Eric Castro, WH 2, 1/13/16, 5th period10:45 - Eric greets students (Good morning, good to see you!). Reviews what students did ontheir own last class (first blended class of semester), reading and writing assignmentsrelated to Victorian era and todays class. Students will serve either as lawyers (proponents oropponents) or as jury members as they argue and weigh in on the question, Women shouldhave the right to vote."

Eric comments upon the paragraph that students submitted via Canvas in response to thequestion about whether they would have preferred to have lived in the Victorian era or now(all chose wisely!). He notes that topic sentences looked goo and that arguments weregenerally solid. Adds that stylistically students should avoid 1st person (already know itsyour paper) and contractions.

Todays debate: Kind of silly! This question has already been answered. Focus here instead ison HOW we do debate issues. Future topics will increase in complexity/debatability as wemove forward this semester. Those in the opponency camp will just be playing a role, as ifyou were people living in 1860-70.

Students have been assigned to 3 general groups: Lawyers (proponents and opponents) andjury. Eric ask lawyers divide into their groups (proponency and opponency) and choose/asigntheir roles (on board). One lawyer gives opening speech (1-5 reasons why), one gives closing,and remaining lawyers will ask/answer questions of the opposing side. Eric tells the jury to"just relax, that their time will come. The two lawyer teams have 10 minutes to prepare in thetwo front corners of the room, choosing roles and putting together their arguments andquestions. The jury (7 students) is seated in the back.

11:03 Eric calls students back to their seats and tells them that they will need only theirnotebooks during this argument and cross-examination phase. He explains that he willperiodically switch between Canvas, Notability, and notebooks. The reason behind this is to

"keep you focused on the task of taking notes (no iPads). Eric explains how to take notes forproponents on one side, opponents on the other. Groups will move through opening/cross-exam/closing process as outlined on the board, approximately 2 minutes per step. Groupswill receive an extra few minutes to feed closing arguments to the closing lawyer. Ericreminds students that this is fun, silly relax!"

Eric stands in the back of the room taking notes as the debate proceeds with openingarguments. Young lady representing the opponency makes several arguments about whywomens surage is unnecessary (mans vote is representative enough of entire home) andpotentially destructive (home work doesnt get done, potential for discord, domesticabuse). Young man representing the proponency gets up and primarily uses questions tomake his opening case (i.e., only half of your voices/contributions matter?) Cross-examination follows (more of the same). Eric needs to step in occasionally when lawyersargue instead of question Closing arguments.

11:20 Eric moves to front of room for some "closing remarks. He begins by asking Isvoting a right? as a modern 15-16 year old? One girl says that its more of privilege andthat a person needs to be educated to some extent. Another girl notes that "you need to be18. Eric says, Id trust you to vote only one in five voted in the last SF mayoral election,that very few people seem to be exercising their voting rights. Eric asks, Can I lose my rightto vote? A student notes that you can if you go to jail. Eric elaborates this and notes thatfor felony convictions you lose your right to vote for life (disenfranchisement). He asks ifanyone has done community service at the Pomeroy Center, and then asks, Can mentallydisabled vote? Even people with really low mental ages/IQ Answer is yes! Last extensionpiece think of other democratic countries as he lists several middle eastern countries,such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, countries where women are denied the right to vote. Whatare the practical eects of denying women the right to vote? Girl: women are oppressed.Eric: "exactly, and no way to get out of it, no voice in changing this policy. This is a coreAmerican thing, and well keep returning to this issue."

Wrap up: For Lawyers: In Canvas, Day 2, discussion board, list the 3 best arguments for yourside. For the Jury: Write a paragraph, with a good topic sentence and examples explainingwhich side made the best arguments. For Everyone: Respond to the political cartoon bypicking one question and answering in a paragraph, due today at midnight. For Fridaysclass, bring headphones for listening activity. Remainder of class (7 mins) take care of you!

11:37

Commendations:

Debate format provides an authentic way for students to demonstrate and use theirhistorical knowledge of this time period.The activitys focus on procedure with this first debate allows students to attend to theprocess and skills of identifying and articulating eective arguments in a quasi-legalformat (i.e., question of women's surage is no longer debatable).Fun and risk-inviting: fast-paced, timed format invites a spirit of play and risk-taking(no time to sweat details)

Student choice: many ways for students to choose roles, arguments, questions, etc.Also, flexibility in choosing how/when to complete work

Questions:

How did it go? Anything youd do dierently next time? > Class unfolded prettymuch as he expected. First time doing this with this group, so he still doesn't know thekids very well. Consequently, for example, some kids tended to dominate their groups,and hell note that next time he groups. The focus this first time around is on learningthe debate process, and the kids seemed to do fairly well for a first eort.How is blending this class working? How are you able to weave the WH2 curriculuminto this structure? > Since its a semester course, its Eric's second time throughwith this format. He incorporated five of these blended classes last semester, andthey seemed to work well. RE the curriculum: The WH2 curriculum needs work, andEric has never taught it. Starting from scratch and unworried about jettisoning triedand true lessons and units, the opportunity existed to experiment with this format, aformat that incorporates many of the key principles that should guide moderncurriculum/instruction design (e.g., flexibility, authenticity, choice, etc.).What was the jury doing when you told them to relax while lawyers were prepping? >Just that. They can work on anything they want to during that 10-minute stretch. Theywill have more to do after the debate (paragraph assignment tonight), just as the lawyergroup had more to do prior to the debate. Eric tries to respect their time and multipleresponsibilities by building in this kind of flexibility. They are accountable forcompleting tasks by a certain time, but they have the flexibility and choice to completethose tasks when it works best for them. This is how the real world works. WithMonday's blended session (no class meeting), students had work to do and were freeto complete it by midnight that day. They could work together, use the library (or not),to complete their work. Interestingly, all students completed their work on time,somewhat surprising this first time around. This wasnt the case the first time aroundwith last semesters sophomores.