My tenth-grade nephew is enrolled in debate. And, man, is he good at it. He has always taken the role of devil's advocate, counter-arguing, and formulating a standpoint about something that he hadn't thought about ten minutes beforehand. Of course he would sign up for debate! What makes it worse is that he's WINNING COMPETITIONS! I'm proud of him but he can become very annoying quickly. He now seems to formulate a stance on every issue that comes up and defends it like he's in a debate, but just to win.
As I was reading Dickson, I thought about my nephew: he is truly learning some vital skills through his involvement in debate. Dickson says that, "sometimes students have to be on a side they do not personally agree with, but they learn that the skills involved are still the same and investigating the other position is a way to explore one's personal view" (39). And, of course, you learn exponentially when you feverishly research the topic. I think debate should be REQUIRED in high school. I never took debate but now see the importance of it.
I always knew that I wanted to incorporate debate into my classroom. And as Dornan suggests, using the write-to-learn approach wouldn't make the process seem so intimidating (like it did for me) for first-time debaters. Dornan suggests to take a personal experience starting approach; giving the students the option to write about what they want encourages the process of their previous knowledge expanding into knowledge sought on a topic they are interested in (121).
Here's a link to the International Debate Education Association. I feel like Eve would be an expert on debate sources but I found this website credible and useful. It is all things debate: blog, chat room, tracking site, and a news source for young debaters and educators.
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that debate has a strong place in the secondary English classroom. Debate is more than just your average speech unit. Debates have to be run in a particular manner which teaches students how to follow new rules they aren't used to. Debate requires good persuasive speaking skills and requires students to dig deeper to find solid evidence. I think there is one skill that debate fosters that is often overlooked: Listening. To be a winning debater you need to be able to truly listen to the argument your opponent is making in order to provide the best counter argument. All of the components of debate help students gain skill that are valuable beyond the classroom. Thanks for sharing.
I actually had a speech class in my high school and I learned so much about writing organization and execution than I did in any of my English classes. We did a debate in that class too and I was amazed at how much research I had to do just not to feel silly debating. Anyway, babbling aside, I think speech is a great tool for improving writing skills. It's a shame that I don't think it's being used as much anymore.
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