Teaching About Current Events and Controversial Issues

TL;DR:

Teachers can press pause to develop a lesson, collect factual sources, and determine how to teach the lesson in an age-appropriate manner.
Determine if you are ‘preaching’ or ‘teaching.’
Provide a balanced perspective and seek resources from multiple perspectives.

What is the best approach to teaching about current events and controversial issues? Americans are divided on issues related to race, war, politics, immigration, gender, and local politics. Teaching about current events and controversial issues “cultivates civic reasoning and discourse, which embody the skills, understandings, and habits required of democratic citizens” (Pace, Soto-Shed, and Washington, 2022). Students are living in a world of constant change, conflict, and innovation. Should teachers avoid addressing topics that could be controversial?

“A powerful and rigorous social studies curriculum provides strategies and activities that engage students with significant ideas, and encourages them to connect what they are learning to their prior knowledge and to current issues, to think critically and creatively about what they are learning, and to apply that learning to authentic situations” (National Council for the Social Studies, 2008).

From Hornbooks to Chromebooks

Teaching has changed and it has become increasingly complex. In the 1600s, the curriculum was presented on a Hornbook. Throughout the 1900s, students were taught from a chalkboard, overhead projector, and textbooks. In 2023, teachers may choose from textbooks, online programs, social media, district curriculum, YouTube, or the Internet.

While the changes in teaching and learning have created more opportunities for students and teachers, it has shifted the curriculum from a single author’s perspective to multiple perspectives. The Hornbook simplified ‘what’ would be taught in schools. Students in several schools are learning from a laptop or Chromebook instead of a Hornbook and there are multiple options to explore current events.

If your parents wrote an essay on World War II using the “W” book from the Encyclopedia Britannica, their grandchildren are using the Library of Congress, museum websites, primary sources, soldiers’ diaries, and interactive timelines. “Today’s students receive messages about world events as they are happening in real time. You simply need to walk through the hallways of any school….Browsing their news feed, sharing photos on Instagram or sending Snapchat messages has become a part of their daily routine” (Wade, 2023).

Does It Need To Be Taught Today?

Students may walk into fourth period and say, “Did you hear what just happened?” With phones, social media, live videos, and texting, students hear about current events in real-time. The current event may be a flood, hurricane, school shooting, or story about troops being deployed to another country. “As students explore the complexities of history, and make connections to current events, they reflect on the choices they confront today and consider how they can make a difference” (Facing History and Ourselves, 2023).

Teachers are human and they have the right to have emotions, political views, and knee-jerk reactions to a current event. If a teacher is emotional about a current event, it is not the right time to facilitate a class conversation. Students may also be too emotional to have a balanced conversation as soon as a news story hits their phones. If a school is located near a U.S. military base, talking about soldiers being deployed may or may not be appropriate. Schools near military bases know best how to approach such topics, but this is an example of how a current event may be appropriate in one school but not in another school.

Can Teachers Push Pause?

Pushing pause is an instructional strategy. A teacher may need time to develop a lesson, collect factual sources, and determine how to teach the lesson in an age-appropriate manner. A team of teachers may be able to develop a quality lesson or unit, if they have more time to plan. Teachable moments and current events are educational opportunities, but they do not have to happen in real-time.

There are multiple strategies for teaching current events and controversial issues. If teachers collaborate to determine how to address what is going on in the world, it will provide them with time to look internally at their own emotions and plan for the future. Teaching with the end in mind is a common teaching practice. Teaching with the end in mind is not always possible with current events, but a structured lesson plan can often prevent a teacher from crossing the line by sharing his or her own beliefs and emotions.

Key Considerations

School Boards should have a policy, procedure, and/or guidelines for teachers regarding teaching about current events and controversial issues.
The topics addressed should be age appropriate. For example, police brutality, abortion, gun control, and political rhetoric may be appropriate for secondary students, but not elementary students.
Determine if you are ‘preaching’ or ‘teaching.’ Preaching is pushing your agenda, values, political beliefs, and thoughts about a current event on students. This is not the role of the teacher. Teaching is when the teacher plays the role of facilitator and helps students to analyze an event or news story.
Have a good understanding of your community and what will be tolerated by families. This is getting more difficult to determine, based on the wide divide in society, but it is a good thing for teachers to keep in perspective.
When in doubt or when you are torn on the appropriateness of a topic, speak with a principal, curriculum director, or supervisor. Ask if they would support you if you taught the lesson and ask if they have any reservations about the topics that will be presented.
Provide a balanced perspective and seek resources from multiple perspectives.
Teachers should align their instruction with state standards.
Determine if this topic should be taught in your class. The topics discussed in U.S. History may be very different from the topics discussed in Algebra I.

Teaching Current Events and Controversial Issues: Role of Teachers

Establish classroom norms.
Provide reminders about respectful communication and class norms.
Ensure a balanced presentation through the careful selection of materials and other instructional resources.
Select tools and resources that will help students think critically and develop a deeper understanding (i.e., concept maps, primary sources, quick writes, and other scaffolding).
Correct inaccurate information.
Rephrase questions when needed.
Provide context for students, such as historical events, landmark Supreme Court cases, and primary sources.
Always provide time for processing, reflection, and debriefing.

Should We Teach About Controversial Events/Issues?

Why would a teacher intentionally teach controversial events? Slavery, Women’s Rights Movement, Holocaust Education, World Wars, Civil Rights Movement, Elections, and Supreme Court Cases are examples of controversial events or periods in history. When teachers facilitate a class debate, conversation, or research project, it is important to provide students with a safe classroom to express their ideas and defend their research. If one student shares a different perspective, it is important that the teacher does not create a culture of winning and losing.

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Helping Students Become Informed and Engaged Citizens

“Democratic self-government requires constant discussions and decisions about controversial issues. There is an intrinsic and crucial connection between the discussion of controversial political issues and the health of democracy. If we want our students to become informed, engaged citizens, we need to teach them how to ‘do’ democracy by practicing the skills of discussing controversial issues in the classroom and learning how to respectfully disagree” (New Jersey Center for Civic Education, 2023). Teaching may be more complex, but our students are bombarded by social media, elections, and issues that impact their lives. The issues facing our youth will not disappear if we simply avoid discussing these topics in classrooms. Teachers and administrators can begin planning future instructional strategies and key considerations by discussing Questions for School Teams.

Questions for School Teams

Do we have guidelines for teaching about current events and controversial issues?
Which instructional strategies will support age-appropriate instruction on this topic?
How can we teach from a balanced perspective, rather than preaching?
Are there particular topics that should not be discussed with specific grade levels?
Why are current events an important part of the educational process for students?
Why are controversial issues and historical events an important part of the educational process for students?
How can primary sources help students develop a deeper understanding?
Should we discuss events as they happen on social media, in real-time? Why or why not?
How can teachers use essential questions to help students research and explore current events and controversial issues?
How can we design lessons about current events and controversial issues so students feel empowered to think critically and creatively about what they are learning, and to apply that learning to authentic situations (National Council for the Social Studies, 2008)?

The Point of School

As we reflect on the importance of teaching current events and controversial issues, I am reminded of Grant Wiggins’ (2012) advice, “The point of school is not to get good at school but to effectively parlay what we learned in school in other learning and in life.” How can studying current events and controversial issues prepare students to contribute and think critically in a constantly changing world? The world needs more engaged citizens and critical thinkers.

References

Facing History and Ourselves. (2023). Teaching resources. Retrieved from https://www.facinghistory.org/about/locations/united-kingdom/teaching-resources

National Council for the Social Studies. (2008). A vision of powerful teaching and learning in the social studies: Building effective citizens (A Position Statement of National Council for the Social Studies). Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_7205277.pdf

New Jersey Center for Civic Education. (2023). Teaching controversial issues. Rutgers. Retrieved from https://civiced.rutgers.edu/resources/controversial-issues

Pace, J.L., Soto-Shed, E., & Washington, E.L. (2022). Teaching controversial issues when democracy is under attack. Brookings Institute. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2022/01/31/teaching-controversial-issues-when-democracy-is-under-attack/

Wade, L. (2023). How social media is reshaping today’s education system. Georgetown University. Retrieved from https://csic.georgetown.edu/magazine/social-media-reshaping-todays-education-system/

Wiggins, G. (2012). Transfer as the point of education. Retrieved from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/transfer-as-the-point-of-education/

About Steven Weber

Dr. Steven Weber is a curriculum leader. He has served on multiple state and national boards. His areas of research include curriculum design, multiplying leaders, professional learning, and school leadership.