In the following lesson, I led my students through an exploration of two contradictory perspectives.

I use the term perspective to mean a worldview or philosophical mindset rather than an opinion on a certain issue; perspectives shape one's opinions. The two perspectives we examined were the philosophies of Judicial estraint and Judicial !ctivism. "y goal was not only to cover standard ##$%&'c, (ut rather to expose students to the grey area in which two opposite views are (oth valid. I presented the terms to the students and as)ed them to (rea) the them apart to decipher their meanings. #tudents, wor)ing in pairs, had an easy time here. *ext, we reconvened as a class and loo)ed up the definitions of +udicial, restraint, and activism in online dictionaries that I pro+ected on the wall. I then called on students to provide possi(le definitions for +udicial restraint and +udicial activism. I decided to use this techni,ue (ecause I wanted everyone to have a wor)a(le )nowledge of the philosophies' core meanings. If students could remem(er the dictionary activity, they would (e more li)ely to remem(er the definitions of the two perspectives. *ext, I spent two minutes lecturing a(out each perspective and their (asic tenants. -pon completion of these concise lectures, I was done presenting new information to the class. In order to ensure that the students were prepared to explore these perspectives, I had the class wor) together on a ver(al formative assessment. I as)ed for the definitions and the sources of inspiration of each philosophy. #tudents responded enthusiastically and critically to my ,uestions. In hind sight, I thin) that I should have structured this formative assessment differently in order to gauge all of my students' understandings instead of +ust my more vocal pupils. !fter deciding we were ready to apply our new )nowledge, I presented a video document, a clip from an old *ic)elodeon show .availa(le (elow/, and as)ed students to assess which philosophy the +udge em(raced. I decided to use this clip (ecause it caricatured one of the perspectives, allowing for the class to clearly see the philosophy's distinguishing traits. #tudents correctly responded with +udicial activism and defended their case (y citing evidence from the video document. 0oo)ing (ac), I wish that I had as)ed students to imagine what a caricature of +udicial restraint would loo) li)e. This would have (een an opportunity for my students to use synthesis, an upper1level thin)ing s)ill, to process the material. *ext, I had students participate in a $orners of $ontention activity. I pro+ected a written prompt on the wall and read it out loud. #tudents were expected to wal) to the corner whose la(el (est represents their thoughts a(out the prompt .strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree/. They tal)ed a(out their thoughts with the others in their corners, and after two minutes, a spo)esperson summari2ed what each group discussed in front of the class. I would then pro+ect another prompt, and the class repeated the process. !t the end, volunteers assessed how adherents of each perspective would have responded to each prompt. I chose to use this format (ecause I wanted students to understand how a specific perspective can shape one's opinion on multiple issues. I also hoped students would venture towards metacognition and consider what perspective they personally em(raced. I (elieve I was successful on (oth counts. "y main goal for this activity was to display the two contradictory perspectives at wor). 3y emphasi2ing that (oth were valid in their own ways, I ushered students into a grey area. %rey areas are imperative in social studies classrooms (ecause students are forced to intellectually stretch themselves and (ecause they simulate the real world. 3y witnessing their peers repeatedly express their personal stances on specific ,uestions, students (egan to reali2e that it was alright for there to never (e a right answer. This understanding will come in useful when students are thrust out of safe classrooms and into a confusing, grey world after graduation. In hind sight, I should have made the corners activity more of an open forum. 3y limiting each group to a single spo)esperson, I feel as though I stifled opportunities for dialogue (etween newly self1 aware adherents of the two mindsets. This dialogue could have opened students' eyes even further to the a(ility of multiple perspectives to co1exist and interact.