• The importance of the lesson
• Lesson goals
• The issues
• Getting started teaching controversial issues
• Polling
• Debate preparation
• Structured controversy
• Consensus building
• Debriefing
• Her role in discussion
• Group-learning strategies
• Lessons learned
• Timing issues
• Assessing individuals
• Assessing groups
• Advice to other teachers
• Using constructivist methodologies with other topics
• Using textbooks
• Using technology
• Her background
• Her legal education
• Evolution of her teaching style
• Professional development
• School administration and community
• Standards
• Judging effectiveness
• Modeling democratic principles

JoEllen Ambrose: I ask them to evaluate their partner’s strengths and weaknesses to get at the productivity in their group. I definitely have a sense walking around the room [of] what’s been worked with or what hasn’t been worked with. I don’t have an objective way of doing that, but I have a sense of what they will bring into that essay question based on that. Also, the product of the debate was the consensus so I’m not going to evaluate some of those behavioral pieces in this particular activity because the goal was consensus.