Challenging Conversations About Politics
In this bilingual session, Rachel Collishaw of Elections Canada, Dana Cotnareanu and Ken Boyd of CIVIX and Beatrice Wayne of the Samara Centre for Democracy discuss the ways in which teachers can engage students in political discourse in the classroom. Specifically, the topic of polarization was addressed and many resources and strategies were introduced for teachers to employ in their classes. There was an emphasis on creating discussion and classroom norms in order to create authentic and organic learning opportunities through political discussion. The panelists encouraged participants to embrace the concept of the Political Classroom – making reference to the book the Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education (McAvoy & Hess, 2015).
