Debate Preparation
Nicholas establishes expectations and debate routines with his students. Nicholas explains how student groups prepare for the class debate and he notices that different groups prepare for the debate in different ways.
- How might you structure this type of preparation time to encourage each student to engage in an effective debate?
- How could you modify or adjust this strategy to meet the needs of your students?
- Which other methods could you use to group the students for the debate?
After we have clearly established the expectations and clarified the process for the day, I give each group five minutes to get themselves prepared and organized to present their debates for the rest of the class. It is interesting to watch because there were a few different approaches taken during the planning and development process of the two days prior. Some groups had both positions of their assigned topic do research and planning together as a whole, while others had the different positions on the topic research and plan exclusively of one another. When the groups are preparing at this point in the lesson today, there are small indicators of these differences.