One of my most challenging classroom experiences was teaching Composition II students University of South Florida’s required Project 2 Rogerian argumentation essay. Students are required to convince someone who disagrees with them about a contentious social issue to see their side of the debate. Even restating the project assignment feels like a mouthful.
It was a serious challenge instructing students to pick a topic they were extremely passionate about and present it in a neutral tone throughout the essay-- all while emphasizing compromise, mutual respect, and empathy. Each student was required to go to special lengths to demonstrate a full understanding of the opposing point of view. Many of them voiced their complete frustrations with trying to understand the opposing side of their chosen social problem.
I wanted to make the project more approachable for students and have them recall a more common word or image each time they heard me state“Rogerian.” Instead, I told them to remember “compromise.” I presented an image of a handshake and still received some concerned responses. I asked them, how could you move both sides closer by using understanding, compromise, and critical thinking? Still, I got those blank stares.
Next, I tried comparing the characteristics of a typical argument to the Rogerian argument. I showed students a picture of a cat with lasers shooting out of its eyes and the caption “You Make Kitty Angry.” I got their shocked attention and wrote the two argument categories on the board. Under the “Typical Argument” category, I pointed an arrow to the angry cat and listed “Irritated, and ignited. Thinking is irrational and incapacitated.” Then, under the "Rogerian Argument” category, I listed the terms “Calm, cool, collected, and composed. Thinking is critical and clear.”
We were still making little progress, so I mirrored their concerned statement on the board. I wrote, “Why bother researching another person’s point-of-view?” I explained the goal of the assignment wasn’t to change their own opinions, but rather help them make the strongest argument possible about their position on a selected social issue. Oddly enough, I told them, by recognizing the validity of opposing claims, they could make their own arguments stronger. Then, they may get people to stop yelling and create a more sophisticated way of developing an argument. They can better succeed by giving fair representation to both sides.
Still, there were some blank stares.
That night I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could make the assignment more approachable for my two sections. I wanted students to understand the handshake symbolism—how the paper might become a contract for both opposing views.
Rather than just explaining the assignment again, I thought about making my students play active roles in their own Rogerian scenario. I decided that next class my students would take part in a zombie apocalypse.
Before class, I printed out zombie and human symbols, cut them out, and placed them face down at the front of the classroom. I had students pick up one of the slips as they entered the room. In the background I played Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
I created a slide show for that day and had my students start with a freewrite-- “If you got one whole day of being immoral, what would you do with it?” On the next slide, I told students to remember the importance of “compromise” I presented “Rogerian in Practice” and had one of the students read a fictional story about the Zombie Apocalypse. In the story, fictional Dr. Yates and his research team were attacked by an experiment gone wrong. In the two weeks that followed, many cases of infected individuals turned up. I told my students in an extremely dramatic voice, “We have joined here today to reason as human beings (and former human beings). The only way to stop this from turning into the “Zombie Apocalypse” is to act swiftly and intelligently. The fate of the human race is up to you representatives.”
Depending on their slip of paper, those who were “infected” sat on the left side of the room, while those uninfected sat on the right side. Each side had to elect a leader for representation at the front of the classroom. Students were given ten minutes to propose their side’s solution. When they were finished, the representatives came up to the front of the room and shared their group’s opening statement, point of view, and compromise—all mirroring the Rogerian structure.
On our white board, I write “Contract” in the middle, gave each group a marker, and had the representatives write the agreement together. The most fun and rewarding part of the lesson was seeing students come up with their agreement terms. In both classes, the contract took some time to develop because students kept bringing up holes in the compromise. Each time they would come to a disagreement, I reminded them of the importance of displaying strategic empathy—after all the fate of the human race was in their hands.
In the end, both sides were able to come together and create a contract that considered each side’s major viewpoints. We got so wrapped up in the contract, that we even went a few minutes over our class time—which tricking students to stay over their designated class time—wow—it’s unheard of!
Below: Our "Rogerian in Practice: Zombie Apocalypse Scenario" presentation.
It was a serious challenge instructing students to pick a topic they were extremely passionate about and present it in a neutral tone throughout the essay-- all while emphasizing compromise, mutual respect, and empathy. Each student was required to go to special lengths to demonstrate a full understanding of the opposing point of view. Many of them voiced their complete frustrations with trying to understand the opposing side of their chosen social problem.
I wanted to make the project more approachable for students and have them recall a more common word or image each time they heard me state“Rogerian.” Instead, I told them to remember “compromise.” I presented an image of a handshake and still received some concerned responses. I asked them, how could you move both sides closer by using understanding, compromise, and critical thinking? Still, I got those blank stares.
Next, I tried comparing the characteristics of a typical argument to the Rogerian argument. I showed students a picture of a cat with lasers shooting out of its eyes and the caption “You Make Kitty Angry.” I got their shocked attention and wrote the two argument categories on the board. Under the “Typical Argument” category, I pointed an arrow to the angry cat and listed “Irritated, and ignited. Thinking is irrational and incapacitated.” Then, under the "Rogerian Argument” category, I listed the terms “Calm, cool, collected, and composed. Thinking is critical and clear.”
We were still making little progress, so I mirrored their concerned statement on the board. I wrote, “Why bother researching another person’s point-of-view?” I explained the goal of the assignment wasn’t to change their own opinions, but rather help them make the strongest argument possible about their position on a selected social issue. Oddly enough, I told them, by recognizing the validity of opposing claims, they could make their own arguments stronger. Then, they may get people to stop yelling and create a more sophisticated way of developing an argument. They can better succeed by giving fair representation to both sides.
Still, there were some blank stares.
That night I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could make the assignment more approachable for my two sections. I wanted students to understand the handshake symbolism—how the paper might become a contract for both opposing views.
Rather than just explaining the assignment again, I thought about making my students play active roles in their own Rogerian scenario. I decided that next class my students would take part in a zombie apocalypse.
Before class, I printed out zombie and human symbols, cut them out, and placed them face down at the front of the classroom. I had students pick up one of the slips as they entered the room. In the background I played Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
I created a slide show for that day and had my students start with a freewrite-- “If you got one whole day of being immoral, what would you do with it?” On the next slide, I told students to remember the importance of “compromise” I presented “Rogerian in Practice” and had one of the students read a fictional story about the Zombie Apocalypse. In the story, fictional Dr. Yates and his research team were attacked by an experiment gone wrong. In the two weeks that followed, many cases of infected individuals turned up. I told my students in an extremely dramatic voice, “We have joined here today to reason as human beings (and former human beings). The only way to stop this from turning into the “Zombie Apocalypse” is to act swiftly and intelligently. The fate of the human race is up to you representatives.”
Depending on their slip of paper, those who were “infected” sat on the left side of the room, while those uninfected sat on the right side. Each side had to elect a leader for representation at the front of the classroom. Students were given ten minutes to propose their side’s solution. When they were finished, the representatives came up to the front of the room and shared their group’s opening statement, point of view, and compromise—all mirroring the Rogerian structure.
On our white board, I write “Contract” in the middle, gave each group a marker, and had the representatives write the agreement together. The most fun and rewarding part of the lesson was seeing students come up with their agreement terms. In both classes, the contract took some time to develop because students kept bringing up holes in the compromise. Each time they would come to a disagreement, I reminded them of the importance of displaying strategic empathy—after all the fate of the human race was in their hands.
In the end, both sides were able to come together and create a contract that considered each side’s major viewpoints. We got so wrapped up in the contract, that we even went a few minutes over our class time—which tricking students to stay over their designated class time—wow—it’s unheard of!
Below: Our "Rogerian in Practice: Zombie Apocalypse Scenario" presentation.