Students got to engage in Philosophical Chairs today. They had to position themselves on a “Philosophical Spectrum” to express if they agreed, disagreed or were neutral on the topic of whether having classroom pets was more positive than negative. Students then took the hot seat to share their claims and the evidence, from middle school texts, they had collected to support their claims. Throughout the experience, students were encouraged to move as their opinion changed based on what their peers were sharing.
The students proved quite adept at the technique and we will be doing this again while we are studying American history.