To get a gifted kid excited, say the word, "debate". Debating is more complicated and structured than most students realize. They often think they can win by a force of passion or by simply wearing the other person down, when controlled, supported reasoning is a better approach. Teachers can have simple debates in class by having students research, argue, and score one another in the classroom.
Introducing a Basic Argument Structure
Before students begin researching, they need to know what they will be expected to produce. Students should learn to make the following structure for their opening argument:
- Position Statement, such as: "Texting should not be allowed while driving."
- Umbrella Reason, such as: "Texting while driving is dangerous."
- Supportive Evidence, such as citing Matt Richtel's July 27, 2009 New York Times article " In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risky by Large Margin". The student might say, "According to The New York Times, a study found that texting while driving increased the rate the crash risk of drivers who text by 23 times the risk of a regular driver." The student should have written documentation of the evidence.
When the student makes the statement for the debate, it will follow the pattern of:
- Statement
- Reason
- Support.
It is important that students make the umbrella reasoning statement that will be supported by evidence. Sometimes when students start their debates, they are tempted to rush into their evidence. A developed opening, using the above texting example, might sound like, "Texting should not be allowed while driving because it is dangerous. In 2009, The New York Times reported that texting increased crash risks by 23 times." Obviously, students would fill in opinions to make the argument compelling and interesting.
When students are researching, they should be prepared to research both sides of the issue, so the texting issue would be that texting should or should not be allowed while driving.
Researching Debate Topics
To have short debates that are under five minutes, teachers should offer topic choices that fit the following guidelines:
- simple topics that have research support for multiple sides of the issue.
- topics that relate to student interests or experiences, such as using cell phones in school or
- lowering the voting age, and
- topics that are comfortable to discuss in front of the class.
When students research a topic, they should look for multiple sides of an issue, and write down specific evidence, noting the source. Elementary gifted students should be restricted to a list of reliable sites to use, such as scholastic.com, and secondary gifted students should be given guidance of unreliable sources, such as Yahoo Answers. The number of sources should be adjusted by grade level.
Conducting a Classroom Debate
The teacher should flip a coin to determine which student is the "pro" statement and which student is the "con" statement. Then, the class will listen carefully as the two students introduce their statements with the umbrella reason being supported by reliable evidence. After each student has made an opening statement, they can have limited amounts of rebuttals to argue their issues.
While the teacher is grading the student on providing a statement, reason, and supportive, reliable evidence, students in the class will make a tally mark for persuasive arguments. The student's tally score will not affect the final grade. Winning or losing a debate in an introductory unit should be secondary to structuring an argument.
After the students finish the debates, they should go to the hall while the score is tallied. When they return, the winner of the debate, but not the score, should be announced by the teacher.
Sometimes when students debate, they will get an issue that they truly care about, and they can make a personal belief statement. Other times, they will just be using the art of persuasive debate to prove a reasoned statement. The combination of high intelligences, natural curiosities, and lack of exposure to similar-minded peers make arguing logical points rare, so having a unit on debate is a thrill for gifted students.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
