I was really nervous trying critical thinking out but I shouldn’t have been: the lesson practically ran itself. I guess you hear this from people all the time but the kids got so interested in the question: principled death or crazed suicide, that it was no trouble at all for me to keep them on track. Instead of me directing their learning, I felt almost like I was following them, responding to their insights. What’s more, the kids really enjoyed the lesson and I can tell that their learning was real because we have returned to these ideas throughout the unit and they are able to use them in other contexts. But best of all, the kids were so excited by the ideas that they asked me if we could organize and hold a debate on the topic. This was the first time I’ve seen kids take initiative like this and it felt great.