Fostering Dialogue in an AP U.S. History Classroom
By Andy Warren - Social Studies Teacher, Susquehannock H.S., York County
As an educator, I seek instructional strategies to promote student-centered learning and inquiry.
Can We Talk? provides a variety of resources for critical thinking and perspective-taking.
Prior to my AP History classes’ study of the Civil War (1861-1860), I wanted to encourage students to analyze the Secession Crisis from multiple perspectives.
Recognizing that secession was a complex historical issue, I utilized Can We Talk’s issue framing resources to structure the lesson and immerse students in the leadership challenges facing President Abraham Lincoln. I conferred several times with Chris Satullo and Harris Sokoloff, who readily provided additional resources on issue framing techniques.
They also visited our school the day my classes experienced the lesson plan we’d developed, and gave me feedback throughout the day on how to foster classroom dialogue.
Issue framing provided my students with a useful communication technique to explore and discuss the viewpoints and possible solutions presented by historical figures. The way an issue is framed can affect how important people think it is, whether they see it as a personal or shared problem, and what solutions they support.
Within the context of this time period, students investigated the viewpoints of Secessionists, Non-secessionists, Compromisers, Unionists, and Abolitionists.
To build greater depth of historical understanding, we also contextualized the months between Lincoln’s November 1860 election victory and his March 1861 inauguration.
Students examined a primary source excerpt from Lincoln’s first inauguration speech to understand his position on secession. As the crisis unfolded and escalated at Fort Sumter, the president was presented with a number of suggestions for handling it. Some ideas were urged upon him personally. Others were offered in newspapers, letters, in Congress, or public meetings. Inevitably, this advice differed.
Students collaborated within teams of 3-5 in order to imagine that they were advisors to Lincoln, charged with developing a policy recommendation for him on how to navigate the dilemma at Fort Sumter and with evaluating the potential consequences of his actions.
Overall, issue framing fostered the sharing of divergent perspectives as well as active listening, which are essential ingredients for productive and civil dialogue.
My students emerged from this lesson with a more multifaceted understanding of the topic. I look forward to further exploring CWT? strategies to improve student engagement and cultivate their curiosity about history.
To see more detail on the readings and lesson plan that Andrew Warren assembled, please click on these links:
What Lincoln actually did - for the students to read after they've done the choicework exercise in class.
