Teacher Commentary

Typically in this lesson students will ask things like, “Did Michael Brown attack the police officer?” Sometimes they will ask questions like, “Was this because of racism?” I generally add any questions to the chart students ask about the topic without any critique or comment. This is useful because it validates their ideas, and it also serves as a kind of “parking lot,” so we don’t get too far off track in discussions. I like to encourage students to notice when we go further into the inquiry and discover answers to the questions, but some of the questions don’t ever get touched on again, and that’s ok.