In recent years, social studies teachers have described feeling startled and unprepared to navigate politically fraught conversations in the classroom alongside the vitriolic political bullying they also reported. Just as young people need space to practice civic skills, so too do teachers need space to practice pedagogical skills. This article examines how properly constructed simulations can enable teachers to practice pedagogical skills for leading classroom discussions on politically fraught issues. The authors describe how they were able to study this by using mixed-reality simulation of controversial issue discussions (CIDs), five digital student avatars in a digital classroom were operated and voiced by a professional simulation specialist who could see, hear, and make the avatars speak directly to the teacher and one another.