Teaching Strategies
Student Choice
With large class sizes and a need for all students to be engaged in the debate, I decided to host three debates. I will pose the three debate topics and allow the students to choose the topic that they feel most compelled to debate. Student choice, especially in middle school, increases student motivation. According to Kevin Perks in Crafting Effective Choices to Motivate Students, there are three ways that student choice increases student motivation. First, it gives the students a sense of control. Instead of assigning each student to a debate topic, I will allow them to choose the one that they feel most strongly about or are most familiar with. This will hopefully lead to the students internalizing the problem and taking a firm stance on it.
Second, making choices in the classroom gives the students a sense of purpose. Allowing choice during the activity itself will help the students to capitalize on their skills and feel a sense of their purpose for participating in the activity. For the debate, six students will be placed on a team and will work together to present the group's findings and position on the motion. Three of the students will be the official speakers but all six of the students will work together to select and extend evidence, plan rebuttals, and offer help to the speakers in preparation of delivering the group's information.
Third, choice gives the students a sense of competency. Concepts in the social studies classroom are difficult for many students due to the complexity of nonfiction texts and concept vocabulary. When students are able to choose their debate topic, they will be making a judgment on which topic they feel most competent working on. This will give the students more confidence and lead to higher motivation and achievement throughout the debate. 41
Debate Format
Once the three debate topics have been selected, I will organize the students into six teams of no more than six students. These six groups represent the three affirmative and three opposition groups, one of each for the three debates. The debate format I will use is from Great Performances: Creating Classroom-Based Assessment Tasks. The teacher begins by posing the motion and allows time for the students to develop their arguments. In the groups of six, three will be speaking throughout the debate and all will be responsible for collecting evidence and helping the speaker with how the information should be delivered. The affirmative group will make the first proposition. This will be a speech containing assertions, evidence, and facts in support of the motion. After each speaker, I will allow for two minutes of debrief so that the groups have time to discredit information from the other team's support or opposition of the motion.
Next comes the first opposition speaker, this student will present arguments against the facts and evidence that was presented by the other group. They must clearly state how the other team's idea is incorrect or not best suited for Delaware. The third speaker is the second speaker from the proposition group, this student will support the original notion stated by the first proposition student. This speaker should also answer to or discredit all of the arguments made by the first opposition speaker. This speaker will present additional ideas and evidence to further persuade the audience to their idea. The fourth student to speak will be the second opposition speaker who will work to extend the case of his or her team against the motion. They should continue to refute the affirmative group's ideas and bring in new ideas to strengthen their position. Next is the opposition rebuttal where the third opposition speaker refutes the proposition group's facts and evidence. They conclude that given the evidence, or lack thereof, the opposition is the winner of the debate. The last speaker makes the proposition rebuttal. The third proposition speaker refutes the arguments from throughout the debate, extending the ideas of the other speakers. The debate is concluded when this speaker explains that based on the information presented throughout the debate, the proposition wins. 42
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