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Preventing Polarization: 50 Strategies for Teaching Kids About Empathy, Politics, and Civic Responsibility Paperback – January 15, 2023
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Are you ready to break down conflict and build consensus on polarizing topics?
Ideally, education equips students to care about the world and helps them shape their futures. In an era that has become incredibly polarized, we can help our students learn how to come together despite differences.
Michelle Blanchet and Brian Deters show how all educators can equip our youth with skills to become active and engaged citizens. A one-off course on civics is not enough.
Preventing Polarization offers basic strategies that every teacher can use. You will create experiences to help students break down barriers through activities and role playing. The future lies with our children. Let’s show them how to make a difference, minimize conflict, and build accord. This book will:
- help you cultivate critical thinking in young people
- provide information about effectively digesting information and considering source material
- reveal strategies for how to teach civics
- help kids understand the impact of their actions
- explore tough conversations
- share strategies to help students speak up, step in, and get involved
- provide solutions for teaching kids about empathy
- demonstrate how to talk about politics in an appropriate manner
- Print length202 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 15, 2023
- Dimensions6 x 0.46 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101956512276
- ISBN-13978-1956512274
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Brian Deters has been in education for over twenty-eight years teaching social studies and coaching varsity soccer in the United States and Switzerland. Brian also is a co-host of the 4 A Better Tomorrow Podcast, a podcast series that connects his education experiences with his political ones, most notably his run in the 2018 election as a U.S. Congressional primary candidate from the 18th District of Illinois.
Product details
- Publisher : Times 10 Publications (January 15, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 202 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1956512276
- ISBN-13 : 978-1956512274
- Item Weight : 9.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.46 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,960,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,915 in Research Reference Books
- #2,271 in Civics & Citizenship (Books)
- #3,937 in Philosophy & Social Aspects of Education
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Brian Deters has been in education for over twenty-eight years teaching social studies and coaching varsity soccer in the United States and Switzerland. Brian also is a co-host of the 4 A Better Tomorrow Podcast, a podcast series that connects his education experiences with his political ones, most notably his run in the 2018 election as a U.S. Congressional primary candidate from the 18th District of Illinois.
Brian holds a Bachelor’s in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign as well as a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Illinois State University where he also served as an adjunct professor working in the field with student teachers in 2018 and 2019. He currently teaches sociology and civics at Morton High School in Morton, IL.
Brian and his wife Joni reside in Dunlap, IL along with their two teenagers.
Michelle is an educational consultant that infuses startup strategies into professional learning so that teachers are empowered to bring changemaking, social innovation, and SDGs into their work. After teaching social studies in both the U.S. and Switzerland, she founded the Educators’ Lab, which supports teacher-driven solutions to educational challenges. Michelle is the co-author of The Startup Teacher Playbook, and Preventing Polarization (2023). She has worked with organizations like PBS Education and Ashoka, and occasionally blogs for Edutopia. A graduate of IE University in Madrid, she is a part of the Global Shaper Community of the World Economic Forum and has presented at numerous events, including SXSWedu and TEDxLausanne. She lives near Geneva, Switzerland with her family.
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2023While organized for educators, this book presents information that can help all of us to have better conversations with family members, friends and strangers, fewer episodes of pointless arguing, and more optimism about working together in our communities. It's clearly organized and presented and, frankly, would be an excellent selection for book clubs -- with some great discussion about applying these methods and strategies in classrooms, but also in family life, the workplace, and social media exchanges. Can we (kids and adults) learn to think more clearly about our opinions and how we form them, create more honest exchange of views and lower the incidence of heated exchanges and broken friendships? Highly recommended reading for educators and all who wonder how we've become so divided. If you want to turn down the heat and turn up the level of brave honesty, humility and understanding, read this one.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023Thoughtfully laid out with clear and ample suggestions as to how to engage students, while allowing them to discover their world and what they want their place in it to look like. A fantastic gift for the educators in your life, no matter what level. Or for yourself. I learned a lot!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2023This book is amazing! In a time when our country is so divided, Blanchet and Deters have written an easy to follow and understand guide for teaching kids empathy, politics and civic responsibility. The book contains so many useful strategies for keeping the lines of communication open and peaceful. I highly recommend.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2023More than at any time in recent memory, this book is incredibly needed.
While books are being banned and teachers are being told what topics they can and cannot teach, and being prohibited from teaching “divisive concepts,” we must go in the opposite direction. We need to know how to have those important conversations in calm, safe classrooms. Preventing Polarization gives us the strategies to do this! We need to know more about how to teach students to overcome the polarized world that they have been born into. Authors Deters and Blanchet, in an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow language, help us open that door to civility and keep it open.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2023Reminding readers that teaching is and has always been an inherently a political act, Blanchet and Deters empower educators across all content areas and grade levels with actionable techniques and provocative questions.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2023As an educator for 25+ years in two major urban districts in Massachusetts, there is no doubt in my mind that the challenges that have faced educators in the last few years have been some of the most difficult during my career up to this point. The polarization that Michelle and Brian are writing about is one of the most challenging we face in modern education. They present a very clear perspective in their book, Preventing Polarization, that attempts to bridge some of the deep divisions that have surfaced in our country.
They challenge educators to take the discussions beyond the usual talk around civics and specifically take on the barriers that are preventing deeper discussions on issues from occurring in the classrooms. They not only present researched context for their recommendations, but present a format that not only gives educators an understanding of this complicated challenge, but also presents them with a number of specific strategies that they can bring back to their districts, schools, and classrooms. They present concepts concisely and identify strategies specifically that will help educators be more effective communicators with their students, facilitate difficult conversations effectively, develop consensus-building strategies among their student body, and support youth to “speak up, step in, and get involved”.
As an educator and administrator for over 25 years, I have read a large number of educationally focused publications and rarely have I found one that is so specifically appropriate and necessary for the current and immediate needs of our students throughout the country as Preventing Polarization by Michelle Blanchet and Brian Deters. It really is a must-read for educators running districts, schools, and classrooms right now to help address, overcome, and repair the deep divisions we are seeing throughout the country.
Dr. Matthew C. Stahl
- Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2023So many people find it hard to be optimistic about the state of politics. We fear that just one conversation will cause so much animosity that we choose to avoid deep conversations. We have to start listening to each other and working through our differences. This book provides practical tips, 50 in total, on how to start bridging the divide that keeps us from moving forward as a country. It is a book that can be used by ALL educators, not just upper-grade social studies teachers. It is also a book that can be read by caregivers as a way to help young people learn to be productive members of a community. I challenge you to pick up the book and feel optimistic that something can be done to fix our system.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2023It is evident that Blanchet and Deters are teachers themselves through the reflective stories they share in the book and through the choices that they make in terms of the book’s structure. The chapters are organized such that teachers can easily turn to the section that is relevant to them at any given moment, and there they will be met with practical strategies that can be immediately applied in their classrooms. While Preventing Polarization speaks directly to social studies teachers, the audience extends well beyond. I could envision the 50 teaching strategies and suggested activities in a range of subject areas and across grade levels.