On March 25, 2023, the teachers of the Departments of Foreign Languages and German Philology held their third meeting with Stuart Carroll, a professor from the College of New Jersey. The session was dedicated to the topic of "Music, Song, and Poetry" and was aimed at developing speaking skills with students in the classroom. The teachers used the Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) method, which was developed by cooperative learning researchers David and Roger Johnson of the University of Minnesota.

The SAC method is a discussion technique that moves students beyond either/or debates to a more nuanced historical synthesis. The method provides an alternative to the “debate mindset” by shifting the goal from winning classroom discussions to understanding alternative positions and formulating historical syntheses. The SAC’s structure demands that students listen to each other in new ways and guides them into a world of complex and controversial ideas.

During the meeting, the teachers explored a question by reading about and then presenting contrasting positions. They worked in pairs and then came together in four-person teams. They helped students track their analysis and prepare their positions. Dyads then came together as a four-person team and presented their views to one another. Rather than refuting the other position, the listening dyad repeated back to the presenters what they understood. Listeners did not become presenters until the original presenters were fully satisfied that they had been heard and understood. After the sides switched, the dyads abandoned their original assignments and worked toward reaching consensus. If consensus proved unattainable, the team clarified where their differences lay.

Overall, the SAC method provided a structured and focused way to explore complex and controversial ideas. The teachers found it to be an effective way to engage students in critical thinking and to develop their speaking skills in the classroom.