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Lesson 5

We will engage in a philosophical chairs class discussion that addresses how social media and other forms of online communication affect individuals, society, and American ideals of civility.

Lesson Goals

Reading and Knowledge

  • Question: How well do I formulate and use questions to establish and deepen my understanding of texts and topics?
  • Gather and Organize Evidence: How well do I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?
  • Delineate Argumentation: How well do I identify the claims, reasoning, and evidence used to develop arguments and explanations?
  • Compare and Contrast: How well do I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

Speaking and Listening

  • Form Claims: How well do I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim that represents a valid, evidence-based analysis?
  • Organize Ideas: How well do I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed narratives, explanations, and arguments?
  • Gather and Organize Evidence: How well do I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?
  • Remain Open: How well do I change my ideas or perspective based on new, credible information and experiences?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “The Internet Doesn’t Need Civility, It Needs Ethics,” Ryan M. Milner and Whitney Phillips, Motherboard by Vice, November 20, 2018
    • “The Reason #BlackTwitter Exists (And Is Totally Awesome),” Say It Loud, PBS, YouTube, May 30, 2019
  • Unit Reader
    • Excerpt from “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital,” Robert D. Putnam, National Endowment for Democracy and The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995
    • “It Wasn’t Just the Trolls: Early Internet Culture, ‘Fun,’ and the Fires of Exclusionary Laughter,” Whitney Phillips, SAGE Publishing, 2019
    • “The End of Solitude,” William Deresiewicz, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Used with permission from the author., 2009

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Listen

We will examine the protocols for a philosophical chairs discussion.

Step 1

For this Section Diagnostic, you will participate in a structured philosophical chairs discussion.

In a philosophical chairs discussion you will do the following:

  • Listen to a statement presented by your teacher.

  • Write down your ideas about the statement and decide what position to take.

  • Discuss your position and supporting evidence with the class.

  • Write a reflection that explains how your thinking was changed or refined during the discussion.

Philosophical chair discussions allow for a rich understanding of a variety of viewpoints. They present opportunities for you to use academic language and new vocabulary, practice your listening and speaking skills, and assess whether you are clearly expressing your ideas and claims to demonstrate your knowledge of the text or topic. The academic language used during academic conversations also allows for disagreements to be discussed in a polite, but critical, way.

Step 2

For sample conversation stems, you can consult the Conversation Stem section of the Academic Discussion Reference Guide.

Review your Vocabulary Journal. Identify significant words that you would like to use during the discussion.

Activity 2: Listen – Write – Discuss

We will participate in a philosophical chairs discussion to demonstrate our understanding of online communities.

Step 1

Listen to the statement provided by your teacher. Write the statement in the space labeled "Central Statement" on the Philosophical Chairs Discussion Tool.

Take 2-4 minutes to jot down your ideas about the statement and decide what position to take using the Philosophical Chairs Discussion Tool. Justify your responses, using the texts we have read in this section and any other part of the unit.

Step 2

Participate in a respectful philosophical discussion with a partner. Take notes in Part 2 of the guide, titled During the Discussion: Take Notes.

Be sure to do the following:

  • elaborate on and clarify your ideas

  • support your ideas with specific textual evidence

  • ask clarifying questions

  • build on or challenge the ideas of others

  • take notes on intriguing ideas of others

Repeat the process for each statement provided by your teacher.

Activity 3: Write

We will reflect on how the discussion refined our original ideas.

By engaging in discussion with others, we are provided the opportunity to examine other points of view. As a result, we will often refine our own ideas.

Examples of refinement include the following:

  • changing one’s position on the topic

  • maintaining the same position but clarifying the idea

  • incorporating new information

  • disregarding weaker evidence in favor of stronger evidence

  • better anticipating and refuting counterclaims

On your Philosophical Chairs Discussion Tool, write a reflection on how your thinking was refined during the discussion. Be sure to identify a comment of a peer that most challenged your thinking and explain how it refined your ideas. Cite evidence from any of the texts you have read in this unit to support your final summary.

Activity 4: Write

We will reflect on our work on the Section Diagnostic and assess how prepared we are for the Culminating Task.

Step 1

Choose at least three of the questions below and respond to them in your Learning Log:

  1. How well did you take necessary action to prepare for the task?

  2. What went well for you during the completion of this task?

  3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through that struggle?

  4. How well did you actively focus your attention during this independent task?

  5. How well did you develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain workflow during this task?

  6. What would you do differently during the next Section Diagnostic?

Review your Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Think about all you have learned and done during this section of the unit. Evaluate your skills and knowledge to determine how prepared you are for the Culminating Task.

  • Add or refine any skills and content knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

  • Evaluate how well you are mastering skills and knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

Step 2

Review the Central Question of the unit:

What does it mean to belong to a community?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What new knowledge do you have in relation to the Central Question?

  2. What are you still curious about in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What is the relationship between the question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

  4. How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?

In your Learning Log, write your response to Question 3. You will return to this response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.