And then there's this...

Friday we had a fantastic conversation in class...
All spurred on by the German news.
It began with a discussion of stem-cell research that morphed briefly into abortion and then into war. Wow. Three of the biggest, most controversial topics out there. Yikes.
I was proud of the kids, though. They all remained really composed and shared some really interesting ideas. (Like, "Shouldn't we worry more about prescription medication than stem cells? Stem cells occur naturally... they are cells our bodies already make; just waiting for a purpose. Prescription medication is something unnatural we are putting into our bodies and messing with our brains... which we know very little about.")
I was also proud of myself because, in essence, I stayed out of it! I just got to call on the kids who were raising their hands (to maintain some sort of civility) and one time I summarized what someone said for clarification... otherwise that was it.
Toward the end, a couple students asked for a game instead... they were getting frustrated. They were also the students who weren't sharing. So their feelings and frustrations were just getting pent up.
So I shared how proud I was with the class and how these are essential conversations to have while remaining calm and open-minded. And then we went on to a quick round of 20 questions auf Deutsch.

This weekend I looked back at their moodle entries as well. They responded to each other, made new discussion topics and really had some interesting thoughts! They are making it their own and really delving into some of the deep political issues that adults question (electoral college, what is truth, etc.). It makes me ache for a philosophy class.