Looking back on the previous school year is almost
painful for me. It was, let's just say, a very rough year. A majority of the students didn't seem to want to learn, and, after a while, I lost some of my desire to teach, too. However, in retrospect, I did have a few lessons that went extremely well.
One that stands out was a debate I had my 7th grade English classes do. The topic: school uniforms. For those of you who do not teach middle school, those kiddos LOVE to voice their opinions. My challenge was to get them to see that "voicing their opinion" and "backing up that opinion with facts" are two very different things! I did not let them choose what position to take...I assigned them "FOR" or "AGAINST". This led into another great discussion of becoming an excellent debater. You do not even have to believe in the position you are "fighting for"....you just have to present the best argument.
Something clicked with my usually unruly group. They put a lot of work into researching and preparing for the debate, and when the day came, to my surprise, they did a fantastic job. Classic interrupters sat quietly, taking notes for rebuttal. My usual loudmouth students used "inside" voices and calmly presented their facts. I sat in amazement as the "roughest group" I've had in seventeen years presented one of the best debates I've seen (well, for 12-year-olds, anyway!). I did look up much of the research for them, as it was fourth quarter, and access to a computer lab was nonexistent. I discussed the issue, the ground rules, and the format of debate for one class period, gave them two class periods to prepare and practice, and another two class periods for the actual debate. I was so incredibly pleased by the outcome that I am going to plan a debate for next year!
One that stands out was a debate I had my 7th grade English classes do. The topic: school uniforms. For those of you who do not teach middle school, those kiddos LOVE to voice their opinions. My challenge was to get them to see that "voicing their opinion" and "backing up that opinion with facts" are two very different things! I did not let them choose what position to take...I assigned them "FOR" or "AGAINST". This led into another great discussion of becoming an excellent debater. You do not even have to believe in the position you are "fighting for"....you just have to present the best argument.
Something clicked with my usually unruly group. They put a lot of work into researching and preparing for the debate, and when the day came, to my surprise, they did a fantastic job. Classic interrupters sat quietly, taking notes for rebuttal. My usual loudmouth students used "inside" voices and calmly presented their facts. I sat in amazement as the "roughest group" I've had in seventeen years presented one of the best debates I've seen (well, for 12-year-olds, anyway!). I did look up much of the research for them, as it was fourth quarter, and access to a computer lab was nonexistent. I discussed the issue, the ground rules, and the format of debate for one class period, gave them two class periods to prepare and practice, and another two class periods for the actual debate. I was so incredibly pleased by the outcome that I am going to plan a debate for next year!
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