Mainely Middle
Journal of the Maine Association for Middle
Level Education
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2000/2001 |
The Great DebateHow to successfully implement the art of constructive argument into a middle school curriculum
The mother of an eighth grade boy, who had missed a total of thirty-six days during his seventh grade year because he didn't like school, comes to you, his teacher, and says, "I don't know what you are doing, but please don't stop." She then expresses her thanks to you for the fact that her son, who has never been a reader, can't wait to come back to school to participate in a debate over a short story that he has read in your classroom. As a teacher, you feel pride and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. The mother goes on to tell you that after having had a conversation with her son, he told her that, "The other kids used to think that I was dumb until they got to hear me ask questions during our debate." The reality of this situation is clear, classroom debates offer an open, yet organized forum for students to argue constructively about certain topics. Feelings of accomplishment, pride and self-respect are experienced not only by the teacher, but by the students for having been part of a team, and for having contributed responsibly to a group as an individual. The benefits of classroom debate are immeasurable. Middle School students love to argue. They like to argue among themselves, with their parents, with their siblings, with their teachers, you name it. Young teenagers are at a stage in their development when they are searching for meaning and identity in just about every area of their lives. Their attempt to create controversy is a natural way for them to develop an understanding about where they stand on important issues. As a result of implementing debates into my curriculum, I have had the privilege of watching students grow as learners, but even more importantly, as young adults who are trying to understand exactly where they fit into this world. In an age when meeting district standards and the Maine Learning Results is a top priority, this characteristic presents an interesting, and at times, frustrating challenge. We know that in addition to our regular curriculums, teachers are also responsible for and committed to providing our students with positive school climates, high expectations for behavior and academic achievement, and curriculum options that are varied, not only in levels of difficulty, but in teaching and learning styles. How then, do educators achieve all of these goals while still maintaining the interest of teenagers, especially those that have completely disengaged themselves from the school experience? Good question. Introducing debates to my classroom curriculum occurred almost by accident. It was during my first year of teaching eighth grade, and during a discussion of E.B. White's Death of a Pig, when my class began arguing about a key incident in the short story. In the story, a man who has been a pig farmer his entire life, suddenly finds himself in the role of playing doctor and caretaker to a pig that has taken sick. The story ends when the pig dies and the farmer is forced to deal with the reality of having become emotionally attached to the pig in his attempt to save its life. After the students finished answering a series of basic comprehension questions about the story, a student asked me whether I thought the farmer would have indeed slaughtered the pig at the end of story if the pig had lived. Good question. As there were details in the story that would support either side of that question, I immediately turned it over to the class. I made the decision to create a formalized debate process during the thirty minutes that followed. For the first time that year, the students didn't even know that I was in the room. At first just a few students became engaged in the discussion. Two or three believed that the farmer would definitely have slaughtered the pig, after all, that was the means for his livelihood. However, three or four other students were adamant that there was no way he would have killed the pig, and they began citing examples, with no prompting from me, from the story that supported their points of view. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of that thirty minute transformation was the fact that, slowly but surely, even students who had not been pulled into many of the class discussions so far that year, began taking notice. I first noticed that these students, who usually held themselves back, or who were usually just plain not interested in reading, were sifting through the pages and looking at the examples the other students were pointing out as evidence. It was the thing that happened next that solidified my decision to hold a formal debate. These same quiet students, the ones that would very rarely raise their hands, and who would ask me whispered questions in private at my desk if they ever needed clarification, began searching for other evidence, writing their findings down, and passing the papers to the more vocal students who were leading the way to read out loud. Once one kid passed a note, there was a flurry of other notes being passed frantically back and forth. As a result, the kids became even more enthusiastic about their cause, and the excitement in the room became tumultuous. In the middle of the fury, one girl asked me if the class could take a "ten minute time out" to write some facts down from the story before they came back to discuss the issue again. At that point I was completely blown away and the debate format I have used for the last seven years was born.
FormatOver the years the debates in my classroom have taken many forms. I have learned that depending on the abilities of the kids in the classroom, not every topic is going to be grasped as enthusiastically as others. As a result of the demand for more debates from my students that first year, I have now held debates on issues found in the novels The Pigman, Homecoming, The Light in the Forest, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and even for other short stories, especially The Most Dangerous Game. The best part about the process of debate is the fact that the students feel a real sense of empowerment as far as being able to devise the curriculum. The questions we argue are always student-generated. After we read a story or novel, I have the students brainstorm a list of possible debate topics which I ask them to write in the form of questions. If more than one topic is suggested, we have a discussion about the pros and cons of each topic and then have a class vote to narrow the field down to one. I see that this works when I read comments in the self evaluations like Gretchen's, an eighth grader, who stated, Teachers should use debates because the students get to do all of the work by themselves. It was fun not to be told what and how to do things. Once the class has decided on a topic, I ask them to write a paragraph in which they either defend or argue against the question. They are asked to list the examples from the novel or story that lead them to their decision. If a student simply cannot decide, based on the information presented in the text, then he or she serves as a jury member in the debate. However, over the course of the year, students must serve on either the negative or the affirmative side of an argument at least once, they may not choose to be a judge every single time. I have never had a problem enforcing this requirement, and after having experienced one or two debates, the kids are eager to participate on a side by the end of the year. The basic format that I use now to help the students remain organized while they are getting prepared is a packet developed by my students seven years ago that has been revised over the years. Both the affirmative and the negative sides receive the same packet, the pages of which contain places for the kids to brainstorm questions they believe the other team will ask of them, and then areas for them to write down the questions they will ask. Space is also available for them to write down ideas for opening and closing statements, for them to take notes during the actual debate, and a place where they need to indicate to me who will play what role in the actual debate. Generally one student on each team will deliver the opening statement, two others present the closing statements, and each student is responsible for asking at least one question and answering at least one question. Students have to work together to select an order for their questions, with their most powerful evidence being presented last. These requirements exist not only to help the students remain organized at all times, but also to avoid the potential situation of one student on the other side being asked all the questions, or one student, who may be particularly strong or vocal, asking all of the questions for his or her team. Additionally, this method assures that all team members will be awarded equal opportunity to contribute to the team's cause. The role of the judges is to work together as a team as well. They are required to brainstorm a list of the evidence that they as a group believe both sides will need to introduce in order to conduct a successful debate. Since these class members were unable to choose a side because they believed the evidence from the text strongly supported both sides of the issue, this is usually an easy task. After having completed this list, they are required to work together to create a rubric that will be used in judging the debate. The judges ultimately learn to look for the important aspects that I am evaluating as well, and their rubric categories often include such important points as public speaking skills, use of direct evidence, questioning techniques, team work, etc. The judges play the important role of deciding which team presented the stronger case in the debate, but they are not responsible for assigning a final grade to the students. As far as a final evaluation for a grade is concerned, I always make sure students know what criteria they will be graded on before we begin the group preparation phase of the debates. Students get graded on both a team and an individual basis, and the descriptors in the rubric focus on teamwork, problem-solving abilities, cooperation, and personal responsibility as far as pulling their own weight to get prepared. On this same day, students also receive an outline of the structure of the debate itself. That way they know exactly in what order the opening statements, arguments, and closing statements will be made, so there are no surprises on the day of the actual debate. I have found that giving them as much information as possible before they begin to prepare alleviates most forms of anxiety. In addition to the rubric that has been designed to determine the students' grades, they are also asked to complete a self-evaluation form at the conclusion of the debate. Here they are given the opportunity to communicate with me and let me know what worked and what did not. They feel free to express their opinions as they know the information they provide is confidential. It is at this point that I see students respond to the difficulties of learning how to keep other students in their groups focused and on task. Again, this opportunity empowers them to take responsibility for their own educational experiences and to think about the roles they played in promoting their own success. The overall debate process takes about four days… three days for groups to work together to form questions, create orders, write statements, etc., and then one day for the debate itself. These times are based on eighty-four-minute-blocks. I usually do not set time limits during the actual debates until the end of the year when the students have had more experience. However, setting time limits is certainly an option as the kids get more comfortable with the entire process. The addition of timed segments into the debate process also introduces a whole new level of skills.
Using Debate to Aid in the Teaching of WritingOne of the best surprises that came out of using debates as a tool to promote classroom discussion, was how easy it was to relate to the practice of teaching formal essay writing. When it came time to work on research and persuasive papers, it was easy for me to compare the writing of these pieces to the debates in which the students had participated. The introduction and concluding paragraphs for these essays were easily compared to the opening and closing statements of the debates. Students already knew to present the general information in the opening statement of a debate, but not to get too specific. As far as the closing statement for a debate was concerned, they already knew that information focusing on major points needed to be rephrased so the judges would once again be lead in the direction of the team's most convincing points. Relating this to the concluding paragraph of an essay was simple and the students really understood the connections. The transition from debate to formal essay writing was easier than I ever imagined that it could be. In addition to introduction and concluding paragraphs, the bodies of the essays were easily compared to the questions and responses that were asked during the debates. Students knew that whether they were asking a question during a debate, or being asked a question, they better have evidence from the story to support their opinions. It was great to have an opinion, but if you didn't have a piece of evidence to support your thinking, then you would be in trouble as the other team could attack and point out the lack of evidence as a true weakness. Transferring this knowledge to presenting facts versus opinion in the body of a written essay was easy to teach, and simple for the students to understand because they had already been exposed to the concept in a fun and interesting way.
Overall Benefits of Using DebateAiding in the teaching of writing is just one advantage that debates have in a classroom, whether it be language arts, science, social studies, math, or any other discipline. The actual skills that are practiced during a debate help students to become well-rounded in almost every area teachers try to focus in on, especially at the middle school age of development. By using debate in the classroom, teachers can look for skills to improve in the areas of public speaking, the development of analytical and critical thinking skills, cooperation and teamwork, persuasive writing and the writing process, problem solving, reading a text for details, and the idea of taking responsibility for one's own learning. These are all skills that teachers of every subject strive to instill in their students, not to mention the fact that they encompass some of the major targets of the Maine Learning Results. It is critical that teachers of any discipline realize the importance of debate. Social studies teachers can use them to get kids involved in understanding some of the important events and decisions that have been made in the history of our world. Furthermore, no matter what the subject matter is that is being taught, debate is an excellent tool to use in the exploration of current issues the students are studying and experiencing in the world today. The words of one eighth grader, Amy, who worked on a debate relating to the short story The Most Dangerous Game, sum up the debate experience very well: The debate that my class worked on was a great learning experience because my group and I had to create the whole process. It was not only our individual contributions, but our commitment and cooperation as a group that ultimately determined the outcome of our argument. We all had to be responsible and it was a lot of fun! The benefits of debate have no limits, and even after seven years, I am still surprised each and every time I see a new group of students encounter a topic together. It is truly a rewarding experience for anybody who becomes involved in the process, and especially for those students who have never had the opportunity to shine. Debates expose students to a bit of healthy competition while they learn important skills without even realizing it, students gain independence and confidence, and the individual improvements they make over the course of one year are amazing. Each set of classes is sure to bring with them a fresh enthusiasm and a new aspect to an argument that even hundreds of students before them had not seen as being relevant. I can't imagine a better way to promote a positive and exciting learning environment than through the use of debate. |