Learning to Talk and Listen in Elementary Social Studies: Exploring a Third-Grade Teacher’s Decision to Use Classroom Talk for Community Building

With mounting polarization in the political arena and media sources, trust of one’s neighbors and of teachers are facing increasing strain in the United States. Furthermore, teachers continue to struggle with how to teach high-quality, nuanced, social studies, especially in the elementary setting, where time and resources for social studies has been depleting for decades (e.g., Fitchett et al., 2014; Heafner, 2018). Within this context, this study presents a case of a third-grade teacher who chooses to use discursive talk as a way to support high-quality social studies and to build community in her classroom. Findings suggest that classroom talk has the potential to help young children learn to talk and listen when the curriculum provides content support and that talking and listening can help build a classroom of mutual concern. This suggests helping young people learn to talk and listen to one another can help support the kind of open-mindedness and perspective-taking that is missing in a era of polarization.