There are three main roles a teacher can have with regards to debating; organizing debates in the classroom to prepare for the tournament and coaching students and judging debates when required. As judging requires substantial training, we created a separate dedicated page here (link). This article focuses only on the rest of the roles.

1) ORGANIZING CLASSROOM DEBATES

WHAT TO DEBATE

The topic of debate will depend upon the age of your students. You will need an interesting topic to really get your students engaged. Here are a few topic ideas. You can choose the one that best suits your students’ maturity level.

• Smartphones should be banned in school.

• Children should be able to watch television more than two hours a day.

• Wearing a bike helmet for all outdoor sports (bikes, hoverboards, skateboards, etc.) is mandatory.

• Homework should be banned in all schools.

• School uniforms should be required.

See more motions: https://betterdebatemanual.wixsite.com/better/debate-motions

https://www.debatingforeveryone.com/2018/11/how-to-debate-1-defining-motion.html

If your students are inexperienced then consider giving them easy topics such as https://noisyclassroom.com/debate-topics/

HOW TO PREPARE

After you have given them a controversial topic to discuss, divide them into groups and decide which one is the proposition and which is the opposition team.

They can write an essay where they write supporting arguments and show their evidence.

• They can write a paper where they take a position and must support it with factual evidence.

• They can use a graphic organizer to find their particular position on a topic. With this option, students must develop arguments both for and against the topic.

• They can create an argument outline, which is a basic outline of their position on the topic with supporting evidence of how they feel about it.

CLASSROOM DEBATE FORMATS

Above we gave an example of the most basic way to organize a debate inside your classroom but there are many different formats that you can use for your classroom debate. Please keep in mind that these formats are not employed in MES DEBATE 2021. They are listed here only for educational purposes. Here are a few options:

The Fishbowl Debate – Randomly select a handful of students to sit in front of the classroom in a half-circle facing the students. Pose a question or a statement to those selected students and ask them to discuss it. The rest of the classmates ask a question to the panel or take turns taking their spot in the fishbowl, but they are not allowed to speak otherwise. This format is used when students have prior knowledge about the topic.

Advocate Decision-Making Debate – Students are placed into groups of three and assigned a topic to debate. One person is in support of the topic, one is against, and one acts as the judge. The judge, or “decision-maker,” will create a list of questions to ask the advocates, which students will use as their debate outline. Then the judge will decide at the end of the debate who the winner is. This can be done in front of the class or in groups.

The Four Corners Debate – This debate will get students up and moving while using their critical thinking skills. Students are given a motion, then they must prepare a well-supported paragraph stating their position (they may strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree, or disagree). Next, students will move to the corner of the classroom where they see their position posted on the wall. Once students move to their corner, they get 10 minutes to discuss their thoughts. Appoint one person the note-taker and one person the speaker. At the end of the 10 minutes, invite each speaker to state their case on the topic. If at the end of the debate a student has changed their mind, they are allowed to move corners. Then students get another 10 minutes to discuss. After that, students take their seats to write a new paragraph detailing their thoughts on the topic.

Ball-Toss Debate – Students are given a motion and must take sides. Each student goes to the side of the classroom where their position is either for or against the topic. Move desks so that each side is facing the other. Have students sit on their desks and take turns tossing a ball to discuss their position on the topic. Only the student with the ball can speak.

2) COACHING STUDENTS FOR A TOURNAMENT

BEFORE A DEBATE TOURNAMENT

As a coach, you will be responsible for organizing everything your students need to attend a tournament. Coaches need to:

Registering:

• Alert students and their families of the upcoming tournament

• Register your students for the event

Preparing to debate:

• Teach your students about the topic and how to make arguments on both sides

• Ensure your debaters know the style of debate used in the upcoming tournament, and practice that style

• Provide frequent instruction on key debate skills

• Walk through tournament etiquette with your debaters the meeting before the tournament

WHAT TO DO AT DEBATE TOURNAMENTS AS A COACH

While there are many different tournaments throughout the year, most follow a very similar format. As a coach, you have certain responsibilities to help make the tournament run smoothly.

Being a good debate citizen and helping other adults:

• Try your best to accommodate the host. Every club has hosted something at some time and we all know how much work it can be. Any assistance you can offer will be appreciated.

• Do your part to make sure the tournament runs on schedule

• If you are running late and it can’t be helped, give notice

• Move from round to round quickly

• Encourage your debaters to be early to tournaments

Coaching

The mechanics of running a club is a beginning skill for any coach. But teaching your students critical debate skills is your key responsibility as a coach.

Debate is an activity that requires a lot of growth, both from the coach and the debater. Given its competitive nature, students get highly involved and can find big tournaments very stressful. As a coach, you want to encourage your students to succeed and grow, but also to have fun and avoid feeling negative about their performance in rounds.

As an experienced debater turned coach, it is difficult to simplify ideas down to cater to elementary school debaters. For teachers, especially those new to debate, it is difficult to teach a broad spectrum of experience at the same time. Expanding your number of coaches, and getting lots of feedback from your students are often good ways to combat this. The other solution is to practice lots and continue to revise your coaching methods so all students can be engaged. 


Growing Coaching Skills


Just like our debaters, coaches need to stay in touch with the current practices within debate. Debate changes and shifts as an activity, so if you are a coach who does not keep up with current trends, it is difficult to help guide your students to be successful. Here are some suggestions:

• Go to tournaments and watch debates

• Bring in alumni, high school debaters, workshop organizers and act as a student in their lecture

• Debate in community tournaments that are open to adults

• Travel as a coach to out of province events

• Meet with other coaches to discuss teaching methods

Like teaching, coaching debate uses a gradual release cycle:

1.Model and explain

2.Guided practice

3.Performance of understanding

4.Formative feedback

5.Opportunity to use feedback to improve performance

Feedback

Giving effective feedback is the primary way that coaches help students grow. Attending tournaments and explaining in clubs help students build their knowledge, but effective feedback helps students know what level they are at and how to improve.

See resources: https://www.teachhub.com/classroom-activities/2016/03/classroom-activities-how-to-hold-a-classroom-debate/

https://saskdebate.ca/Portals/0/adam/Content/4Ay-QYhNo0-TshdjmimptQ/Answer/SEDA%20coaching%20guide.pdf