Hi everyone! We started off the day by building upon the research skills learned yesterday. Instead of just stating statistics off internet websites, students learned how to "cut cards," or format their ideas into a more extensive form of evidence. The students had to write word-efficient summaries of the article's main ideas, as well as learn what characterizes good quality evidence and research their authors' qualifications.
In order to practice good cross-examination skills, students did an activity where an instructor would write out a word on the board that the student would face their back to, and the class would ask questions aimed at making the guesser use the word in a sentence, but not obvious enough that the guesser would know what the word was! In addition to practicing cross-examination, students also watched cross-ex being practiced in the form of Public Forum debate rounds from the Harvard Round Robin.
After taking a break for lunch, students broke up into small groups for another round of practice debates. Using their reformed cases, full debates were held in several rooms, with each instructor adjudicating rounds and providing extensive feedback to the debaters. For all the students, there was noticeable improvement in their speech quality and presentation!
We ended the day with a quick round of Mafia. In addition to having fun, students were able to practice their persuasive speaking in order to persuade their fellow lab members that they were innocent or convince them that someone else was guilty!
For all the parents reading this, please make sure your children bring sunscreen and water tomorrow for field day! If they're in 8th grade, make sure they're wearing a blue shirt, and if they're in 6th or 7th our lab colors are red, orange, yellow, or pink. Tomorrow, we're looking forward to not only field day, but the demonstration debate performed by the lab instructors for both the labs!
