Philosophical Chairs- Let's Debate! Part 2...

Philosophical Chairs is similar to a debate. Students are given a central topic or question that they must choose to agree, disagree or be neutral regarding the answer. A great Philosophical Chairs discussion starts with a great topic or question, and is centered around text(s).

See my original blog post about Philosophical chairs to gain and understanding of the structure:  Philosophical Chairs

I really do think that implementing this structure into your classroom is VERY powerful for student learning.  It really does force them to think critically and at a higher level.  Also, the kids REALLY LOVE the debates!  It's engaging, fun, and develops higher level thinking skills! What reason is there to not try it out??

Here are my students doing Philosophical Chairs on the topic of Social Media.  The focus question was, "Are social media networks more harmful or helpful to our society?"

The Essential Question in our ELA Wonders curriculum for this week was "How do technology and inventions affect your life?" (4th grade, Unit 4 Week 3).  I found the connecting articles they're using for the debate on Newsela, and printed them at different Lexile levels to meet the  differing needs of my students.

To briefly summarize the process from my previous post:

I use Newsela.com as  GREAT resource to find news articles written for kids on topics that will interest them.  You can also print them at about 4 - 5 different Lexile levels to differentiate and meet the needs of your students.  Generally I try to find a topic that ties into either the Essential Question in Wonders, or topics we're studying in science or Social studies.  Also, the texts or articles chosen must insight a debate! The more the kids are interested the better and more exciting the Philosophical Chairs will be.

When I first introduce the topic of a "debate," or Philosophical Chairs, my kids will initially do this within their table groups (groups of 6).  This is to teach them the structure of the debate and to allow them to practice in this small group setting where they are more comfortable and likely to speak up.  Once we've done this a few times, I then have the kids move into the actual whole group Philosophical Chairs lesson.

As I've explained in the previous blog(see link above), the students take notes on each article/text and then develop higher level questions.  They bring their notes/questions with them to the debate and choose their side/stance for the debate.  Any students who are unsure or haven't chosen a side will hang out in the middle, and as they listen to the debate they will move to a side when they agree.  Likewise, students may switch sides during the debate at any time.  

Once the debate is finished, students then respond to the prompt, or debate question, as a written constructed response, using the RACES process (see my previous blogs for more info on RACES).

Here's another video of my kids debating an article related to technology discussing whether or not cars should be replaced with ONLY public transportation in large city centers.

For additional information, videos, and resources the Learnzillion website is a GREAT resource that will help you understand how to implement Philosophical Chairs: 
 LearnZillion- Philosophical Chairs

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

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