A principled and practical conversation as we examine specific teaching strategies and conceptual frameworks that relate to academic freedom and responsibility in the classroom. We will survey pedagogies that 1) advance students’ critical thinking skills, 2) tease apart the concepts of information, opinion, evidence and truth, 3) illuminate the differences between conversation, discussion, argument, inquiry and debate, 4) embody the intellectual virtues of humility and curiosity, and 5) reinforce the importance of being explicit about content-relevance when controversial topics are discussed.