The fine art of disagreeing

Power. 

Debate.

Protest.

Strike.

 

Those words are all getting a careful definition as a second grade classroom practices the fine art of disagreeing.

 

The work began last Thursday, when a nostalgic conversation about Kindergarten naptime combined with a discussion of Andrea Davis Pinkney's book Sit-In.

 

Today, three groups - pro-nap, anti-nap and in-between - presented their points of view.

 

"I know you don't agree with each other," said the teacher. "But, now that you've listened to each other, do you understand why the other people have their opinion?"

 

They did.

 

And by listening, and empathizing - even without agreeing - they had taken an important step towards a civil conversation.

 

(Meanwhile, in the eighth grade humanities classroom, students were being told that their upcoming research papers needed to include an acknowledgment, and summary, of the counterarguments to their thesis).

 

The conversation ended with two action steps:

1. Gathering more information, when they meet with the Kindergarten buddies (Do naps really make you feel refreshed? Is sleepwalking ever an issue?)

2. Collaborating on a letter outlining the issue of naps in second grade, and deciding who in the school needs to see it.

 

Without promising naps... last year, a lesson in civil discourse in seventh grade led to a change in the schoolwide calendar. Read more