Title: Teaching Advocacy in Your Classroom | Edutopia
Headings: Teaching Advocacy in Your Classroom
Teaching Advocacy in Your Classroom
By Katie Schellenberg, JD, MA

Content: I got started on my journey for advocacy by being forced to navigate an antiquated disability system at my university while I was chronically ill. It was through this marginalization experience that I was able to more profoundly empathize with those who lacked power in a given situation. You also don't need to be an "advocate" to advocate. Allow room for small advocacy and big advocacy. Encourage speaking and listening (in all forms). Speaking and listening conferences help students develop rhetoric skills and develop their persuasive voice. Ask students questions that allow them to more fully develop their critical thinking skills and their oral advocacy skills all at the same time. If time does not allow for speaking and listening conferences, engage in Socratic dialogue in your classrooms so students, again, can begin honing their spoken literacy skills to properly advocate. There is a reason that law school doesn't aim to teach content but rather teach people to think like a lawyer. Socratic dialogue encourages students to think like an advocate, like a problem solver and like an active member of his or her community.