Teacher Kathy's Corner: Debate

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Winter Week: Debates, Tapping and Catching Up

My 8th grade ESL classes will continue following their books. A class is on schedule to finish Unit 4 before the CNY holiday.

My 9th grade Social Studies classes are a little bit more varied in pace. The faster classes (301) already finished their Mental Health readings on Self- Harm and Bullying, as well as the Group Role Playing Activity. The other classes will catch up for winter week, so we can all begin the next semester on the same page.

For those faster classes, we can try a class debate. The last time I facilitated a proper debate was with my first 9th grade social studies class 3 years ago and many of my materials are no longer available. First, I need to introduce the concept of debate basics, have the class choose a topic and then break up into teams. As a prep exercise, we can break into teams of two, one student the affirmative, the other the negative and see how they can debate in twos. Then the following class, I will follow the Lincoln-Douglas format.

Several debate topics to choose from:

Electroshock Treatment (ECT) for kids: Therapy or Abuse?

"The treatment is controversial, and in the early years of the therapy (1930's), patients were not given anesthesia, and high levels of electricity were used.

Today, the therapy is safer, because patients receive anesthesia and electricity doses are much more controlled, according to the Mayo Clinic. Still, the treatment can impair short-term memory and, in rare cases, cause heart problems.

Because of these potential side effects, ECT should never be used as a first-line therapy. But, for people who have tried other treatments and have seen no improvement in their symptoms, the treatment can be very effective: 75 to 85 percent of patients who receive ECT recover from their symptoms, experts say.

ECT is used to treat patients who are severely depressed and at risk for suicide, and in some cases, it is used to treat schizophrenia and severe mania." (See Live Science)

Marijuana Legalization in Taiwan
Death Penalty
4 Day Work-Week
Gay Marriage

They will use this mindmap to prep their ideas. Unfortunately, Scribd removed my debate ppt, that made it easy for Chinese speakers to follow the Lincoln Douglas format. Luckily, the internet is full of such resources, so I am looking for one I might use and tweek.

If there is still time, or maybe not enough time for a debate, I will have the class try "Tapping" as an exercise/life skill to calm down anxiety.

RESOURCES:
Teacher's Debate Guide
Everything You Need For First Class Debate

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Debates in 301

At the end of our unit on Colonialism I would like my 301 class to try a debate. The topic will be whether Taiwan should remove portraits of Sun Yat-sen from schools and government buildings which is currently being debated by Taiwanese legislators [read more in English here]. The classes provided their own controversial issue they feel strongly about. One class chose capital punishment and the other nuclear energy. I am looking forward to their results. We already went to the computer lab to find sources and I am surprised they never had to do this in any of their classes before. Googling information seemed insurmountably more difficult than it really is. I hope I can give them more research practice in the future.

They will use a mind map to outline their argument's points with sources.

In late February, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan proposed an amendment with the support of twenty other lawmakers that would require the removal of portraits of Sun Yat-sen孫中山 from government buildings and schools. The proposal may presage future efforts within the DPP-majority legislature to remove Chinese historical and cultural influences on the island, which could complicate cross-Strait relations under incoming DPP president Tsai Ing-wen.

[read more in Mandarin here]

The class will follow the standard Lincoln Douglas format. (Watch a High School Debate Example)

I will arrange the class into groups of six. Each group will represent one side -- the affirmative or negative. Each team will include students who assume the following roles:

Speech 1: The first affirmative speaker introduces the topic and states the affirmative team's first argument.

Speech 2: The first negative speaker states their first argument.

Speech 3: The second affirmative speaker states their second argument.

Speech 4: The second negative speaker states their second argument.

Give a 5-10 minute break for each team to prepare their rebuttal speech.

Speech 5: The negative team states two rebuttals for the affirmative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.

Speech 6: The affirmative team states two rebuttals for the negative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.