Teaching Debate

Common Vocabulary

Good teachers work to build a common vocabulary for instruction. But it's not always obvious how to do this. On Wednesday, I learned a great technique for teaching one element of common vocabulary for writing instruction. When students are developing writing skills, they often make the mistake of taking a writer-based perspective rather than a reading-based perspective. In other words, they're writing for themselves (no surprise, as many of our students have not yet had their own Copernican Revolution)- in shorthand, or with unclear connections between thoughts. The text makes perfect sense to the writer, but the reader struggles to make heads or tails of it. This is a problem for effective writing, so students need to understand the difference between reader-based writing and writer-based writing.

But it doesn't really work to just teach those concepts. We've got to have a good example. So here's one, courtesy of DeLacy Ganley, the Director of Curriculum and Advancement at Claremont Graduate University's Teacher Education Program.

DeLacy begins by asking one of the teachers in the audience if she'd be willing to do some grocery shopping for DeLacy, because she's just not feeling that well. The teacher agrees. DeLacy puts this list up on the board:

The following conversation ensues between DeLacy and the group of teachers (who are from Jordan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan - part 2 of our exchange program this year):

DeLacy: "So, the first thing on my list is fruit. What are you going to buy for me?"
Teachers: "Bananas?"
DeLacy: "Ugh! I hate bananas!"
Teachers: "Apples!"
DeLacy: "Red or green?"
Teachers: "Red."
DeLacy: "But I wanted green! Okay, how about the milk? Are you going to get regular or low-fat?"
Teachers: "Regular."
DeLacy: "How big?"
Teachers: "A liter."
DeLacy: "But I wanted a gallon! How about T.P.? What's that?"
Teachers: "Toilet paper?"
DeLacy: "No! I wanted toothpaste!"

The lesson here, of course, is that this list is writer-centered. If DeLacy had taken the list to the store, she would have known to buy green apples, a gallon of regular milk, toothpaste, etc. But the reader doesn't have the same information, and so is left to guess at the author's intention. Or fill in the blanks. A reader-center list would be different. It might have more details. It might also be better organized - fruit and vegetables might be next to each other on the list (as they are in the store), to make the trip to the store more convenient for the shopper.

What I like about this example is that it illustrates the concepts of writer-centered and reader-centered writing without simply teaching the terms a-contextually. Nicely done!

Sequencing for a debate unit or class

It's very rare that teachers get the opportunity to teach a debating class, at least in most middle schools. Most teachers who integrate debating will have a debate assignment or unit, varying in length from a week or so to a few weeks. There's a smattering of good commentary on this practice online -- check out Aquiram's reflections on The Great Debate and The Reflective Teacher's discussion on using debate in class, which you can read here.

A longer unit is possible for some teachers (depending on what subject you teach, of course, and how good you are at all the basic stuff like incorporating vocabulary and reading instruction into content learning (come on, is there really any other kind?) and process-based instruction that activities like debate require.

Over the last year or so, I've worked with a small number of teachers to develop ideas on sequencing for a twelve-week unit. I wanted to share it on the website for comment and revision. These things tend to work best if more people try them out and tinker - a kind of open-source unit plan, if you will. You can download it here. Comments, suggestions, and reports from the field are encouraged, either on this blog or via backchannel to me (kate[dot]shuster[at]claremontmckenna.edu).

The unit is designed for 60 days, with three debates for all students. It's annotated with relevant California English-Language Arts content standards in one column. If you're not in California, you can ignore these or match them up with your own content standards. Depending on the kind of class you're in and the topics you choose, you can add more standards met if you're choosing topics from the curriculum. (NOTE: to decode the standards abbreviations, CA's ELA standards are online here.)

The unit would probably be most easily accomplished using Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP) materials, including readings from our textbook Speak Out! Debate and Public Speaking in the Middle Grades, or the Teachers' Guide on our website, but could certainly be adapted for whatever format you wanted to use. I'm partial to the six-person debate format, as it involves a lot of students without getting too out of hand. It's also short enough for a class period, at 26 minutes, and dynamic enough for an audience to enjoy and pay attention to (though this is probably stretching it for most of the students we serve...).

I suggest that the unit be taught with a portfolio assessment system, which I discussed a few months ago here. You could use one topic, repeated three times, or several topics (I prefer this approach). The first topic should be easier. For ideas for debate topics for middle school students, we've got a giant list of topics we've used in competition here, and a list of topics synced with California's Social Science Content Standards here. Vocabulary can be taught as part of topic instruction and context-building for reading and research. I've included a persuasive essay as a final assignment - this probably won't work if you haven't done persuasive essays before, but the idea is for students to take a position on one of the topics and write a short essay in support of their opinion on that issue.

As for what the other students do while debates are happening, I suggest that some students be assigned to adjudicate each debate. They should be required to submit ballots and flowsheets as part of reporting for the adjudication part of the unit.

I suspect there will be much more discussion about the unit as people explore it, so I'll resist the temptation to go on and on about it. One teacher who used this last spring felt like it was too short. Another used it this fall and felt like it was impossibly long for the time allotted. So, as always, actual results may vary...

Tennis Debates

When I was in Japan about 10 years ago, I visited an English class where the students were learning English using debating. The teacher had broken up the students into small groups of seven, and everyone was talking at once. The teacher explained to me that the students were engaged in "tennis debates."

I've used this exercise on a number of occasions in middle school, high school, and college classes. It works well - the competition element creates interest for students, and you can even "seed" a bracket where students who win their table get to participate in another round against another team. Students that are eliminated from competition seem to really enjoy watching and refereeing subsequent games. I've uploaded an instruction sheet for students here. It is a guide for students participating in the debates, and includes the rules and instructions for referees.

Basically, the teacher uses tennis debates either:

• As a review and practice opportunity for work students have been doing already on a given topic, in which case topics are chosen from the students' previous and preparatory work and notes on the issue; or
• As an opportunity to practice impromptu argument, choosing easy and fun topics like "Sega is better than Shakespeare," or "Superman is better than Batman."

Students are sorted into teams (either assigned or chosen; whatever you prefer), and each team is given a number. Teams go to the table, already set up, where their number is. Here's a graphic showing the layout and starting procedure. As you can see, each team of three sits on one side of the table. A student designated as "referee" sits on the end of the table. Before the topic is announced, the referee flips a coin to decide which team will be pro and which will be con.

(ADVICE: Write simple topics for this, otherwise students will get too confused. That holds for all classroom debating exercises. To see more about how to write a topic, read this article on our website.)

When that's decided, announce the topic and write it on the board. Teams have 10 (or more, if you like) minutes to work together with their notes to come up with arguments for their side and answers to arguments the other side might make.

After the preparation period is over, the Pro side "serves" with an argument for their side. Con "returns" by refuting the argument. Pro "returns" by refuting that argument. And so on. Until someone drops the ball. (ADVICE: Often it helps to actually have a "ball" for each table so it's easier to keep track of who's talking)

A team is said to drop the ball when any of the following rules have been violated:

• Players must respond within 15 seconds.
• Players must not repeat a point that has already been made without adding anything new.
• Players must use A-R-E  to construct their arguments.
• Players must use 4-Step Refutation when answering arguments from the other side.

More information on ARE and 4-Step Refutation is available here, here, and here (that last one refers to our Teacher's Guide, which is about 11 MB). You don't have to include these rules, but it helps to give everyone a way to practice making complete arguments and following refutation procedures.

Other rules include the following:

• A team can only score a point when they have “served” the ball and the other side drops the ball.
• If the team that serves drops the ball, the serve goes to the other side.
• The serve rotates between players. Once you’ve served, the next serve for your team goes to the player on your left.

It's a fun exercise. Students really like it, and it's a great way to do whole class debating without having to manage dozens of participants in a single debate.

The five-finger rule

Not directly related to debate, but...

I recently read Reading Don't Fix No Chevys, by Michael Smith & Jeffrey Wilhelm. I liked a lot of things about the book, as I'm a fan of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (that's pronounced "chick-sent-me-high," according to someone I know who knows him), and I appreciate the ways that Smith & Wilhelm link their work to the ideas of "flow" and "optimal challenge."

Something that stuck with me from the book was the idea of the "five finger rule." Basically, this is a way for students to identify texts that may be a bit above their reading level- they open a text to a page, and raise a finger every time they encounter a word on that page that they don't know and can't figure out from the context. If they raise five fingers on that page, then the book (or article, or whatever) may be too far above their reading level. This was used in elementary school classes, according to the authors, but could be of some use in the middle grades, as well.

When students are doing independent or guided research on current events for debating, they will often encounter texts that are pretty far above their reading level. Of course, we want them to challenge themselves, but we also don't want them to get frustrated and stop reading. Optimal challenge (pretty hard, but not too hard- think of it as a Goldilocks principle) is best. So, the "five finger rule" struck me as a guideline we could give to students to choose texts that are not too challenging. There should be a companion rule to help them select texts that are a little challenging- perhaps a "two finger rule?"

Good book, bad book

I spent some time in a charter school in Los Angeles last week. While I was there, I observed a talented young teacher struggling to engage a class of 10th graders who weren't excited about the novel they were reading. The book was Bless Me, Ultima - a great book, to be sure, but one that about half of the students plainly did not like or find particularly engaging. After class, I met with the teacher to talk about strategies for engaging the students. We talked about some different tactics, but one that we decided to try was an exercise called "Good Book, Bad Book."

The idea is to have students make an argument about the book using the ARE method (discussed here last week, encouraging them to reflect on their impressions of the book so far from a "bigger picture" perspective. It's a simple exercise, but one works to engage students in discussion and debate about the merit of a particular text. I've uploaded the instructions and worksheet here as a Word document.

Now, this may seem like a dangerous strategy- but it's not as if you're putting the book up for a vote; rather, you're trying to get students to reflect on the characteristics of a good or bad book, and to have an informed opinion (For example, if a student thinks the book is boring, they have to produce evidence from the text to support their opinion).

I like this little exercise- it can be repeated periodically through a novel, and is a way to scaffold a book review assignment or other critical reading exercise where students use these worksheets as a way to develop criteria for analysis of texts. It's also an example of how you can integrate argumentation into the reading of literature, if only in a small way.

Debate - It's misunderstood

Many teachers believe that debating is something you do once, or a few times, and then it's done. Or, alternately, they never have debates in class at all - thinking that there's no time (thank you, pacing guide!), or that they don't have the necessary expertise.

I'd like to suggest that there's nothing intrinsically valuable about debate. Now, this may come as somewhat of a surprise given that I administer a debating website, direct a gigantic debating program, and have written a bunch of books about debating. When I say that there's nothing intrinsically good about debate, it's just like saying that there's nothing intrinsically good about writing a research paper.

What's good about writing a research paper is the way that the project exercises a complementary set of component skills, such as researching, summarizing, outlining, constructing a thesis statement, making subjects and verbs agree, and so forth -- it's a convenient (if difficult) way to have students work on all of those different skills at the same time - the mental equivalent of cross training.

Debate works in the same way. Done correctly, it builds research competence, media literacy, reading comprehension, argument literacy (more on that one in just a second), evidence evaluation, summarization and outlining, public speaking, conflict resolution, civil discussion skills, critical thinking, and note taking. I've even made a handy chart that details these skills in relation to our program. You can download it by clicking here.

Done poorly, debate provides a mixed bag- people yelling at each other, students reading from scripts that they didn't write, and so forth. Students need the skills associated with debate first. And if they learn those, even if you don't have time to have a series of classroom debates, you'll still have taught the basics.

I think there are three essential, basic debate skills:

1. Argumentation
2. Refutation
3. Note taking

Note that public speaking and listening don't appear in this list. That's because listening is part of refutation and note taking, so I don't list it separately. I prefer to list the way it's operationalized. As for public speaking, I've found that students master speaking more effectively if they have the tools and content for their speeches- like most of us, they're more comfortable speaking if they know what to do, and speaking ability builds over time with debating. I think teaching content first is the best way to teach speaking, especially with students who are nervous about speaking (like most normal adults) or who don't speak English as their home language.

So, a few notes about each of these skills:

1. Argumentation. The easy way to teach this is to reinforce it across all lessons by teaching the ARE method. Students learn that an argument is an assertion, reasoning, and evidence. An assertion is a statement that something is so. Reasoning is the "because" part of an argument, and evidence is the "for example" part, that supports the reasoning. It's used to validate or support the reasoning.

2. Refutation. We teach a 4-step refutation model. Step one is "They say..." That's the part where you refer to the argument you're about to answer. Step two is "But..." That's where you make your counter. You can make a counter-assertion ("They say the Backstreet Boys are a good band, but they're not.") or attack the reasoning or evidence that's been offered ("They say that the Backstreet Boys are a good band because they're popular, but just because you're popular, that doesn't mean you're good."). Step three is "Because..." This is the part where you offer reasoning (and evidence, if possible!) to support your counter-argument. Step four is "Therefore..." This is where you make your conclusion - essential summarization. Let's look at an example:
Butyou don't need to actually have debates in class to teach debating.
Because you can teach the skills associated with debate, like argumentation, in any unit.
Therefore there's plenty of time to teach debate in class.

So easy!

3. Note-taking. This bit is essential to debating as well as to success in school. But students aren't (let face it) very good at taking notes. As my colleague Anthony Gibson has noted, teachers are always saying that students need to take notes, but there are very few situations in school where students actually need to use the notes for something- even when the teacher says the notes will help on the test, they often don't. One of the many nice things about debate as a teaching strategy is that it creates an incentive system for students to take notes. The better their notes, the more they'll win. As you can see with the refutation method above, students are expected to refer specifically to the argument they're about to answer. They need to have it written down to answer it. As debates get more complex, with multiple students in the discussion, students need better skills to track arguments as they develop (or don't) in discussions and debates. So, they learn to be better note-takers.

The problem is that conventional ways we take notes (and even Cornell Notes) are ineffective for debating and the give and take of ideas in a dynamic discussion. That's why graphic organizers with multiple columns are essential for taking notes in a situation where ideas are being exchanged, developed, and refuted. In the MSPDP, we have students (and judges) learn to use a "flowsheet," which is a multi-column organizer. You can download an example here. Notice that speeches are given their own columns. To see some that are filled out, you'll have to download our Teachers' Guide (free but gigantic, at 11 MB) here. That link takes you to the page it's on, not the document itself, by the way.

In my next post, I'll talk about some formats for whole-class debate and apply these ideas to them. But even if you never "have a debate" in your class, you can still add some value to your classroom by taking different parts of debating and integrating them into everyday instruction.

Portfolios for the Debate Classroom

Debating multiple topics from multiple perspectives is an integral part of the Middle School Public Debate Program. It’s part of how we try to build interdisciplinary and critical thinking skills in students. But this doesn’t just happen on its own; students need to engage in reflection and analysis while preparing to debate, during debates, and after debates. And teachers need to find a way to help students meaningfully organize their work – helping students to develop methods for approaching issues as well as helping to stem the inevitable tide of wrinkled and disorganized papers that students too often pull from their backpacks (I saw this recently from a college student, and it wasn’t pretty).

      

Portfolio organization for the debate classroom or club is a useful idea for teachers. Many teachers I work with already mandate that students keep their notes in a three-ring binder. This is great for organizing at tournaments, and it’s also great for when students go to high school – if students debate 20-30 topics a year for just two years, when they go to high school they’ll have a binder with articles and notes on 40-60 issues. Very useful!

 

I tried this portfolio concept myself this summer with a small group of students, and found that it worked well to organize their thinking and note-taking. The idea is that portfolios (binders, really- let’s not kid ourselves) are a convenient way for students to organize all their debate preparation and reflection- articles they read, notes they take, flowsheets they generate in debates, critiques of peer performance they produce, and so forth. Each topic can have its own tab, and an organizing device for each tab like a “Topic Resource Checklist.”

   

I’ve uploaded a version of this here, and included it in the “Resources” section of our website as a Word document so that teachers can download it and modify it as necessary. Basically, what’s included in this document are the following handouts/organizers:

   

• The Topic Resource Checklist page, which is a kind of index page for each tab      of the binder. It’s got a place for students and teachers to sign when      completed.
• An      Issue Analysis form for students to do a “pre-think” on a topic.
• A Research      Log, for students to report on research they’ve done.
• A Prop      and Opp T-Chart, for initial organization of ideas.
• A      Reflection Paper assignment (there is a rubric for this somewhere- when I      find it, I’ll post it as well).

   

Other stuff is not included in this document, like flowsheet templates (available in the Resources section of our website) and ballots (ditto). Hopefully these forms and the general “organizing” principle will be useful to teachers.

Thoughts on Current Issues in the Classroom

A lot of teachers that I talk to are interested in doing more to integrate discussion of current events into their classrooms, but aren't sure how to do it. Some feel constrained by district-mandated pacing guides that squeeze out this kind of content, while others feel that they wouldn't even know where to start with such a project. Still others are concerned with the controversies that might be created by including particular current events in their classrooms.

Fortunately, like a lot of curriculum changes, this kind of move can be accomplished on an incremental basis, allowing teachers to experiment with different approaches. For example, teachers can integrate current events discussion into a unit plan, using examination of current events as a way to reflect on the past (as in a social studies or history classroom) or as a way to teach basic literacy skills through reading, writing, and speaking about nonfiction texts (as in a language arts classroom). Teachers can effectively use current and controversial events instruction to address a wide variety of standards and even mandated content, but this often means that they must work carefully and incrementally to integrate this new approach in their classrooms.

Part of the problem, particularly in the middle grades, is that the average student has very little information about the world, particularly about current events. Many adults find this frustrating and perplexing, and there is a temptation to therefore omit current and controversial events instruction entirely. This is a missed opportunity to teach the component parts of current events in a way that will help students understand not only the issue in question, but also other issues that they will encounter later in life.

Teachers can plan for current events instruction just like they might plan to teach a novel or any other content. What follows are five brief suggestions for planning, as well as some resources for finding information to use in class.

1. Select an issue. Try to choose current events that have meaningful connections to other course content - for example, if you are reading Farewell to Manzanar, you might consider following this with a short unit on Guantanamo Bay, encouraging students to compare and contrast the different decisions to detain individuals. Alternately, you might use materials to explore the broader issue of civil liberties in wartime, such as the materials available here, on the outstanding Justice Learning site.

If you're just starting to integrate current events instruction into your classroom, start with current events that are not super-controversial. If you are determined to teach "flashpoint" type issues, such as gay marriage or stem cell research, it is best to start small so you have a handle on how to handle controversies as they arise in class. Be aware that including "flashpoint" type issues (anything having to do with religion, usually, or sexuality, but there are lots of issues that many might find scandalous to include in a classroom) in your classroom may create controversy or get you in trouble. Keep in mind that you're trying to teach students how to be effective democratic citizens, and that it's okay to start off with more manageable issues as "training wheels."

2. Break the issue into parts. Consider the component parts of the issue, and consider how you might effectively sequence those parts in a classroom to maximize uunderstanding. Then you can sequence your unit appropriately and choose materials to assist in learning key concepts. For this, it helps to think like a middle school student. There are a lot of ideas about the world that adults take for granted, but which are pretty opaque to your average 7th or 8th grader. Consider this example, from the outstanding educational website produced by the World Bank Group.

Trade allows people to buy goods and services that are not produced in their own countries. In addition, the money countries receive from exports helps determine how much they can afford to spend on imports and how much they can borrow from abroad.

In the site itself, clicking on "exports" and "imports" takes you glossary definitions, which is helpful. But even this short explanation of the function of trade may be difficult for students to process without examples. This is an opportunity for scaffolding, so a teacher could build in a trade simulation or other practical example for students to demonstrate mastery of the concepts here.

3. Build a list of relevant vocabulary words associated with the issue. Don't forget to include vocabulary instruction as part of your current events instruction, just as you would any other instructional topics. Keep a running list from readings and research, and teach those words just as you would any other vocabulary words.

4. Pick readings that will be accessible and also challenging. For many teachers, this is one of the hardest parts of current events instruction. You'll have to read a lot of articles, chapters, and other materials in order to find readings that will represent a balanced and informed set of perspectives. But, the upside is that you'll only need a few readings (normally) to create a meaningful context for students to be able to discuss the issue. I think it's useful to teach students how to read a newspaper editorial as part of this process. In a subsequent post, I'll talk more about how to teach editorials in class, and give some examples.

5. Have a culminating activity. There should be something that students do with their information about the event. This could be writing an informative or persuasive essay, working on a group presentation or project, engaging in roundtable discussions or debates, or any other ending activity. Perhaps students could write letters to the editor of a newspaper stating their position on an issue, or write responses to an editorial that they read, agreeing or disagreeing with the author.

To help, I've included this short list of some of my favorite websites for gathering information.
Sites for information about the world
www.justicelearning.com
www.nationmaster.com (http://www.nationmaster.com/lps/intro.php)
www.understandingusa.com
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/docnews.html
http://www.findlaw.com/
http://firstgov.gov/
http://youthink.worldbank.org/

Resources for accenting lesson or unit plans
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
http://www.educationindex.com/education_resources.html
http://landmark-project.com/index.php
http://21cif.imsa.edu/lesson_browse