• 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: Hopefully, students will have a better appreciation for the Constitution and the tension that exists between mutual goals. I think it’s real easy for students to sit back and say, “Well, there’s crime in that neighborhood. That’s what they need to do.” Or they’ll say, “You know, guilty people don’t really need to have rights because they’re guilty. And so therefore . . . .” But the process is everything. How can we teach citizens to appreciate a process that says we have to still protect individual rights? I hope that they see some of that complexity and some of those dynamics.