Submitted by: Dan Dickey and Bonnye Gordon
School: Deep Run High School
Summary
U.S. History students create questions that they will debate. The questions come from topics presented by the teacher. Each student creates an open-ended question for each topic and submits it to the teacher. The teacher then chooses the best and most debatable questions (attachment A). The questions are then placed into a poll form in Google docs. The poll is given twice, once before the debate and once after. The polls measure the feelings in the class for each topic, and the post-debate poll serves as a measurement of persuasion for each group on their debate.
Groups of four students are formed, with two students arguing the pro and two arguing the con. Each student must come up with at least three facts to support their argument. The group will have a total of 4-6 minutes for their debate. The debate will be video-taped and used for numerous reasons: 1) Teacher evaluation of each debate, 2) peer evaluations and self-evaluation of each student’s work.
TIPC Ratings
This lesson is approaching in that topics were selected to research for debate and various websites and publications were recommended for their use (ABC Clio, One Search, and various books.) Students needed to evaluate material to be certain that it supported their position in the debate. Analyzed information gathered was written on notecards to assist students when debating.
This lesson is approaching as students worked in groups to prepare for debates on controversial topics in U. S. History. To facilitate communication and critical thinking, a pre-debate poll was administered to determine a student’s opinion on a given topic (using Google Docs.) To further emphasized communication beyond the classroom, a link to the debate video was submitted for other U.S. History students to view at Deep Run High School and at Caroline County High School. Using Google Docs, a post-debate poll was administered to determine a student’s opinion on a given topic. Using Google Docs pie graphs, students opinions were compared to determine if the debates persuaded their opinions to change.
This lesson is approaching because in researching and analyzing their topic for debate, students anticipated questions or statements that the opposing team may use. Students were required to justify their statements with facts and to respond to arguments posed. Additionally students had to contemplate their viewpoints on the topics before and after their teammates debates.
This lesson is approaching as students were required to read, research and come up with facts that would support their position in the debate. Students also were encouraged to predict what strategies the opposing team might use in the debate and to be prepared for them. Although, students may not be in agreement with the position they were given to debate, they had to defend their position with substantive information and persuade others to support their position. As evidenced by the use of Google Docs, the audience was persuaded to change their point. In short students had to be creative in their research and compelling in their presentation and debating skills in order to create meaningful arguments.
Student Artifact
Download Files
- Henrico 21 Lesson Plan
- List of Debate Topics
- Student Generated Debate Questions
- Links to Pre- and Post- Debate Polls
- Rubric For Mini-Debates
