• 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: Maybe I would ask the [polling] questions a little bit differently to get the kids [to] spread [out] a little bit on their opinions.

I did a lot of [research] for them. I found articles, and maybe they could have used their own research skills. Certainly we could use some critical thinking, for example, “Is this a good source? Why or why not?”

As I look back on the dynamics of those groups that I was watching more closely, I wish I could have told them in advance that they really need to come up with some sort of a conclusion that would cap their argument. One group had a zinger at the end (that the Constitution must be preserved or protected), but other groups didn’t take advantage of that.

I would like to [do] the debriefing [immediately] after the structured controversy. As they built consensus, there was a momentum and an energy that they could have brought into the debriefing. A day later, it’s a little flatter and harder to pull out.