Dear Colleagues,
I am eager to hear any thoughts on my most recent article for Edutopia, which you can access by clicking HERE. I am currently attending the NAIS PoCC conference and will be here until tomorrow afternoon, if folks want to meet up and chat. I certainly don't have all of the answers. I would love to hear your thoughts.
I've included the first three paragraphs below:
As a high school government and American history teacher, I strive to sidestep perceptions of bias in how I teach and assess by seeking to remain politically neutral. On day one, I tell my students that I don’t care where they reside on the political spectrum—and I really couldn’t care less—as long as they leave for the summer with a stronger understanding of how to defend and advocate for what they believe in.
To that end, I keep refining my teaching strategy of role-playing characters with different political beliefs to engage student interest.
To portray Democrats’ views, I often shed my role as Mr. Cutler by leaving and re-entering the classroom as Dan the Democrat. Dan doesn’t hesitate to answer questions about why he supports traditional liberal policies. Most of my students lean left, so often they agree with whatever Dan says. On a dime, I turn into Randy the Republican, eager to refute Dan—and before long, I am going back and forth between the two, arguing with myself.