If you try this activity with your students, we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey via #Inspired2Learn on your preferred social platform.
Discipline: Applicable in all subjects as a means of teaching students how to have respectful dialog. It’s particularly useful as preparation for curriculum and content that encourages discussion and debate.
Age level: Grade 2-12
Time: 15 minutes to an hour. This depends on how you want to build on the initial activity.
Materials: Two pieces of paper posted on opposite sides of the classroom, one that says “Strongly Agree”, the other that says “Strongly Disagree”. This activity can be enhanced if you already have a student-created Classroom Constitution.
Learning how to observe disagreement without conflict is part of building our curiosity. This activity uses where we physically stand on an issue to get the conversation started.
What to do:
Set up your classroom so there is a large open space in the middle where students can line up from one end of the room to another. You can set the room up this way before students enter or do it with students to get prepared. Show students as you hang papers on either side of the room, one that says “Strongly Agree” and the other that says “Strongly Disagree”. Invite them to stand in a line between these two signs.
Explain that you will share a series of statements about which they will have opinions. In TOTAL SILENCE they should take a stand along this continuum according to how strongly they agree or disagree with the statement. This is a great way to introduce students to a topic in your curriculum but, it is good to start the activity with prompts that are somewhat generic so they get a sense of the activity. Example statements might include:
- Summer is the best season.
- French fries require ketchup.
- Homework is a waste of time.
- The voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16.
- Cats are better than dogs.
Remind students to move to their positions in silence, otherwise the activity can quickly become chaotic and it is hard for students to observe different opinions in a physical way vs. through conversation. After each prompt, pause for a moment and invite the group to look around to see where everyone is standing. When you notice a prompt for which there is wide variance, you can pause and ask for a few volunteers to share why they are standing where they are standing.
After doing general prompts for a few minutes, you can shift to more serious or content-specific prompts. Here are some examples:
- People can learn how to take care of the environment.
- My voice matters in a democracy.
- This character (from a text you read as a class) is selfish.
- Social media can influence the way I feel about myself.
- Adults understand what children need to be happy.
Depending on what you are exploring in your curriculum you can make the questions specific to a particular lesson and then try the prompts before and after a deeper dive into the contact so students can see if their opinions have shifted. It is useful to do the bulk of this activity in silence so students build confidence in taking a stand without worrying about what they will say. However, this is a great way to get students thinking before a verbal discussion or writing prompt, and inviting a few students to share their thinking at various points in the exercise helps to build understanding of varying perspectives.
The actual activity should not last much longer than 15 minutes because students will get tired of standing. Calling the prompts somewhat quickly will get their thinking going. After the physical portion, consider a seated debrief with the group with questions like:
- What did you notice about your own thinking during this activity?
- What surprised you?
- What did you notice about our thinking as a whole class?
- Without hearing people’s reasons WHY they were standing in a particular spot, what did that make you wonder?
Follow up activities to Take a Stand might include:
- A full class discussion of one of the prompts that garnered the most variance.
- A quick writing exercise where students share their opinion on any one of the prompts that really spoke to them.
- A partner share where each person gets to speak their mind on the prompt that they found most interesting.
- Students generate a list of their own statements that they’d like to explore in a future Take a Stand activity.
Standards Addressed by this Activity
Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
Knowledge of Language:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP3 Mathematically proficient students understand and use stated assumptions, definitions, and previously established results in constructing arguments. They make conjectures and build a logical progression of statements to explore the truth of their conjectures. They are able to analyze situations by breaking them into cases, and can recognize and use counterexamples. They justify their conclusions, communicate them to others, and respond to the arguments of others. They reason inductively about data, making plausible arguments that take into account the context from which the data arose. Mathematically proficient students are also able to compare the effectiveness of two plausible arguments, distinguish correct logic or reasoning from that which is flawed, and—if there is a flaw in an argument—explain what it is. Elementary students can construct arguments using concrete referents such as objects, drawings, diagrams, and actions. Such arguments can make sense and be correct, even though they are not generalized or made formal until later grades. Later, students learn to determine domains to which an argument applies. Students at all grades can listen or read the arguments of others, decide whether they make sense, and ask useful questions to clarify or improve the arguments.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Competencies
Self-Awareness: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.
Self-management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.
Social awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Responsible decision-making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.
Relationship skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards
| Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries | Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence | Dimension 4: Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action |
|---|---|---|
| Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries | Gathering and Evaluating Sources | Communicating and Critiquing Conclusions |
| Developing Claims and Using Evidence | Taking Informed Action |
