Lesson #5: Class Debate
Objectives
- Students will be able to create an argument based on the side they are representing.
- Students will be able to critique themselves and their classmates on the performance in a debate.
- Students will be able to determine cause and effect relationships of events that lead to the Civil War.
- Posters created by the students in a previous lesson.
- The classroom should be divided in half, with a solid split in the desks down the middle.
- A podium may be used to create a debate atmosphere.
- A stopwatch or timer on the Smart Board may be used to keep track of the time.
- A bell may be used to start and stop discussions.
- Discussion questions used by the teacher.
- Rubric created by the teacher.
- Student completed debate evaluation.
- Introduction – A short 5 minute review will be given on what a debate is, what the students should do during the debate, and the etiquette that goes along with having a debate. (A lesson on debating has already been completed in this unit.) The students will then be divided into their separate sides, with the posters from a previous lesson displayed on the appropriate side. The students will be shown the debate rubric and the debate evaluation on the smart board to prepare them for the debate.
- Instructional strategies – The teacher will stand/sit at the front of the room. The teacher is the mediator of the debate. The hope is that the debate will be student lead, but the teacher will have questions made in advance as a backup plan. The teacher will have one student from each side step up to the front of the room (podiums if desired). The students will then debate/be asked a question. The teacher will have a rubric for each student to grade them on their responses. The teacher will also have a timer to make sure students are kept moving and ensuring every student gets a chance to speak. Each student is allotted up to two minutes to speak. The estimated time for this portion is 50 minutes to an hour, if there are 20 students in the class. Within the debate, the students need to bring up specific arguments for Virginia and West Virginia, if this does not happen naturally, the teacher has questions to help address it.
- Summary – Once every student has participated, the teacher will have the students sum up the debate by having each side name three main arguments or events that define their position. This will be done by the teacher having each side raise their hand and calling on three people from each side. This should take approximately 5 minutes. The students will then be handed out the debate evaluation and be given 5 minutes to fill it out and turn it into the assignment bin. The students should go to their switch time activity (reading), until the entire class is ready to move on to the next scheduled lesson or activity.
- A visual learner will have the posters to use as scaffolding when answering their questions. The auditory learners will be able to use the student debate, as well as we the teacher’s questions read aloud. The visual learners also have the rubric and evaluation shown on the board, and the auditory learners have the class read them aloud. The kinesthetic learners will have had the motion of creating the posters, as well as the movement of standing in front of the class during the debate. This can also target ADD/ADHD learners as well.
- Each student will be judged on a rubric. The rubric will have a variety of categories
that can be covered from 5 (very successful) to 1 (unsuccessful). The teacher will also be able to write
comments in order to remember what each student commented on during their argument. The teacher will also be able to use the
student evaluations to help in the grading process.
- Copier to make copies of the rubric and evaluations.
- Smart
board to project the rubric and evaluations to the class.
- Timer, either on the smart board or a handheld one.
civil_war_debate_sample_questions.doc | |
File Size: | 37 kb |
File Type: | doc |
civil_war_debate_rubric.doc | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | doc |
student_debate_evaluation.doc | |
File Size: | 19 kb |
File Type: | doc |