Who Should Decide? Building Civil Discourse in Any Classroom

Episode Description: In this episode, Kobi Nelson talks with Sphere program manager John Snoad, a former high school teacher and football coach of more than 30 years, about practical ways to bring civil discourse into any classroom. John shares how he retooled his own curriculum around curiosity-driven questions instead of binary thinking, unpacks Sphere's "Who Should Decide?" four-corners activity in detail, and offers advice on building a classroom culture where students feel safe voicing an opinion.

Main Topics

01:25 - John talks about his background

06:03 - Retooling curriculum questions and moving past true/false thinking

08:26 - Introducing civic engagement and the "Who Should Decide?" activity

15:39 - Guiding students without imposing personal bias

17:59 - Building norms and sentence frames to spark curiosity (the AWARE framework)

22:40 - Advice for teachers with limited time or a scripted curriculum

24:56 - Starting with writing before discussion, and students' fear of being "canceled"

27:20 - Creating a safe space and drawing out quieter students

29:35 - Knowing yourself as a facilitator

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