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| All lined up |
Before library, I told the class we would be holding a debate over whether we should have 1 hour of P.E. a week, or 2 hours of P.E. a week. I gave half the class 1 hour of P.E. and the other half 2 hours of P.E. and told them to make the most of their library time by thinking about their side, looking through books that may help them, and looking online on the library computers. I’m pretty sure nobody did any of those suggested items, except for some who talked it over with their peers. But when we got back to the classroom, we separated into our two sides and lined up their seats into two rows. The student in the first seat got to share their position and then everyone moved down. Each speaker got 30 seconds to share their viewpoint. Every 5 people, we would caucus, regroup, and continue. This way students would have the chance to hear the thinking of others in their group.
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| Caucus |
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| Pushing themselves to say MORE! |
All in all, this is definitely something I plan to incorporate into my classroom on a weekly, if not daily, basis! I hope that by doing this, learners will get comfortable using evidence to support their claims, not only in their speech but in their writing and thinking. It’s such an important life skill and one I hope they can take with them when they leave our room.
Happy Sunday! Let me know if anyone is also a fan of holding debates or tries this in their own classroom!
