Thank You For Debating

My speech students are currently preparing for a debate.  One class will debate the effects of technology on our lives as they seek to prove or disprove that technology is a divisive agent in our society. The other class has taken on a much more political topic in which they will address society’s sensitivity and use of politically correct terms all while utilizing their persuasion and reasoning skills. Seeking to prove whether our society is too sensitive or not, students have taken on the challenge of using facts  - not opinions or personal values - to prove their claims. While I see one class struggle with a more controversial topic, I am proud of their focus on decorum and credible research to substantiate their claims.

Structuring a debate used to be overwhelming to me. I used to struggle a great deal with formatting, roles, and timing. Over the years, a few tricks and strategies have helped take debates that could incite unproductive arguments to quality conversations that lead to respectful discussions. I have even made decorum a significant basis for grading. Bottom line, if you’re sassy, you will inevitably lose points. My overarching learning target is to teach students to actively listen to others - especially those who disagree with them. In a turbulent political climate and world in which our leaders cannot respectfully listen to perspectives that differ from their agendas, this communicative skill is more crucial than ever.

The use of technology to unify teams, create standard definitions, and share information has aided in improving the quality of the arguments that students present. Critical research tools such as the topic finder in Opposing Viewpoints (a Gale Research product), NoodleTools group projects for source sharing and citation purposes, and Google Suites products have made collaboration easy and transparent.

To prepare, students receive direct instruction on all things persuasion. They then apply the Illuminati triangle of argumentation, a phrase I use to emphasise the power of ethos, pathos, and logos, to their own lives. In addition, they read an excerpt from an excellent book Thank You For Arguing by Jay Heinrichs to further reflect on the application of persuasive techniques in our daily lives. After completing that reading, students engage in a graded discussion, apply course content their own experiences while focusing on how these skills could be useful to them in the future.

As a means of furthering the relevance to their lives, students are then given a mini-speech assignment called “Admit Me,” in which they convince a college recruiting panel to admit them to their dream schools, military positions, or other careers as applicable. Simulating a community scholarship panel that students may choose to interview within the spring to earn scholarships from local businesses, this brief speech of three minutes or less provides them with a real-world experience that helps them craft and finalize their college essays while challenging them to professionally talk about themselves in front of a large group of people. As students prepare for this speech, we spend a day on practicing interview skills, which challenges students to exhibit confidence, professional manners, and essentially sell themselves to potential employers - more real-world practice for my seniors.

After several application exercises and completing their speeches, students are tasked with collaboratively generating a debate topic that is not cliche and provides enough opportunities for both perspectives to locate credible research from which they can craft sound arguments. Every year, my students want to debate waffles vs. pancakes - why I am not sure, but their goofiness did inspire a mini persuasion activity that was a great deal of fun. When they entered the class, students were given a card on which they made a choice between waffle and pancakes and had to provide reasoning that utilized ethos, pathos, and logos. With only three minutes to prepare, students were also encouraged to research information quickly to support their causes. After students prepared, they were broken into Team Pancakes or Team Waffles. They were then asked to pair with an opponent, share their arguments, and then as a team of two, revote for pancakes or waffles. They had to agree on who had the better argument and vote for that breakfast item. Afterward, we debriefed on decorum and how they had to use listening skills to understand the opposition. These skills are so crucial in our society today and are often skills that we forget to teach explicitly. Waffles won, in case you were wondering.

To agree on a common topic, I used Padlet, Google Forms, and Dotstorming to allow students to voice their ideas, vote on which topics were most appealing, and ultimately arrive at a definitive topic. This process took four rounds of voting to narrow down the pool of topics, which were not all debatable issues. Padlet allowed them to provide the class with as many issues as possible, Google Forms allowed them to vote and reduce the number of choices anonymously, and Dotstorming helped us to take a final vote. Throughout the process, I allowed students to take the comfy chair, my swivel chair at the front of the room, and lobby for specific topics, which rechallenged them to apply their ethos, pathos, and logos as they appealed to their classmates to vote for the final issue that they thought would produce the healthiest debate.

Students then selected a side to argue. If students were in the middle or undecided, I allowed them to congregate in the middle and choose their teams to encourage balance and also ensure that students were engaged in the collaborative efforts on which they were about to embark. Once a topic and positions were selected, the group contributed to a common Google Doc on which common terms were defined, who was fulfilling each role was recorded, and claim statements were written. This document was shared with both groups and would serve as a unifying tool on which each debate was created. The format, which takes 2.5 days, was outlined for students and jobs were described. As I described each position, I provide students with more context. For example, the moderator should be a person well versed in pathos. As people who introduce the debate, they must have strong decorum skills and be able to sway the room emotionally. The question responders, who must think quickly on their feet, should be stronger impromptu speakers who can implement logos effectively and efficiently.

The debate is timed and broken into these categories:

While students are selecting roles in their two groups, I reviewed the grading criteria, which emphasized credible research, rhetoric, and decorum. Active listening is an essential part of this entire process and a skill that is being assessed during both the drafting process and during the debate. Now in their groups, students are broken into smaller squads, arguing in favor of their position, researching the counterpoint, or anticipating the arguments of the other side. They are creating documents to gather and organize evidence, and they are using my Ethos, Pathos, and Logos graphic organizer to visualize their common argument on a single page.

I am excited to witness their efforts put into practice next week. A guest judge and I will assess the students. They were allowed to vote for a teacher who was free during our class period to serve as a counterbalance to my personality and style. Both classes selected a person who will work with me analyze their arguments, evaluate their research, and ultimately choose a winning side or the debate. The ability to respectfully articulate beliefs, support our ideas with research and acknowledge our different perspectives are all skills that will make our world a more productive and civil society. Here’s to applying persuasion in our everyday lives!