Controversy? What Controversy?: or Easy Tips To Avoid Getting Into Hot Water in The Classroom
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Mariel Ellaine IntoControversy? What Controversy?: or Easy Tips To Avoid Getting Into Hot Water in The Classroom
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Mariel Ellaine IntoControversy?
What
Controversy?
Or…
Easy tips to avoid getting into hot
water in the classroom Dr. Alan D. Brown III
Department of
Criminology
Today’s Talk
• Introductions
• “Sensitive” Topic Discussions (STD’s)
• Learning and STD’s
• Why Teach About STD’s
• Strategies for Avoiding Problems with STD’s
• Learning to Live with STD’s
Striking a Balance in Teaching
HUXLEY
• Teaching is about:
Every individual is at once the
beneficiary and the victim of the
• Language: linguistic tradition into which he
has been born - the beneficiary
– Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
inasmuch as language gives
• Determinism access to the accumulated
• Relativity records of other people's
experience, the victim in so far
– Structuring of thoughts as it confirms him in the belief
• Huxley that reduced awareness is the
only awareness and as it
• Ideas bedevils his sense of reality, so
– “Safe” ideas that he is all too apt to take his
• Kerr concepts for data, his words for
actual things.
– Controversial Ideas Kerr
• Sometimes ya just
gotta say… The purpose of a university is to make students safe
for ideas – not ideas safe for students.
What Makes a Topic Sensitive?
• These are issues that often are:
– Competitions between values and interests of the parties
– Politically sensitive
– Strongly emotional
• They can be about:
– Events
– Causes of present situations
– How to resolve conflicts or issues
– Setting appropriate courses of action
– The likely effect of action
Learning and Sensitive Topics
• Educational Development
(Perry, 1999)
– Dualism
• That is, something is
either right or wrong and
it is so because
authority, namely
teachers, parents,
experts or leaders, have
named it so.
– You may find such
students pressure
you to give them
the answer!
Learning and Sensitive Topics
• Educational Development
(Perry, 1999)
– Dualism
– Multiplicity
• In this next stage there
is a recognition of
uncertainty. However,
students merely regard
this uncertainty as a
temporary condition and
seek to find the ultimate
truth which still must
come from those in
authority.
Learning and Sensitive Topics
• Educational Development (Perry, 1999)
– Dualism
– Multiplicity
– Relativism
• Students at this stage tend to value
all views equally within the limits of
personal standards. They believe
that there is no one true
interpretation but still reserve the
right to exercise the principle of right
and wrong. You will often find
students at this stage able to
describe in detail different
theoretical positions but often
unable to take and defend a stance.
Learning and Sensitive Topics
• Educational Development (Perry,
1999)
– Dualism
– Multiplicity
– Relativism
– Commitment
• They can make a choice
about their stance using
evidence to defend their
opinion. They can examine
the impact and implications of
commitments and see them
as trade-offs.
Learning and Sensitive Topics
• Educational Development (Perry, 1999)
– Dualism
– Multiplicity
– Relativism
– Commitment
– Limited Commitment
• At this stage students are able to do all of the previous
stage but they understand that their own views are part of
human growth and in making a commitment to a position
in an argument they are able to critically reflect on it and
modify it in the light of experience and further evidence.
Why do we bother?
• Topical
• Relevant to students’ lives
• Essential part of the curriculum if universities are to fulfill their
role in society
• Offers a chance for both students and faculty to reflect, develop,
practice and comprehend
• Directly relates to the moral and ethical reasoning skills of
students
Setting Up the Experience
• Framing
– Commitment should be discussed up front
– Appeal to openness
– Reliance on principles of humanism
– Inventory of skills, strengths and challenges
Ground Rules
• Governs how class will work
– Ensures:
• A safe, non-threatening environment for you and the
students
• The free-flow of ideas in the classroom
• Strategies
– Think before talking
– Evidence
– Critical Diagnosis
– “Cultivate tentativeness”
Managing Conflict
• You have to care…if you don’t, they will know. Be committed.
• Conflict stems from both student AND instructor behaviours. Be aware
that what you do is equally important as what the students do.
• Strategies:
– Tone
– Motivators instead of punishment
– Verbal and non-verbal communication
– Check-in with the students
– Action, not reaction
– Develop and model civil behaviours, ie., be a good classroom
citizen
Getting Over the “Overs”
• Two concerns:
– Over-attachment to ideas
– Over-reaction to criticism
• Solution:
– Fostering reflexivity
– Examining assumptions
– Process over content
• Strategies:
– Debates
– Brainstorming
– Role-plays
– Problem-solving
A Model for Problem Solving
• Identify the issue
• Explore the problem Team Building
• Set goals
• Identify possible solutions
• Evaluate solutions Negotiation and Problem Solving
• Select solutions
• Plan implementation
ACTION!
• Evaluation of process
The Importance of Cooling Off
• Negative thinking and strong emotions:
– Lead to problems of management
– Create hurt feelings and the possibility for insult
– Are often an emotional response to have your world-view
challenged
• Strategies:
– Keep a constant watch on negative thoughts and strong
emotions
• Team approach
– Understand and take note of the impact
– Reframe
Closure
• You must build in closure to your session
– Provides a bracket for students
– Allows you to move on
• Strategies:
– The Three-R’s:
• Recap
• Reflect
• Reframe
– Write about it
How Much Of Yourself Do You Bring?
• Be:
– Up-front
– Honest
– Prepared
• For class
• And to be wrong
• Don’t Be:
– Hesitant
– Shy
– Afraid
– A Bully
Why I Love STD’s
“Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and
memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep-
like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving…conflict is a
“sine qua non” of reflection and ingenuity”
John Dewey, 1922
I hate complacency. I play every gig as if it could be my last, then I
enjoy it more than ever.
Nigel Kennedy, nd
