The complicated pursuit of democratic teaching 

What constitutes democratic social studies education? Broadly speaking, it is said to include deliberative instructional practice that focuses on controversial issues, explores political themes, and aims to close gaps in students’ civic literacy (e.g., Parker, 2003; Levinson, 2012; Hess & McAvoy, 2015). Further, many advocates have called on educators to teach about specific controversies involving race, gender, and LGBTQ issues and to prepare students to create positive change and engage in struggles for social justice (e.g., Ladson-Billings, 2003; Westheimer & Kahne, 2004; Blackburn, 2013; Swalwell, 2013).  

Often overlooked, however, is the more difficult work of examining our own classroom practices, facing up to our histories and current behaviors as teachers and students (Strom, 1994).  

What follows is a description of a unit segment taught by a first-year teacher — I’ll call her Ms. K — working in a high school just outside of Madison, Wis., during the 2010-11 school year. Ms. K wanted very much to create a democratic classroom, featuring open discussion and inquiry. She asked me — then a graduate student who had supervised her student teaching — to assist her by codeveloping the curriculum for her 20th-century American history class, discussing pedagogy with her, observing her practice, and helping her reflect on it.