What's included
3 live meetings
4 hrs 30 mins in-class hoursAssessment
Students will be assessed on whether or not they won their debate rounds based upon how well they argued their side and answered their opponents.Class Experience
US Grade 4 - 7
Beginner Level
This class will provide three lesson plans designed to improve student's critical thinking, listening, and public speaking skills. It will do this by teaching kids the basics of speech and debate by using Percy Jackson topics to highlight thematic differences between the books and movies. Students will learn how to create a speech, conduct research, take notes, and respond to what their peers are saying. In addition to learning how to write speeches and debate, kids will also learn basic techniques of comparative literature in order to gain educational insight on what makes a good story, effective character development, and ongoing world building. Each day includes a short 5-10 minute lecture followed by two rounds of an activity geared to build upon the lesson for the day. During the first round of the activity students will be grouped by age, while during the second students will be grouped by skill. This will allow students to learn to speak to a diversity of different people in order to learn how to adapt their arguments to the audience they're speaking to. By the end of the course students will have developed their public speaking skills, logical reasoning, as well as their ability to listen to and understand others. A breakdown of the course is as follows... Day One: Introduction to Debate and Mini-Debates Day Two: Impacting Out Arguments and Effective Notetaking Day Three: How to Adapt to Audiences and the Art of Role Playing Difference We allow kids to select either the topic or side each round, and assign the topics based upon age. Please let us know if there are any topics on our list you don't want your child to debate or be a part of. We will remove any topic from the session we get a request for.
Learning Goals
Students will learn how to work in teams, better their research, public speaking, debate, listening, and note taking skills.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
Talking with parents and doing some limited research for the mini-tournament is suggested, but not required.
Supply List
Students should come with paper and something to write with. Taking notes on a computer is also entirely fine. A timer is suggested, but not required.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Teacher expertise and credentials
The BCDA's founder has been run a competitive college debate team for twenty years. He has also run elementary and middle school debate workshops for the past four years both in the US and internationally. We have now taught well over a thousand kids from countries around the world digitally through this platform with great reviews. If for whatever reason you feel the class didn't live up to what you were looking for, please contact us for a refund. We are offering these courses as a way for students to get the benefits of debate and peer-directed education while schools are shutdown. Debate is not necessarily for everyone, but we are confident that if your kid is excited about it they will enjoy this class, and don't want you paying if that's not the case.
Reviews
Live Group Class
$30
weekly or $90 for 3 classes1x per week, 3 weeks
90 min
Completed by 152 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-14
4-12 learners per class