Oral Communication Strand

Santa On Trial: Christmas Debate for Public Speaking:

Distinguished English. Public Speaking Christmas Debate. [Online Image]

Sourced from: http://bit.ly/2gqGmLA

Tis' the season of  snow, celebration and.... debate? Oftentimes, public speaking can create a great deal of stress for many students. With this being said, I think that it is important to find light hearted and thoughtful debate topics. The following activity that I am about to introduce in this post is just that, light hearted and thoughtful, however, it also serves as a fun and engaging way to keep the holiday spirit alive in the classroom. Through this activity students will learn the art of public debate while laughing and thinking with their peers. I found this awesome activity at Teachers Pay Teachers as a free digital download. 

The Debate:

It's the holiday season, and one cannot walk down the street nor step into a shopping mall without seeing that jolly, round belly and hearing that familiar "ho, ho, ho."  Santa Claus is everywhere, there's no arguing that. However, the benefit of his mythical presence is widely debated among parents, educators, and other childcare providers. Some believe that he promotes good behavior and generosity. Others argue that Santa encourages greediness and materialism. But the real question is... What do you think?

Students will be divided into teams that will construct an argument for their assigned positions on the topic. The debate should be formatted as follows:

Affirmative Speaker 1: Introduce teammates and explain what each team member will be speaking about. (2 mins) 

Affirmative Speaker 2: Provide an overview of the debate topic, and explain at least two reasons for why Santa Claus is a good role model for children. (3 mins)

Negative Speaker 1: Accept or reject the overview of the debate topic and introduce teammates along with an explanation of what  they will be speaking about. (2 mins)

Negative Speaker 2: Rebut one of the affirmative team's arguments, and provide one reason for why Santa Claus is not a positive role model for children. (3 mins)

Affirmative Speaker 3: Restate the affirmative team's opinion, rebut one of the negative team's arguments, and provide one more reason for why Santa is a positive role model. (3 mins)

Negative Speaker 3: Restate the negative team's opinion, rebut one of the affirmative team's arguments and provide one more reason for why Santa is not a positive role model. (3 mins)

Affirmative Speaker 4: Rebut any remaining arguments from the negative team, and summarize the debate in favor of Santa Claus as a positive role model for children. (4 mins) 

Negative Speaker 4: Rebut any remaining arguments from the affirmative team, and summarize the debate in favor of Santa Claus as a negative role model for children. (4 mins) 

  

Vivagirlco. Santa Behind bars. Dec. 3, 2014. [Online Image]

Sourced from: http://bit.ly/2fcDkx4

This activity is best suited for grades 7 and 8 and is designed for the Oral Communication strand of the Language curriculum. I hope this holiday debate sparks thought and spirit into your classroom this holiday season!

Ashley 

References: 

Distinguished English. Public Speaking Christmas Debate with Assignment and Rubric. [Online Document].

Sourced from: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Public-Speaking-Christmas-Debate-with-Assignment-Sheet-and-Rubric-1564644 

Writing Strand

The Best Part of Me Writing Activity 

The Best Part of Me. Molly Molloy. June 15,2013. [Online Image]

Sourced from: http://lessonswithlaughter.com/the-best-part-of-me/ 

While exploring teacher resources on Pinterest, I happened upon this fun and engaging writing activity that encourages students to think about themselves in a positive light. The teacher can start out reading poems with the class from a book entitled The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. This book combines black and white illustrations with real children's words describing what they love most about their bodies. This is a fun and insightful way to introduce students to the actual activity at hand which is to talk and write about the best part of themselves.  

The objective of this activity is for students to identify a positive physical feature of themselves and then working in pairs, students take part in an online writer's workshop to create a descriptive poem about their favorite feature. 

I would start out with telling my class something that I love about myself, say my elbow! I would then begin a list on the board of all the reasons I love my elbow (ie. reading, writing, eating). After writing a couple of positive attributes, I would then ask my class for input as to why we love our elbows.

Next I would ask my students if there is anything about themselves that they love and why. Then I would bring students close together to read The Best Part of Me book to showcase photographs and highlight the simplistic style and tone that the authors use. 

Following the reading, I would ask the students to decide on what they think is the very best part of them for homework.  

The Best Part of Me. Molly Molloy. June 15,2013. [Online Image]

Sourced from: http://lessonswithlaughter.com/the-best-part-of-me/ 

Using the computers or computer lab at the school, students can work in groups of two or three to complete an online poetry writing workshop such as Writing with Writers: Poetry website. Once completed, students will write their own descriptive poem about the best part of them following he advice given during the poetry writing workshop. It is important to allow time for students to properly revise and edit their work. 

Students can publish their poems by neatly writing them on a piece of blank white paper, similar to the style found in The Best Part of Me book. A line guide may be helpful with this part of the assignment to keep writing neat and straight. I would then take a close-up photo of each child's self-described "best part" and have the pictures printed or developed. Finally, I would display their written work and photographs on a bulletin display board to share with the rest of their class. 

The Best Part of Me. Molly Molloy. June 15,2013. [Online Image]

Sourced from: http://lessonswithlaughter.com/the-best-part-of-me/ 

Not only is this a great writing activity, it is an excellent tool to help cultivate a positive classroom community. I love the body-positive component of this activity and I definitely look forward to introducing this to my students!

References

The Best Part of Me Lesson Plan. Scholastic. Genia Connell. 

Sourced from:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/best-part-me 

Cheers until next week!

Ashley