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September 28, 2004 |
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Democratic Issues in the Classroom In "Democracy in the Balance" from the September 2004 Language Arts, Carole Edelsky discusses why democracy is a necessary part of the classroom. The ReadWriteThink lesson plan Voting! What’s It All About? outlines an ongoing exploration of election and political issues. Language Arts subscribers can read about a similar project in "Making Politics Primary: Exploring Critical Curriculum with Young Children" also in the September 2004 issue. Voices from the Middle subscribers can invite students to take a stance on the current political issues with "Turning Ripples into Waves: Convincing Kids They Can Make a Difference" Check out "The Curricular Stance: Active Learning into Active Citizenship" from "It's Our World Too": Socially Responsive Learners in Middle School Language Arts for ways to extend your exploration of social action throughout the school year. The NCTE title Reflections of a Citizen Teacher: Literacy, Democracy, and the Forgotten Students of Addison High challenges educators to foster the ability to envision, create, and participate in a more humane and democratic society in all students. Analyzing Political Communication Ask your students to explore the messages in political messages -- by reading, analyzing, and writing persuasive and argumentative political texts. The ReadWriteThink lesson plan Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads provides resources for looking closely at the messages on political Web sites. Subscribers to Teaching English in the Two-Year College can read "Advertising, Social Epistemic, and Argumentation in the Composition Class" to learn more techniques for analyzing persuasive language. Discussing Political Debates With the presidential debates getting underway September 30th, English Journal subscribers can tap "Developing 'Real-World Intelligence': Teaching Argumentative Writing through Debate" to invite students to practice their own argumentative skills through classroom debates. Subscribers to College English can ask students to apply the guidelines for principled debating from "Ground Rules for Polemicists: The Case of Lynne Cheney's Truths" to current political statements and write their own analysis focusing on whether the speakers follow the ground rules. Alternately, students might consider whether the ground rules are appropriate for political candidates to follow. |