DEBATES

When you arrive on Monday or Tuesday to class you will:

1)  Be appropriately dressed for your debate
2)  Have a clean printed copy of your essay constructive with no errors.
      You will turn this in to me at the end of your debate.
3)  Include all of your evidence PRINTED AND ATTACHED to your
     essay. HI-LIGHT your specific evidence.
4) Pencil and paper to take notes during the debate.

SUMMARIES AND REBUTTALS

DEBATE SUMMARY

A summary is a brief speech/statement recounting the main points
of your speech - NO DETAILS

Here is a basic format for your summary

REBUILD YOUR CASE (ARGUMENT)
Really, this is an explanation as to why you are winning
  Number your arguments (NOT details of the argument)
  Answer any attack on your argument by your opponents
  Refute their arguments, why is your opponents argument
    not as strong as yours???

DEBATE REBUTTAL

Aside from building a strong argument, the rebuttal is
esssential to a debate- in fact, a debate is not a debate
without a rebuttal.  What is it?

Your opportunity to lay in the final attack on your
opponents argument.  You attack:

      assumptions made by your opponents
      evidence not presented or
      evidence that is suspect (not viable)
      unfinished or unclarified arguments
      statements that make no sense

Check out this link DEBATABLE for a more detailed explanation of
rubuttals.
Check out this link 2010 Lincoln-Douglas Debate Final to watch effective Crossfires.

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Because of the opening of the theater next week,
our Debate schedule might be a bit jumbled -
IT IS UP TO YOU TO TELL ME WHEN YOU 
WILL MISS CLASS BECAUSE YOU ARE 
REHEARSING OR PERFORMING so I can best set the schedule.

Today we will work on fine tuning your constructive.
If Mr. Megaffin and I are not meeting with you, you are
to work with your partner on your summary and your rebuttal.

Please see the affirmative constructive example below!!!!

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

SAMPLE AFFIRMATIVE DEBATE

S

WOOHOO, TGIF

Today is an awesome day because we will have Michael and Sara in our classroom.  At 10:30ish, Michael will come in and give you some tips on speaking and presenting - good timing since our debates are around the corner.  Until then we will work on our debate constructives.

F Block Michael and Sara will engage us in Metaphors - good stuff for expressing ourselves both verbally and on paper.  They will use the entire class time.

In the meantime, reminders:
      Short story rewrites are due at the end of next week - print         them out and give them to me.
Debates will take place the week of Feb 1, we will probably get to two per day.
     F & H Blocks - Feb 1 and 3
     C & D Blocks - Feb 2 and 4
At the end of your debate, your printed constructives are due
     IF I HAVE NOT REVIEWED YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE          WITH YOU IN CLASS, YOU MUST SEE ME EITHER            AFTER SCHOOL OR IN THE MORNING.

Now, as you prepare to finalize your constructive, have a look at these ARGUMENT sentence starters - great for introductions and transitions.

I have several reasons for arguing this position: A further point is ....

Although not everybody would agree with my position, I ...

Even though the issue has two sides, I think I have shown that .... Some argue that .... though we can easily see that .... because ....

After looking closely at both sides of the issue and the evidence, we can see that .... because....

Granted, I admit that ....

Then again ...

That is a good point, but I think the evidence shows that... 

Based on the evidence, we should .... because ...

We have a duty to ....

We have the honor to welcome to our classroom Michael Salinger a
reknown and award winning writer,  poet, educator.
Really, just a guy who loves words, performance, and life.

He'll be in C Block at 9:00, and  D Block at 10:30.
We are going to learn a little about PIPES.

Until then, we will:

1) discuss the rest of the video
2) provide you with argument language

2) talk about character - the stuff is on the blog
posted two days ago.   

HAPPY THURSDAY!!!!

BY NEXT CLASS, PLEASE FINISH WATCHING THE MS DEBATE LOCATEDON THIS BLOG! DEBATE DATES:  FEBRUARY 1, 2, 3, 4
Today we will:

VIEW AND DISCUSS the negative constructive on MANDATORY VOTING IN THE US.

READ AND DISCUSS with an eye towards the characters -
motivations, intentions, dynamic, static.

       

DUE DATES:

We will take a look at the MS debate video posted last week.

~~~~Your first draft of your constructives are due today.
~~~~Your final draft of your constructives are due next Monday 1/25(D&C blocks) 
         and Tuesday 1/26 (H&F blocks)
~~~~Debates will take place the week of Feb 1 - It will probably take two classes to
         complete all of the debates.

TODAY:
~~~~I will conference with you regarding your constructives so that you
          can rewrite

~~~~We will read REAL TIME  and talk about the characters and their choices
Let's look at the difference between Dynamic and Static Characters

Can you figure out if the following characters are static or dynamic?:

Katness Everdeen  Hunger Games           Harry Potter
Batman                                                     Tris and Tobia Divergent                  
Bilbo Baggins  The Hobbit                       Thomas Maze Runner
Han Solo    Star Wars
Darth Vadar   Star Wars
Buzz Lightyear  Toy Story

Credible Sources

Take a look at these two websites.  Jot down your thoughts as your read through them - after we will discuss the content.


SAVE THE TREE OCTOPUS
DOG ISLAND

PALESTINIAN FACTS

What to look for:

Does the site make sense?
Are there primary sources, interviews, surveys?
.org, vs .com. vs .edu vs .gov
Who is the audience?
Accuracy - well researched with footnotes
Bias (are both sides of the story represented?
Is the information current?
Do the author's credentials make him/her an expert?

Today we will STAY THE COURSE (keep going strongly)
with our book and our debate preparation. But, I will also have
a look at 'CREDIBLE' or "VIABLE" sources.

FIRST, we need to update some info as we
work toward publishing your dystopian stories.

LIST OF SUPPORTING DEBATE DOCUMENTS
Guidelines - overall
Debator Research and Planning Guide
Speaker Roles
Constructive Graphic Organizer
Example of:
         First and Second Affirmative Constructives
         First and Second Negative Constructives
         Rebuttle
Useful Debate Phrases

Good morning and happy TUESDAY -DFTBA.

Homework: come to class with new research.

Today the goal is to:
1)   set up some questions for our reading of REAL TIME
2)   read for about 15 minutes
3)   take a few minutes to discuss the reading and write down
your thoughts:

Think about MEMORY - Why is memory important in the book
What are you thinking about?
What questions do the characters aske themselves?
Is there a fabulous quote you would like to remember?
Is there a scene that sticks in your head

AND

Begin your research for the debate.  But, you must decide who will research the affirmative and who will research the negative.
REMEMBER TO BEGIN WITH YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION - this question should directly tie into the affirmative and negative sides of the proposition.

Begin finding evidence - go beyond GOOGLE and into EPSCO.

Today we will:

TURN IN YOUR REFLECTION HOMEWORK
NEW YEAR HOUSEKEEPING

1) Discuss the DEBATE TUTORIAL
       What are your thoughts? What are your questions?

2) I will provide you with the resolution, the guidelines, and the speaker roles.
       What are your thoughts? What are your questions?

3)    An introduction to

Welcome to 2016 - it's going to be a great year!
You will make the jump from MS to HS
WILL YOU BE READY??????????

Due on Thursday January 7 (Blocks C&D)
             Friday January 8 (Blocks F&H)
Watch the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Tutorial posted below on this blog
Turn in your parent signed reflection about your dystopian short                                                             story
                             
Today's agenda includes:

1)     Handing you back your dystopian stories -
        NOTE:  The grades are in Power School, BUT, I always
                      encourage rewriting.  SO, this means, if you
                      wish to rewrite, you can, BUT, you must confer
                      with me AND turn the rewrite in by 
                                     JANUARY 28TH FOR F AND G BLOCKS
                                     JANUARY 29TH FOR C AND D BLOCKS

ALSO DUE: YOUR REFLECTION 
WITH PARENT SIGNATURE
Blocks C&D on Thursday Jan 7
Blocks F&H on Friday Jan 8

2)   An introduction to our unit on DEBATE
             What do you know about debate and debating?

3)   Mock mini-debate with a partner Resolution:
         Be it resolved that schools should block the use of
         mobile phones during school hours.

TIMING:
10 minutes to prepare - affirmative and negative teams
2 minutes affirmative
2 minutes negative
1 minute to prepare questions
2 minutes open crossfire
1 minute affirmative summary
1 minute negative summary
DONE

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE TUTORIAL


       

MS FINAL DEBATE COMPETITION



CLICK HERE to read a little about the history of the LINCOLN-DOUGLAS debate.