Philosophical Chairs Lesson Plan

Updated January 2023
Name: Sophie Krueger

Content Area: Social Science
Course Title & Grade Level: 11th Grade Government
Standards:
SS-Gov.9-12.18. Critique the influence of intermediary institutions on government and policy such as,
interest groups, political parties, the mass media, campaigns, caucuses, elections, PACs, and local, state,
tribal, and international organizations.
SS-Gove.9-12.21. Explain the mechanisms of political socialization in American democracy such as the
effects of the family, school, community, and media in influencing one’s political decisions.
Objectives:
Content Objective—
SWBAT
- Agree/Disagree with 6 different political statements,

- Respectfully defend their response to the 6 political statements,
- And identify the political ideology that their responses would fall into.
Student-friendly Objective—
I can
- Agree/Disagree with different political statements,
- Defend my response to those statements,
- And identify the political ideology that my response falls into.
Assessment:
Note sheet (Formative):
Data Collection:
- The students will be writing the statements and responses on their sheets. Then, at the end of
the class, they will turn those sheets in. I will be able to see if they were following along with
the debate and taking notes during it.
Future Plan:
- For the future, I will be able to see if this was an effective note strategy. I will see if students
found it easy to follow along and write down the differing opinions.
Philosophical Chair Responses (Formative):

Data Collection:
- Throughout the class, I am hearing verbally if students are able to agree and disagree with
political statements and if they can defend their answers using facts we have already learned.
Also, I will be able to see if students understand the difference between political ideologies as
they will have to decide what their stance would fall under.
Future Plan:
- This will just help me see if the students understand the different between political ideologies.
If they can’t identify which ideology their response would fall under, then I could do another
lesson showing the differences and going more in depth with them.
Proactive Management:
Once reading off the statement, teacher will give some wait time for students to process what it said before
having them move. (Voice).
Teacher will give about two minutes for the students to decide and move around the room to which stance
they take. (Movement).
Teacher will communicate the expectations of phones and computers as we will not need them during this
lesson, so they can put them away. (Task and Materials).
Everyone will need to participate and once a student shares, they will have to wait a whole round, so other
students have the chance to share out. (Task).
For the notes, teacher will hand out their note sheets before starting the strategy. (Material).
Teacher will go over the expectations of notes after handing them out. Carefully explain what they should be
writing and where they should write. (Task).
Before starting the strategy, teacher will check with students to see if they understand the rules and the notes
and if there are any questions before moving on. (Task).
Teacher will model with an example question to show how the strategy works and what I expect from it.
(Voice and Task).
Instructional Strategies:
- Philosophical Chairs: This is a literacy strategy, so it falls into the instructional strategy category. This
strategy promotes discussion on some controversial political topics. This will allow students to discuss
their point of view, while also keeping an open mind to other opinions.
- Chunking: Throughout the lesson, I am showing the statement, then having time to discuss it. I am
going in chunks instead of just doing all the statements, then at the end, the students explain why they
chose a side.
Note Taking Strategy:
As the statements are being read throughout the class, the students will be writing them down in the first
column. I did this as I did not want the students to read the statement before we got to them, so they will just
fill in as we go through them. Then, as the discussion happens, they will write notes about each side from the
discussion.
Questions:
Any lingering statements or questions?
- Divergent as there might be various different ending statements or questions that students have about
the statements.
- Understand level of Bloom’s.
- They will answer as a whole group.
Did your responses have different ideologies, or did your responses fall into the same ideology for each
statement? Explain.
- Convergent as students will write either about their responses have the same ideology or have
different ones.
- Analyze level of Bloom’s.
- They will answer individually.
Statements within the lesson

- These are not necessarily question because there is no question mark, but I feel as they still fall within
this section.
- Divergent as for each statement students are going to have different opinions on the statements, and
they will also have different reasons as to why they are agreeing or disagreeing.
- Analyze level of Bloom’s.
- They will answer individually as a whole class.
Beginning of the lesson:
Review:
Slide 1
Teacher will say, “We have been learning about the different political ideologies and the two main ideologies
within America today.”
Preview:
Slide 2
Teacher will say, “So today we will be having a little friendly debate over political statements. And you will
be able to [reads off the slides]”
Hook:
Teacher will say, “Have you ever had political issues that you are your friends disagree on, or during a family
dinner, your family gets into politics, and it turns into a debate? That is essentially what we will be doing
today, however, our debate will be respectful, and you will keep on open mind to other opinions.
The Lesson:
I DO – slide 3-4 (5 min)
Teacher will show slide 3 and discuss the rules of how the debate will work. Then, the teacher will ask if
there are any questions. The students will raise hands if they have any, if none, the teacher will move onto
slide 4.
On slide 4, the teacher will model how the game will actually work with an example question. Teacher will
show how the moving will work, which side is which, and how to defend each response, while also identify
the political ideology each side would have.
WE DO – slide 5 (7 min)
Teacher will show slide 5 and read off the political statement. Teacher will then allow wait time after reading
for students to digest and figure out which side they side with. Then the students will move to their sides.
After the two minutes, teacher reiterate that two people from each side need to share out their defense to why
they chose what they chose. Teacher will call on the students and open up the respectful debate. Teacher will
also mention that students should be taking notes and the discussion.
I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)
Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”
If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

Teacher will show slide 10 and read off the political statement. Teacher will then allow wait time after
reading for students to digest and figure out which side they side with. Then the students will move to their
sides.
YOU DO ALONE – exit ticket (2 min)
Teacher will tell the students to turn over their note sheet, so they are on the blank side.
Teacher will show slide 11 and ask the students, “Did your responses have different ideologies, or did your
responses fall into the same ideology for each statement? Explain.”
Students will have the rest of class to finish up the exit ticket.
Teacher may add, “Do you think ideology is a black and white issue meaning for every single issue you are
going to agree with the Liberal or Conservative belief? That is not how political ideology really is as we have
so many parts of our identity that influence our beliefs and we may agree with Conservatives on one issue,
but Liberal on another.”
Closure:
Content Summary—
Teacher will say, “Today, we had a respectful debate where you were able agree or disagree with political
statements, defend your answer, and identity the ideology your response fell under. This was a review for a
quiz we may have in the near future. The statements we also went over will still be prevalent issues in the
future by the time you are able to vote, so keep them in mind.”
Procedural—
Teacher will say, “Once finished with your exit ticket, please raise your hand and I will come around and
pick up your sheets.”
References:
Gonzalez, J. (2019, January 16). The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies | Cult of Pedagogy. Cult of
Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/
Student News Daily. (2010). Conservative vs. liberal beliefs. Student News Daily.
https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/
Lesson Plan Reflection (required):
1) Highlight Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) components within your lesson.
Write a paragraph (3-5 sentences) elaborating on the intentionally planned CRT components of your
lesson. How did you leverage student assets, thinking, language and cultural backgrounds to make
learning relevant while demonstrating high expectations for all students?
At the start of the lesson to get students hooked was to kind of relate to something that may have happened to
them before. Like they may have been in a disagreement with a friend or family member over politics and we
are going to have debate similar to that, however, the one we have will be extremely respectful with no
speaking over one another or insulting another viewpoint. I also mention how many students may have both
ideologies throughout the discussion, and this shows how parts of our identity interact with one another, and
that ideology is not all black and white. Finally, I mention how these issues are prevalent within society and by
the time they are able to vote, they may be voting on these matters.
2) Italicize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) components within your lesson.
Write a paragraph (3-5 sentences) elaborating on the intentionally planned UDL components
(representation, action & expression, engagement) of your lesson. What strategies did you use to meet
the needs of ALL learners?
For engagement, I am using chunking and the philosophical chairs. Chunking helps students not get
thrown everything all at once, but a chance to discuss the statement before moving onto the next.
Philosophical chairs help keep students engaged and talking with their peers and learning how to form
their own opinions while keeping an open mind to differing perspectives. For representation, I am using
my note sheet, wait time, and modeling. My note sheet helps so students can right their side of the
debate when they may not have a chance to speak out. Wait time allows students to understand what the
statement is saying and have time to decide if they agree or disagree with it and why they do. Modeling
also helps students with understand how the debate will work by seeing it in real time instead of just
listening how I expect it to work. For action and expression, I go through the rules of the strategy, what
they will need to be doing, what side is what and where they will be moving to. I also mention what
materials they will need and what I expect from them.

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Updated January 2023

Name: Sophie Krueger

- Agree/Disagree with 6 different political statements,

Philosophical Chair Responses (Formative):

Statements within the lesson

I DO – slide 3-4 (5 min)

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

If none, teacher will move onto the next statement.

I DO – lingering thoughts (1 min)

Teacher will ask, “Any lingering statements or questions?”

YOU DO ALONE – exit ticket (2 min)

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