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Debate Skills

Tags

^21st Century Skills MS/HS/College Strategy

Skills

Flexible Thinking Expressive Language Listening Comprehension Organization Verbal Reasoning Processing Speed

Debate Skills

If your student is comfortable with public speaking and wants to strengthen critical thinking and speaking skills

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will develop key reasoning and flexible thinking skills through debate.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: a) Through debate, students learn to research topics, prepare and articulate evidenced-based arguments, and hone their speaking skills. Students also learn to take feedback and shift their thinking to come up with different responses to unexpected points. b) Speed for reading, note taking and thinking quickly are important in debates, so consider your student's Mindprint strengths and needs as you think about what types of roles might be best on a debate team. c) Debate also teaches students key collaboration skills, learning to effectively support team members as well as taking responsibility for your own role. e) Keep in mind that debate can be very challenging, given all the skills that lead to success. Help your students see all the potential benefits and provide encouragement as appropriate.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Debate can be an excellent way to develop important cognitive skills including verbal reasoning, listening, speaking and persuasive communication. It can be a great opportunity for students with strengths in these skills to hone them further. All students can be successful, but they might require more encouragement and support.