It’s always interesting to hear how teachers extend the lesson beyond the podcast. One of our adopters shares an idea for a follow-up activity that she has incorporated in her classroom:
As adults, we all know life is not fair. As teachers, we do our best to make sure our classrooms are fair. When a dilemma appears unfair, we try to help students see past their own beliefs and examine all the details of the dilemma. It is not always an easy task. One way I have found to help students see all sides of a dilemma is Tug-of-War.
Tug-of-War, educational style, is a thinking routine from Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners (Morrison, Church, and Ritchhart) that helps students examine the factors that “tug” on both sides of a dilemma. Tug-of-War asks students to find support for their reasoning and then to think of reasons to support the other side of the dilemma.
After we listened to “Casey at the Bat” (5 -#5, Combined-#29), I presented the students with a controversial issue from the poem: The Mudville Hens lost the game that day. Do you think this was Casey’s fault? Then I gave students sticky notes and had them write down their supporting evidence to either agree or disagree.
The conversations they had while writing out their sticky notes were phenomenal! Students were quoting from the text, pulling in personal experiences of being on a team, discussing what teamwork means, and who they thought was ultimately responsible. There were a lot of students who found evidence for both sides! There are so many ways you can incorporate Tug-of-War into Walking Classroom lessons.
K. F. Grotelueschen
AIG Specialist
Southwest Elementary
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