The Arts Unit Creative Teachers
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Considerations when selecting a team
Considerations when selecting a team
Consider the scope of your debating program
Consider the scope of your debating program
Keep in mind that each school will have different needs, interests and resourcing. Make sure you develop your debating program in response to the needs of your students.
Before you select your debating team, it is important to ask yourself a few questions.
Think about:
How many teachers will be able to support the team as coaches?
Will I have a squad or a single team?
Which grades will have this opportunity?
Do I want to have a competitive team and/or a training team?
Will I be entering a competition? If so, which one will suit the needs and abilities of my students?
Do I want to have a reserve on my team (that is, a team of 5)? Or will I 'borrow' from a training team if a student is absent? Make sure you check the rules for the competition you are entering.
Do I want to have an experienced team and a novice team, or do I want mixed abilities teams?
What is the current level of interest in my school and community?
What makes a strong debater?
What makes a strong debater?
A common misconception is that you need to be a fantastic public speaker to be a debater. However, debates are primarily won on content ('matter'). What you say is much more important than how you say it. Public speaking is a skill that can be learnt and improves with experience.
Strong debaters appear in many forms. Good writers and creative, critical thinkers make great debaters. They are not always the ones who dominate class discussions. They might be the peace-maker on the playground or they might be the student who asks the curly questions. All of these students could be debaters!
What is most important is that students demonstrate enthusiasm, teamwork and a willingness to persevere and improve.
Prepare
Prepare
Start by asking students to register their interest. If you have a large amount of interest, you may need to run debate team trials.
If time allows, it is useful to prepare students prior to trials, perhaps with some in-class lessons on persuasive writing and speaking.
Alternatively, you may want to run a few lunchtime sessions playing debating games to spark interest and develop skills.
Debate trials
Debate trials
One way to approach trials is to give students a debating topic. In a separate (but monitored) area, students can be given a short amount of time to prepare an impromptu debating speech, agreeing with the topic. They should prepare and present one at a time.
Make sure:
you explain to the students what you will be looking for (that is, your assessment criteria)
you provide students with the topic (written on paper to avoid miscommunication), paper/palm cards, a timer and a pen
students do not share the topic with others, and that all students receive equal preparation time
there is consistency and equity; the topic should be the same for all students (if possible)
there are 2 to 3 teachers on the panel (if possible)
panel members review speeches in a consistent manner (e.g. with an assessment rubric).
Example topics
Example topics
It is important to consider the age and experience of your students when selecting a topic for trials. The following examples would likely be suitable for a Stage 3 debate.
That we should ban all plastic food packaging.
That the voting age should be lowered to 16.
That schools should teach self-defence.
That children under 13 should not have their own smartphone.
That afternoon sessions in schools should be dedicated to creativity.
That supermarkets should only stock locally made products.
That primary schools should ban formal testing.
That parents should pay their kids for completing chores.
That all schools should teach a language other than English.
Example rubric for debate trials - editable template.docx(Doc file, 53KB)
Note: This rubric is an example only, and should be modified to suit your needs and purpose.
Callbacks
Callbacks
If possible, complete a second round of trials for students who showed potential in the first round.
It can be interesting to give students the same topic, but ask them to present from the negative perspective. It is important that students are able to present ideas from both perspectives, including views that may differ from their own.
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