their team have spoken before they can speak again (so 4 turns back and forth).  You want to remind the students not to attack the “person” and that they are just discussing the “ideas.” Any student from any side may move to another side at any time they’ve heard information that has persuaded them to feel differently. Once the debate is over, I have the students respond to the prompt (the original debate question) through a constructed response writing process (I use the RACES Writing format).  Sometimes they will write their RACES response on paper, and other times I have them complete their writing through a Google Classroom assignment. Philosophical Chairs is an ongoing work in progress.  The video you see above is the first time my students attempted the process this year (about a month ago).  As you can see, it is not perfect, but overall they did well! It helps if you have been conducting text-based collaborative conversations already, as the kids are experienced in discussing with one another and using text evidence to support their opinions.  One thing I will be working on with my students as we progress in this activity throughout the year, is an emphasis on restating what the person before them has said. I hope I have inspired you to try this out in your classroom, it's fun and easy to implement, and the kids LOVE doing it! Collaboratively Learning, Megan Brown megan.brown@omsd.net