Discuss the debate as a class. Assessment Students assess the effectiveness of the arguments through discussion and voting. Teacher assesses knowledge of debaters and attention of the audience through written or oral evaluation. Materials newspapers and news magazines writing supplies Procedures 1. In groups of 3 to 5, students brainstorm and generate a list of Alaska issues based on news articles, television news, or other sources.
Different students act as facilitator, recorder, etc.
Each group posts a list of topics on the wall. The class reassembles to examine and discuss the group lists. Students note frequency of topics, diversity of topics. A class topic list is generated which includes all topics, prioritized by frequency. From the list of topics within the domain of state and local governments, and with guidance from the teacher, the students discuss and select the 3 or 4 topics the class will investigate during the semester.