Ann Herrera Ward: Navigating Political Discussions in Polarized Environments

One of the most challenging aspects of engaging in political discussions in a country with a bipartisan government has been the polarization of views, not only nationwide but in communiies, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, classrooms. Wisconsin is considered a “purple state,” where Democrat and Republican parties have similar levels of support among voters. This is the environment in which Ann Herrera Ward taught government in high school for twenty years. Ann earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before working in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven years. She then obtained her teaching license at Marquette University, where she also earned a master’s degree in instructional leadership. Ann was a government teacher at the high school level in Milwaukee for twenty years. While teaching, she worked on a doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction, completing her dissertation research on discussing politics in polarized environments in 2012. She went on to teach methodology and to guide and coach student teachers at Carroll University, Marquette University, and the University of Wisconsin Madison, before she retired two years ago. And she continues to finds way to share her passion for civic education, through teaching civics courses online for Wisconsin Virtual School.

In this episode, Ann describes how she persisted in teaching political discussions in the polarized environment of a purple state. She taught mock elections for years in her AP Government and AP Political Science courses despite divisions among students, including during a rare gubernatorial recall election. She describes the methods she used with high school students and taught to student teachers that foster an open classroom climate where students can learn from structured academic controversies. And she provides a variety of resources where teachers, parents, and other adults can learn more about those methods and curricula and engage in potentially polarized discussions themselves. One of the worst things we can do for young future voters, she cautions, is to make them afraid to talk about controversies, which feels like timely advice for voters of every age.

Find out more about the resources Ann mentioned regarding curriculum around structured academic controversy, which can also provide guidance for establishing discussion norms in polarized political environments:

Deliberating on a Democracy, through Constitutional Rights Foundation:

http://did.deliberating.org/about_us/index.html

https://teachdemocracy.org/programs

Street Law:

https://streetlaw.org/

Facing History and Ourselves:

https://www.facinghistory.org/

Choices, from Brown University

https://www.choices.edu/

The Political Classroom, by Diana Hess and Diana McAvoy

https://education.wisc.edu/news/the-political-classroom-holds-potential-to-reduce-partisan-divide/ 

News Literacy Project

https://newslit.org/

Inquiry-based Social Studies (developed by teachers)

https://www.inquired.org/ 

For adults: Living Room Conversations (community civics curriculum beyond high school)

https://livingroomconversations.org/

Gubernatorial recall election Ann mentioned:  https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/06/05/154384654/live-blog-wisconsin-decides-governors-fate-in-recall-vote