The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.
Here are the teacher pack items for Debating an Issue:
Overview
In this experience, students work in groups on a debate topic. Each group subdivides into teams for and against the topic. Teams research the debate topic in order to plan their initial speech and rebuttal. Teams listen to and address the opposing team’s speech in order to adequately address the arguments made. The students not participating in the debate listen and take notes so they may ask the teams questions as needed. The audience votes on which team presented a more convincing argument.
Divide students into groups of 4 or 6 people (if possible), so that both the for and against teams have the same number of participants. If you have an odd number of students, you can have two students split presentation of the initial team position, or you can pair a strong student with an ELL student to work together.
The student posts throughout the experience enable you to track student progress and to ensure that the students have divided up the work appropriately. As students work with their teams, monitor their progress and intervene when necessary.
Objectives
Duration
Two class periods for preparation; 3 debates per class period for presentation.In this experience, you will be working with a team to debate a position. With your team, you will plan and develop speeches to be given during a debate in an attempt to persuade the audience to agree with the position you are arguing.
Objectives
Explain what you think it means to play devil’s advocate. If you have never heard the phrase before or do not know what it means, look at the cartoon, and then use your imagination to make a guess. Hint: Begin by defining the two words and see what connection you can make.
Divide students into their small groups. Assign each group a different debate topic.
Some possible topics are: