1

Debate Across the Curriculum

Introduction for Teachers

2DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

Why

Deb

ate

Acro

ss th

e Cu

rric

ulum

? ReadingDebate is competitive reading. It forces students to read text for the purpose of winning an argument. Instead of lecturing about the causes of the American Revolution, for example, a history teacher can have a debate about which was the most significant cause. Students would have to read text to develop arguments for their cause and against the causes supported by their opponents. Students move beyond basic comprehension and must analyze and evaluate their readings and those of their opponents in order to win. The desire to win gives students the motivation to struggle with text. A study of the Milwaukee Debate League found that after one year of debate, students’ ability to read for understanding jumped three grade levels. Integration of debate into course content should produce similar results.

3

Why

Deb

ate

Acro

ss th

e Cu

rric

ulum

? WritingA well structured debate sounds like a well written essay. If a science teacher wanted students to write a paper on the impact of global warming on ecosystems and food production, he or she could have a debate on whether or not global warming was good instead of lecturing or passing out a worksheet. In the debate students would be forced to defend a main argument such as global warming is beneficial or global warming is disadvantageous; that is a thesis. When they do that, they will have to provide clear arguments; those are sub arguments or topic sentences of body paragraphs. Each of their arguments would have to be supported by evidence. Debate teaches students to defend a main argument and organize their support and evidence in a way that exactly models how we want our students to write.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

4

Why

Deb

ate

Acro

ss th

e Cu

rric

ulum

? Student EngagementDebate makes class more engaging. Debates tend to be lively and exciting, which makes class more interesting to students. Engaged students who are actively participating in their education understand the content of their education better, which translates into higher grades on quizzes and tests. Not only does debate make students more interested, but it gives teachers the organizational tools to make sure that they are including and engaging all students and drawing out measurable participation outcomes. Debate can actually be a great way to manage large classrooms. Nearly 100% of UDL debaters graduate from high school. Classroom debate offers a way to increase both student motivation and willingness to work. Just as student participation in competitive after-school debate has raised graduation rates, increased participation in engaging classroom activities like debate may well have a significant impact on graduation rates in participating schools.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

5

Why

Deb

ate

Acro

ss th

e Cu

rric

ulum

? College Preparation

A recent report from the Private Industry Council finds that this dropout crisis is not restricted to high schools. BPS students are not graduating from college at an acceptable rate, yet 95% of former UDL debaters who enter college obtain a degree. To be successful in debate, a student has to be able to listen, understand what their opponents and judges/teachers are saying, ask the right questions when they don’t understand, take notes, and synthesize all of this information. Many students graduate from BPS without those skills, making college success all but unattainable.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

6

The

Core

Ele

men

ts o

f DAC

Student EngagementDuring a DAC lesson every student is expected to take an active role in speaking, note-taking, and thinking through the clashes occurring in the debate. Teachers typically assign students groups and roles within those groups. Each group advocates for a different position, and with the group, students are assigned to do: opening statements, attack, defense, cross-examination, and closing statements. In Committee Debates, there is an added role of committee member. Because DAC lessons provide opportunities for critical thinking, clashing, working collaboratively with peers, and making connections to the real world, student engagement is typically very high during DAC lessons.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

7

The

Core

Ele

men

ts o

f DAC

Text-based EvidenceDAC lessons incorporate text as primary evidence used to support the arguments within each debate. Teachers draw on their textbooks as well as other texts—articles from magazines, newspapers, websites, and/or class notes—to scaffold each debate. Students are expected to draw evidence from these texts to strengthen and support the claims they make during debates.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

8

The

Core

Ele

men

ts o

f DAC

Note-takingTeachers can use the existing formats and routines within their classrooms for note-taking or the DAC templates, but during any debate, all students need to take notes (or flow) in order to keep up with all the arguments and clashes.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

9

The

Core

Ele

men

ts o

f DAC

AdvocacyThe teacher identifies a debate resolution (topic) for a DAC lesson. Often the resolution is an essential question or re-written content standard for the course. The idea is to develop a resolution that requires students to advocate for one position. Resolutions usually include one of the following words: should, best, worst, coolest, weirdest, most, biggest, guilty, innocent. Examples: Worded as a question: Which organic compound is the most important?Worded as a statement: A person should take a dollar now instead of two dollars next year.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

10

The

Core

Ele

men

ts o

f DAC

Structured ArgumentDAC lessons center on teaching students how to argue and use evidence in a structured format. For smaller groups of students, teachers may find it useful to use a traditional two-perspective debate model to engage a small group of students whereas larger classes of students will find multiple-perspective debates and committee debates to be a better fit. Types of debates that include structured argument: traditional two-perspective debates, multiple-perspective debates, Socratic Seminars, Committee Debates, Press Conference Debates. Regardless of the type of debate, there are also key structures to the debates: opening statements, attack, defense, cross-examination, and closing statements. These structures help students to build knowledge together within the structures of a DAC lesson.

DAC SKILLS AND CORE ELEMENTS

11USING TEXT AND FINDING EVIDENCE

Choo

sing

Text

for F

ull-l

engt

h De

bate

s TIPS FOR CHOOSING TEXTSUse your textbook and supporting materials. Whenever possible, set up students to use the sources they are already comfortable with and know how to access—regardless of individual reading level.

Multiple sources are what make debates rich. Make your units with debate, as resource and text-rich as possible. Print out short articles from the paper or from online sources. Encourage students to interview a parent or grandparent as a source. Encourage students to do research online for statistics:http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Data.shtml

Videos are texts, too! Short video clips can be use as openers as well as rich sources of information for debates.

Multiple view points need to be presented in your text choices, so that all groups have the ability to argue their point of view.

12USING TEXT AND FINDING EVIDENCE

Choo

sing

Text

for F

ull-l

engt

h De

bate

s TIPS FOR LEVELING TEXTSWhat if I have a source and I don’t know if it’s an appropriate level for my students?

Scholastic has a “Teacher Book Wizard” tool you can use to check the level of published texts and search for texts within a particular level. Another useful website is: http://www.addedbytes.com/code/readability-score/ you can paste any text here and it will analyze it for you with detailed results. What is important about leveling texts appropriately is that if you plan to have students read independently to find evidence for text, then you need to match texts with their levels. If you are going to review the text together as a class, you can use higher-level texts.

How do I know what level my students are reading at?

Go to mybps.org, and you can see the most recent SRI score (usually administered through Grade 8). You can also use sites such as http://www.lexile.com/findabook/ that will take students step-by-step through the process of figuring out their approximate reading level.

13USING TEXT AND FINDING EVIDENCEFind

ing

Evid

ence

for F

ull-l

engt

h De

bate

sFINDING EVIDENCE WITH STUDENTS

Help students consider a variety of sources of evidence…

1. Quotes (from literature, historical figures, textbooks, primary sources, news sources, ordinary people)

2. Logic (arguments that logically a prove point)

3. Facts & Statistics (dates, key people, events, numbers, tables, data)

4. Appeal to Emotion (values, common experiences, stories)

To find QUOTES, FACTS, and STATISTICS, encourage students to look into sources like textbooks, handouts from teachers, libraries, and credible online sources. Also encourage students to find FACTS in their textbooks and/or lecture notes.

For LOGIC and APPEALS TO EMOTION, encourage students to simply use their brain or their friends, family, and teachers to think deeply about an argument they want to develop in order to persuade others.

14

Debate Across the Curriculum

Introduction for Teachers

Please contact

Sarah Benis Scheier-Dolberg(617) 834-3501

sarahbsd@gmail.com