The one thing that upset me the most about the election that just happened was how little reasonable debate there was about actual issues. Of course, this is nothing new, but it seems to be getting worse and worse. In thinking about this, I realized that I have personally done very little to engage in discussion with others about political issues, and now I am trying to figure out ways to do more of that, and also encourage my students to do more critical thinking, critical evaluation of the messages they hear around them, and engagement with others about political ideas.
I have a few ways of doing this, but I hope if you read this, fellow teachers, you will also share your ideas in this forum and other ones, about how to increase the amount of reasoning and discussion in our democratic society.
One way I have is probably rather old-fashioned. It involves writing letters to the editor of a newspaper. If you can still find a real, print newspaper somewhere, find the editorial page, and pick out a few letters to the editor. Analyzing them can be a good lesson in genre analysis - what is the tone that the author uses? Is it personal or impersonal, formal or informal, neutral or angry or passionate? What kind of adjectives and pronouns does the author use to create this tone? What is the format of the letter? Is there an introduction, or does the author jump right to the point? After asking and answering questions like this, have the student write his/her own letter to the editor, perhaps about a topic you have been studying in social studies or that you have read about together. Send it off and see if it gets published!
As far as authentic writing exercises go, I think this is a good one. In my experience, letters to the editor also have a good mix of precise terminology and catchy idioms or turns of phrase. These can be useful for students of English as a Second Language, as well anyone trying to get the hang of varying their tone and style in writing. Good luck, and may we all do better with civic engagement next time around!