Week 10 (March 17th and 19th): Debates and Blog Assignment

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! Check out my Week 10 Voki to my class with the St. Patrick's Day theme.

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Debates:

Our debate projects are in full swing with the Debate 1 teams doing theirs on Monday, March 17th. The debate proposition was the following:

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) should be amended to allow both male and female employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid time to care for their new baby or adopted child.

I was pleased with the way that the debaters argued their side. I gave everyone a job to do, which worked out quite well. I had Cody doing the picture taking and video taping for me, three students timing, three students judging, half the class asking questions to the pro side in the cross examination period, and the other half of the class posing questions to the con side.

At the end of the debate, I sent the judges out to confer. They had a debate scoring rubric with points assigned for each part of the debate. The judges presented a summary of their decision to the class. They thought that the pro side had the stronger argument, but because the rebuttal and closing argument were stronger with the con side, the con team was the overall winner.

Prizes were awarded to the con team. It was a good time had by all, I think.

How am I going to refine this lesson? For Debate 2 on the genetic engineering, I am going to use a handout for the notetakers, who will not only write each of the arguments presented, but they will have to write a question for the cross examination team. It will involve the audience more and help them attend to the debate. Another thing I am going to do is to give time for the sides to confer before the rebuttal period begins.

Blog Assignment:
The students are doing a great job evaluating one another's blogs. The blog that appears to be the big winner is a blog by Cody Griffith called, "All Things Fishing." Check it out at http://codysblog247.blogspot.com/

My personal favorite is Megan Kalka's music blog where she finds new singers and does a mini-review. Megan is a music major.

What I love about all the students' blogs is that they are subject matter experts on what they love. Everyone is exploring the use of visual rhetoric. Lots are adding YouTube videos and photos. Jennifer, Ann-Marie, and Megan are putting music on.

I'm pleased with the blog assignments in my Comp 2 class and will probably incorporate them in my Comp 1 hybrid class in the fall as a way for students to do journaling. I have ordered a book on tips for blogging, so I hope to learn lots.