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DISCUSS Philadelphia is an interdisciplinary and intercollegiate research project that followed social studies teachers from their preservice year through their third year of teaching.

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

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Teachers in the project recorded themselves facilitating class discussions and reflecting on them.

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

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Discussions have many benefits for students.

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

Foster Civic Discourse

Appreciation of Multiple Perspectives and Community Development

Deeper Understanding of Content and Development of Evidence-Based Reasoning

Support Student Engagement (i.e., disrupt teacher-centered patterns)

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DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

Yet, discussions are difficult to facilitate in ways that center students’ ideas; they feel unpredictable, and they reflect political challenges.

Discussions are rare in practice, even when teachers think they’re doing it.

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DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

But discussions are needed to disrupt existing academic and political inequities for marginalized students

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Discussions involve negotiating historical questions or controversies using historical texts as resources and collective understandings.

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“The purposes of such discussions are to build collective knowledge and allow students to practice listening, speaking, and engaging in historical interpretation. In instructionally productive discussions, the teacher and a wide range of students contribute orally, listen actively, and respond to and learn from others’ contributions.”

(Reisman et al., 2018, p. 279)

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Please turn to a partner and discuss the following questions:��

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

What do discussions look like in your classroom? ��What challenges have you encountered when facilitating discussions in the social studies classroom?

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DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

Exploring Dilemmas of Practice

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TEACHING DILEMMAS

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

A dilemma is an argument between opposing tendencies within oneself in which neither side can come out the winner. From this perspective, my job would involve maintaining the tension between my own equally important but conflicting aims without choosing between them.

Lampert, M. (1985). How Do Teachers Manage to Teach? Perspectives on Problems in Practice

Dilemmas are hard to navigate as teachers because two things that are important to us are in tension.

This could be two goals that feel in opposition:

“I don’t want to talk a lot as I facilitate because I want students to talk AND I want them to use evidence and they’re not using evidence!!!”

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TEACHING DILEMMAS

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

Lampert, M. (1985). How Do Teachers Manage to Teach? Perspectives on Problems in Practice

We may never completely get rid of the tension caused by dilemmas, but we can figure out the source of the tension, and manage our dilemmas more deliberately

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We can break down our dilemmas using a framework called the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI)

(Kaplan & Garner, 2017)

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Beliefs: What beliefs do you have about students, the strengths they bring to discussion, their attitudes to discussion, etc?

Goals: what are your goals as a teacher when facilitating discussion?

Self-perception: Who are you as a teacher? How do you see your style as a discussion facilitator?

Action Possibilities: what ‘moves’ could you make as a discussion facilitator?

How you act as a teacher in a classroom is made up of the interaction between your teaching-related:

Beliefs
Goals
Self-perceptions
Action possibilities

When you are STRESSED two of these things may be in tension and you might experience it as a dilemma.

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Dilemma Example: I don’t want to talk a lot as I facilitate because I want students to talk AND I want students to use evidence and they’re not using evidence!!!”

DISCUSS Philadelphia 2026 ©

Beliefs: Students won’t use evidence unless I prompt them.

Goal: I don’t want to talk a lot as I facilitate because I want student to talk.

Self-perception: I am the sort of teacher who values student voice.

Action Possibilities: Asking student what the evidence is that supports their claim

How you act as a teacher in a classroom is made up of the interaction between your teaching-related:

Beliefs
Goals
Self-perceptions
Action possibilities

When you are STRESSED two of these things may be in tension and you might experience it as a dilemma.

Goal: I want students to use evidence and they’re not using evidence.

Beliefs: Using evidence looks like saying what document they got evidence from.

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As teachers, engaging with our colleagues around common discussion facilitation dilemmas can help us develop a greater understanding of our goals, beliefs around discussions, possible actions, and who we are as discussion facilitators and clarify how we might shift our practice to better align with our goals.

Why explore dilemmas?

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DISCUSS Website Dilemma Strands

How do I plan engaging discussions?
How do I promote active participation?
How do I support student-centered discussions?
How do I promote text-based argumentation?
How do I reach content goals?
How do I cultivate safe classrooms?
How do I address challenging comments?
How do I incorporate students’ experiences?
How do I navigate ethical tensions?

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DILEMMA

WALKTHROUGH

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[YOUR DILEMMA QUESTION]

Consider the teacher's goals, possible actions, beliefs about the situation and the students, and their own self-perceptions. Complete or modify the following sentence in a way that captures the teacher's central tension in the situation: "While on the one hand, the teacher believed/wanted/felt/did __________, on the other hand, they believed/wanted/felt/did __________."

*Before you jump to what you would do, consider: What is the heart of this dilemma for this teacher? Where is the tension for them?

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INDEPENDENT DILEMMA EXPLORATION

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With your partner, choose a dilemma scenario to read, and then if there is a classroom video, watch it together.
Discuss each discussion prompt on the DISCUSS website.

INDEPENDENT DILEMMA EXPLORATION INSTRUCTIONS

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WRAP UP

In what ways does the dilemma(s) you read about resonate or not resonate with you as discussion facilitators in your classrooms?
Where do we commonly experience dilemmas as we facilitate discussions?
What next steps can take as we experiment with discussion facilitation and try to manage these dilemmas?