This loved lesson comes form Ms. Johnson, assistant principal.
This week, I got an opportunity to be a guest judge in Mr. Tarrant’s 8th grade Civics class. In both Mr. Rooks’ and Mr. Tarrant’s classes, students were debating the topic of compulsory voting. Each student was assigned a side – either pro or con - and read through a couple of different sources in order to get arguments to support their assigned side. The debate was structured as a face-off with each student required to participate in either the opening argument or rebuttal. Each side lined up facing each other and the center served as a meeting point for whoever was speaking. Opening arguments and rebuttals centered around specific examples of data, the obligation of a citizen, protecting the integrity of our elections, the right to vote, uneducated votes, constitutional rights, etc…This was a great way for all students to engage in higher level thinking and questioning in a structured venue. I ended up siding with the “pros” as I felt they provided more specific details and examples, stronger rebuttals, and followed the debate format more consistently. Both sides were excellent, however. I would say this activity definitely forced students in three of the four C’s – communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Great job, 8th grade students!
No comments:
Post a Comment