Four Corners · Four Corners In this activity, each corner of a classroom is labeled with a sign: “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” The

Boston Debate League © 2012

Four Corners

In this activity, each corner of a classroom is labeled with a sign: “strongly agree,” “agree,”“disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” The teacher presents a controversial statement, and eachstudent moves to the corner with the sign that best represents her views on the statement.Once in their corners, students present arguments to defend their positions. Four Cornerslessons introduce an element of physical activity into EBA and ensure that every student, evenwhen not speaking, expresses a definite opinion on the topic at hand.

The activity has many uses. It can be an introduction to a unit’s themes or essential questions.For example, a history teacher might use claims like “the ocean temperature has the biggesteffect on weather ” to begin a unit on the climate science. Four Corners can also be used toteach or reinforce basic content, as in a science class whose students argue whether“mitochondria are the most important organelles in cells.” The activity may also appear at theend of a unit; a chemistry teacher might have a set of claims ready, each stating that a differentsort of chemical bond (ionic, covalent, etc.) is the most important.

How students are asked to defend their positions will depend on the activity’s purpose. If basicargumentation is the goal, each student might be required to say “My claim is...” and “Mywarrant for this claim is...” When arguing about a text, every student might need to cite onepiece of evidence from that text, and in such cases they might need several minutes to find thatevidence before moving to their corners. The most advanced classes can involve more complexarguments—multiple warrants for each claim, perhaps, or the refutation of counterarguments.At any level, Four Corners lessons can be used to set up writing activities like Mini ParagraphWriting or Defeating the Critic.


Finally, the teacher can modify the activity to suit the needs of a particular classroom. Forexample, students in crowded rooms might use hand signals or color-coded cards tocommunicate rather than moving around the room. The amount of collaboration involved mayalso vary: some teachers might wish to have students talk with the others in their corner tocompare reasoning or formulate a coherent statement before sharing.

Step Teacher Move Student Move

1 Make four signs: (1) STRONGLYAGREE, (2) AGREE, (3) DISAGREE, (4)STRONGLY DISAGREE. Post one ineach corner of the classroom.

2 Prepare a list of controversialstatements—usually between 4 and 7.

3 Read one of the statements.Optionally, show the statement on aprojector or piece of paper as well.

Move to the corner with the sign that bestrepresents your views on the statement.Standing in the center of the room or in themiddle of a wall is not allowed. If using text,take time to find evidence supporting yourbeliefs before moving to a corner.

4 If you want, give each group time totalk and select their strongestarguments. Then call on a student toshare. Repeat as desired.

Defend your position (if called on) and listen(if not).

5 Invite students to change positions if aspeaker convinces them to do so.

Change positions if desired.

6 Repeat steps 3–5 for each statement. Repeat steps 3–5 as required.


Soapbox

Here a student gives a short speech affirming or denying a prompt, and another speaker followsup by supporting, supplementing, or refuting the first speech’s argument. Thus the Soapboxgives “the floor” to one student at a time while ensuring that air time overall is evenlydistributed.

When used to introduce a unit, the Soapbox will activate students’ prior knowledge and getthem thinking about key questions before delving more deeply into content. Students may alsobe assigned reading as homework the previous night and then use Soapbox speeches to spark adiscussion on the text. This discussion in turn might become a pre-writing activity for an essayor Mini Paragraph assignment. Of course, the activity can also wrap up a unit, with speechesarguing about the most important gas law in a chemistry class.

Requirements of the soapbox will vary depending on students’ skill levels and teachers’purposes. At the most basic level, each speech might include the explicit statements “my claimis...” and “my warrant for this claim is...” Teachers might also require every speech to cite textualevidence, to present three warrants in an organized manner, or to summarize and refute aprevious speech. This last possibility might also set up a writing activity like Defeating the Criticin which students have to address counterarguments to their claims.


Speeches may be given from a “soapbox” like a low stool or chair, provided it is secure andsturdy. Alternatively, students can simply speak from a designated area at the front of the room,or in more crowded classrooms, a roll of toilet paper could be passed between students so thatthey could speak from their seats.


1 Prepare a “soapbox.”

2 Prepare a list of controversial prompts

3 From the soapbox, give a 30-secondspeech presenting and defending adefinite opinion on a controversialsubject. This speech need not reflectyour personal beliefs; in fact, the moreoutrageous your claims are, the better.

Listen and form your own opinion on thetopic at hand.

4 Invite a volunteer (or call on someone)to give his own 30-second speech onthe subject. Time the speech andprovide ten-second warnings ifdesired.

Speaker: support, refute, or modify theprevious speech’s claims with your ownwarrants.Class: listen and be prepared to speak next.

5 Repeat step 3 as desired. Repeat step 3 as required.

6 Depending on the size and interestlevel of the class, repeat steps 2–4 asdesired using different topics.

Repeat steps 2–4 as required.


Identifying Evidence in a Text

This activity can have students work alone or in small groups. They are first asked to read ashort text and then determine the author’s main claim (with some guidance from the teacher,depending on the class’ needs). When everyone knows the central claim, students are thentasked with identifying the warrants the author uses. They should also be able to explain howeach warrant helps support the original claim.

This activity helps students see how authors construct arguments in texts. Note that the“argument” a given text is making does not necessarily need to be controversial. So, studentscould identify evidence in a biology textbook that follows from the claim that “life is impossiblewithout oxygen.” Though the author’s point is well-known by virtually everyone, students willstill benefit from identifying the various reasons that this statement is true.

The activity is similar to Breaking Down a Text but more basic. While Breaking Down a Textserves as a way to understand longer, more complex arguments, Identifying Evidence can beperformed with a single paragraph or even less. It can also be applied to texts that do not, at


first glance, seem to be “arguments” at all. For instance, students studying fluid dynamics mightbe given the claim that “the manometer is the best way to measure air pressure.” They wouldscour the textbook for warrants to support that claim. They might even repeat the process withthe opposing claim (“the barometer is best”) to see which position is better supported by thetext. This would be an excellent way to test students’ content knowledge before taking an exam,but it is also simply a way to have them read and reread a text until they know its every detailand can understand it from a variety of perspectives.


1 Provide students with a text.Optionally, also provide them withthe text’s main argument.

Read text individually, in groups, or as aclass.

2 Optionally, lead a class discussionthat helps students...

Come to a consensus on the text’s mainargument (or one of them).

3 Have students work individually or ingroups to...

Find three pieces of evidence in the textthat support its main argument.

4 Have students, either in writing oraloud and either in their groups or tothe whole class...

Explain how the evidence you foundsupports the text’s main argument.

5 Once students understand theactivity’s basic premise, try havingthem compete individually or ingroups to...

Come up with better evidence or moreevidence than your peers. Be prepared toexplain the links between each piece ofevidence and the overall argument.


Claim-Warrant Game

In this activity, the entire class sits in a circle and each student writes a controversial statement,or claim, and passes it to her neighbor, who must write a warrant for the claim she was justpassed. (Optionally, the next student in line can then evaluate the warrant to decide whether itprovides valid support for the original claim.) All students engage simultaneously: while personC is writing a warrant to support person B’s claim, person B is writing a warrant to supportperson A’s claim, and so on. The teacher should provide a general theme to which every claimmust relate.

The Claim-Warrant Game helps students distinguish between the parts of an argument byassigning each part to a different person. It also builds community by asking each student toargue in support of a classmate’s claim rather than her own.

So, a teacher might ask students to write a claim about one of the kingdoms of life. Studentscan be creative and come up with a variety of different claims, such as “the fungi kingdom is themost diverse” or “the animal kingdom is the least important.” The next student has to be readyto support any potential claim about the kingdoms, encouraging creative thinking.

Like all EBA activities, the Claim-Warrant game may be used for a variety of purposes. Thewritten claims and warrants generated from that game could even be saved and revisited with a“re-play” at the end of the unit to review what has been learned. The activity could also becentered on a homework problem from the night before. In this case person A might make aclaim about the problem, person B identify a passage or rule from the textbook to support thatclaim, and person C explain how the quotation acts as a warrant for the claim.

This game can be customized in a variety of ways. For example, once students understand thebasics of the game, they might split into small groups to continue it on their own. Or, if complex


arguments are the goal, students might pass the same piece of paper more than once, witheach person adding one warrant to the ones already there and the last person giving a shortspeech stating the claim and all warrants that have been provided for it. (This would be a low-stakes exercise since the content of the speech would not be the speaker’s own.) Finally, thegame’s writing component may vary from quickly jotted notes to full, formal paragraphs andeven (putting multiple warrants together) whole sequences of paragraphs.


1 Prepare a prompt to guide students’claims.

2 Seat students in a circle, each with apiece of paper and pen or pencil.

3 Remind students that a claim is acontroversial statement, and explainthat every claim they make during thisactivity must relate to the assignedtopic or text. Then instruct them to...

Write a claim about the provided prompton your piece of paper. Then pass the paperto the person on your left.

4 Remind students that a warrant is areason a claim is true. Then instructthem to...

On the paper you receive, write a warrantto support the claim. Even if you disagreewith the claim, do your best to find anargument supporting it.

5 Either have students pass their papersonce more to the left, or collect thepapers to shuffle and redistributethem randomly. Then invite or call ona student to...

Read aloud the claim and warrant on thepaper you’re holding.

6 Ask the class to critique the claim andwarrant just shared. Depending ontheir skill level and your purposes,they might be required to...

Discuss one or more of the following:whether (a) the claim and warrant areactually a claim and a warrant; (b) thewarrant supports the claim; (c) the warrantis strong or weak; (d) you can think ofbetter warrants for the same claim; or (e)you can think of warrants to refute theclaim.

7 Repeat steps 3-6 as desired. Repeat steps 3-6 as required.


Table Debates

This activity has students thinking quickly to defend positions they have not had time toprepare. The class is divided into groups of 2, and each group is given two stacks of cards. Thecards in each stack are numbered such that card 1 in stack A corresponds to card 1 in stack B.

Each corresponding pair provides opposing claims about the same subject: for example, card 1in stack A might say that “electrons are most important in determining an atom’s chemicalproperties” while card 1 in stack B reads “protons are most important in determining an atom’schemical properties.” When a student draws a card, he must immediately defend its claim in a60-second speech. This goes on simultaneously in each group of students. Once both sides of acontroversy have been argued (perhaps including a rebuttal speech from each debater),students begin again with the next set of opposing statements.

Table debates are a quick and efficient way to activate prior knowledge and stimulate intereston a variety of related topics. They are thus particularly useful as introductions to new units ofstudy. A science classroom preparing to study plant structures and photosynthesis might discussclaims about which part of a plant is most important.

In one variant of this activity, students compare the strength of various warrants rather thanarguing against any given claim. In this case, card 1 in stack A might say “electrons are mostimportant in determining an atom’s chemical properties because they allow bonds to form,”while card 1 in stack B reads “electrons are most important in determining chemical propertiesbecause they determine an atom’s reactivity.” Students would then debate about which cardmore effectively supports the pro-electron stance. Such an activity would look much like a two-sided version of three-sided Choosing the Best Warrant Mini Debates --except that the formerwould use note cards as prompts instead of a graphic organizer.



1 Write a claim on a note card and anopposing claim on another note card.Repeat as desired for as manystatements as you want students todebate.

2 Place the cards in two stacks suchthat the top card in one stack rebutsthe top card in the other, the secondcard in each stack rebuts the secondcard in the other, and so on.

3 Duplicate the two stacks, until thereare enough copies so that each groupof students can have two competingstacks.

4 Divide the class into groups of 2 andinstruct each group to...

Designate one person in your group “personA” and another “person B.” [Each small groupshould follow the next steps at the sametime.]

5 Give a set (two competing stacks) ofnote cards to each group and askthem to...

Make sure stack A (or one of the stacks, ifthey are not labeled) is face down in front ofperson A and that stack B (or the other stack,if stacks are not labeled) is face down in frontof person B.

6 Give a signal for... A and B (each): draw the top card in yourstack and look at what is written on it.

7 Optionally, set a timer for 30 secondsof prep time to ensure that allstudents have time to process thetask at hand before beginning it.

A and B, if prep time is given: prepare todefend the statement on your card in a 30-second speech.

8 Set a timer for 30 seconds. While itruns, monitor the class to make sureeach group is on task.

A: stand and defend your prompt in a 30-second speech. B: listen and prepare todefend your prompt (rebut A’s).


B: stand and defend your prompt (rebut A’s)in a 30-second speech. A: listen and, ifrequired, prepare for a rebuttal.


10 Optionally, repeat steps 8–9 to givestudents a chance to...

A and B: respond to your opponents’arguments and elaborate on your own infurther 30-second speeches if required.

11 Optionally, lead a whole-classdiscussion in which students...

Explain which side won the debate in yourgroup and why. Talk about arguments ratherthan about the people who made them.

12 Repeat steps 6–11 as desired. Repeat steps 6–11 as required.


Choosing the Best Warrant Mini Debates

This activity divides the class into groups of 3 and assigns each student within the group adifferent warrant for accepting the same overarching claim. (Though students are assigned todefend a particular warrant, they should also know the warrants their competitors have beenassigned so they can make direct comparisons.)The teacher gives students a minute or two ofpreparation time to gather their thoughts. Then, all students defending the first warrant standand deliver a 30 second speech to the other two group members about why their warrant isbetter than the others. This process repeats with the second and third warrant. If the teacherchooses, each student may speak again to rebut their opponents’ arguments. To win the minidebate, students will be forced to compare the different justifications for the original claim andgenerate their own reasons for why their warrant is better than the others.

This activity can be used as a follow-up to ones like Identifying Evidence in a Text or BreakingDown a Text . Students take a claim and three warrants supporting it—either provided by theteacher, taken from a previous activity, or developed on their own—and they argue in smallgroups about which warrant most strongly supports the claim. So, after reading a passage fromthe physics textbook, students might debate about three different reasons for thinking thatNewton’s third law of thermodynamics is the most important of his laws.

The Choosing the Best Warrant Writing Exercise works well as a follow-up to this activity. Moreadvanced classes might also initiate discussions of what exactly makes some warrants strongerthan others, whether different types of warrants work better for different claims or audiences,or where speakers and authors place their strongest and weakest warrants in complex,sustained arguments.



1 Make sure each student has acompleted graphic organizer showingan author or speaker’s claim andthree warrants she uses to supportthat claim.

2 Divide students into groups of threeand instruct them to...

Assign each person in your group one ofthe three warrants on your graphicorganizer.

3 Optionally, set a timer for 30 secondsof “prep time” to ensure that everystudent has a chance to process thetask at hand before beginning it.

If prep time is given, prepare to argue thatyour assigned warrant is the strongest ofthe three. [Each small group should followthe next steps at the same time.]


First speaker: stand and give a speechproving that your assigned warrantsupports the given claim more effectivelythan do the other two. Others: listen andprepare your arguments.


Second speaker: stand and give a speechproving that your assigned warrantsupports the given claim more effectivelythan do the other two. Others: listen and,if necessary, prepare your arguments.


Third speaker: stand and give a speechproving that your assigned warrantsupports the given claim more effectivelythan do the other two. Others: listen and,if necessary, prepare your arguments.

7 Optionally, repeat steps 3–6 to givestudents a chance to...

Respond to your opponents’ argumentsand elaborate on your own in further 30-second speeches if required.

8 Optionally, lead a whole-classdiscussion in which students...

Explain which warrant “won” in yourgroup and why. Talk about specificarguments rather than about the peoplewho made them.


Choosing the Best Warrant Writing Exercise

In this activity students are asked to write a paragraph that explains why one warrant forbelieving a claim is superior to a different potential warrant for believing that same claim. Inessence, students perform the Best Warrant Mini Debate task in writing. Students start with agraphic organizer that has space to write a claim and two warrants for that claim. This materialcan be generated by students for homework, taken from a prior activity, developed as a class, orsimply provided by the teacher. Students then decide which warrant they believe is strongerand think of two reasons that warrant works well. They also generate two reasons why theother warrant is comparatively weak and note this information on the graphic organizer. Finally,they weave their thoughts into a paragraph such as the following:

“The strongest reason for believing [the claim] is [the better warrant]. First, [onereason the warrant is effective]. Second, [another reason the warrant iseffective]. Some would argue that [the weaker warrant] is a better reason tobelieve [the claim], but that is untrue for two reasons. First, [one reason thewarrant is ineffective]. Second, [another reason the warrant is ineffective]. Thus,[the better warrant] is clearly the best reason to believe [the claim].”

Of course more advanced students will not need this much scaffolding—teachers know theirstudents best and will decide just how much guidance to give them. In any case, this exercise,like the Choosing the Best Warrant Mini Debates , encourages students to think about whatmakes some warrants stronger than others. Like its oral counterpart, too, it works well as afollow-up to activities that generate a variety of warrants for a given claim--Identifying Evidencein a Text or Breaking Down a Text , for instance.



1 Distribute graphic organizers to theclass that have space for students tofill in a claim and two warrants.

2 Guide students through completingthe graphic organizer, whether asindividuals or an entire class.

Fill out the blanks in the graphic organizer.

3 Instruct students to decide whichwarrant is strongest and write tworeasons why that warrant is strong.

Determine the strongest warrant andwrite two reasons you think it is strong onthe graphic organizer.

4 Instruct students to come up withtwo reasons why the other warrant isweaker.

Write two reasons why the other warrantis weak in the graphic organizer.

5 If necessary, provide additionalscaffolding to help studentssynthesize these ideas into aparagraph.

Write a paragraph explaining why one ofyour warrants supports your claim moreeffectively than the other does. Be sure toinclude two reasons the stronger warrantis effective and two reasons the weakerwarrant is ineffective.


Evidence Scavenger Hunt

To begin this activity, the teacher reads students a claim about a text. This claim can besomething factual with a right or wrong answer (e.g., “metals are located on the right side ofthe periodic table”) or an interpretive claim that can be supported or disproved by specificportions of the text (e.g., “The periodic table tells you everything you need to know about theelements”). In pairs, students decide whether they agree with the claim, then find a piece ofevidence in the text to support their position. Finally, they fill out a graphic organizer with threecolumns: one in which they record the claim, another for the evidence they found, and a thirdwhere they explain how their evidence works to prove or disprove the claim. So, chemistrystudents could be asked to prove or disprove various statements about acids and bases (e.g. “allbases have hydroxide ions”).

The hunt can be made into a game that rewards the first pair to fill out all three columnsaccurately and thoroughly. To ensure that other pairs still do the work, a teacher could awardeveryone one point for every satisfactory answer and just one extra point to the team thatfinishes first. Alternately, speed could be made a non-issue and students could simply work tocomplete their graphic organizers at their own pace. For example, a teacher might have severalclaims, each written on slips of paper, at the front of the room; when a pair is done withaddressing one claim on their graphic organizer, they can show it to the teacher and, if theirwork is approved, be given the next claim. The number of claims (i.e., the number of rows in thegraphic organizer) varies according to teachers' preferences.


An Evidence Scavenger Hunt works best when the objective is to delve deeply into a single text.It combines competition and collaboration, encouraging students to read quickly yet accuratelyto both identify and analyze textual evidence. The activity could also lead nicely into an essay-writing assignment in which students must use textual evidence to support their arguments: thethird column of the graphic organizer could then serve as a model of how to follow quotationswith analysis in body paragraphs.


1 Prepare a suitable graphic organizerand a set of claims about a text.

2 Have students pair up and give eachpair a graphic organizer.

3 Read a claim aloud. Write the claim in the appropriate columnon your graphic organizer.

4 Monitor pairs as they... Decide with your partner whether youagree with the claim.

5 Monitor pairs as they... Look through the text for evidence tosupport your view on the claim.

6 Monitor pairs as they... Write and cite the evidence in theappropriate column on your graphicorganizer.

7 Monitor pairs as they... Explain briefly in the appropriate columnhow your evidence supports or refutes theclaim. Make sure you analyze the textrather than simply re-wording it.

8 Check answers for accuracy and depthof analysis. Award points as desiredwhen students...

Notify the teacher when you havecompleted the row.

9 Repeat steps 3–8 as desired. Repeat steps 3–8 as required.


Mini Paragraph Writing

This activity illustrates the links between written and oral argumentation by having studentswrite paragraphs rather than make speeches or hold debates in response to resolutions.Students are given three prompts about a text. Each statement will be the basis for an individualmini paragraph. The student starts with a sentence that re-states the provided prompt andindicates whether she agrees with it. Then, the student must supply a piece of evidence fromthe text to back up her perspective. Finally, the student must explain why that piece of evidencesupports her original interpretation in one or two sentences. This repeats for each additionalprompt.

For example, a physics teacher might give her class the prompt “Static friction makes sportingevents exciting.” Once students’ first paragraphs are complete she might have them changeviewpoints to argue that “Kinetic friction makes sporting events exciting”--or she might promptthem with “static friction makes amusement parks exciting” and eventually have them writemini-essays laying out several arguments for the overall importance of static friction.At the most basic level these paragraphs can be heavily scaffolded. A template might requirestudents to begin with a pre-set topic sentence: for example, either “static friction makessporting events exciting” or “static friction does not affect how exciting sporting events are.”The sequence of sentences that follow could also be prescribed: one providing a warrant for theclaim, one citing a piece of evidence, one explaining how that evidence supports the claim, andone concluding the paragraph. More advanced students, of course, will need none of this; theymight simply be asked to “write a paragraph” and be expected to know what that task entails.

As with any written EBA activity, this one can be used in conjunction with oral ones: paragraphscould be delivered as speeches, incorporated into mini-debates, or used to debrief a debatealready completed.



1 Provide the class with a controversialstatement about a text they have reador concept they have studied.

Decide whether you agree or disagree withthe statement provided.

2 Provide as much scaffolding as youdeem necessary for students to...

Write a paragraph in which you articulateyour stance on the statement, cite a pieceof evidence from the text, and explain howthat evidence supports your position.

3 Repeat steps 1–2 as desired (generallytwo more times) with differentstatements.

Repeat steps 1–2 as required.


Defeating Counterarguments Class Challenge

Students are put into groups of three and the whole class is given an argument that they mustdefend along with a counterargument. The groups have three minutes to come up with the bestresponse to the counterargument that they can muster, and then each group has arepresentative stand and deliver the response. Briefly, the class can discuss which response tothe counterargument they found strongest and why. The process repeats as many times asdesired with new arguments and counterarguments and different students representing eachgroup. This activity places everyone in the class on the same side of an argument but then hasthem compete in groups to see who can defend that argument most convincingly. It thuscombines what is best about both competition and cooperation.

As with other EBA activities, the oral and written aspects of this one can strengthen and informone another in more than one way. The Class Challenge could act as an introduction to an essayassignment in which students must anticipate and refute a counterargument to their thesis on atext. Alternatively, students could first draft such an essay, then perform the Challenge tocompare their handiwork with that of their peers, and finally revise the essays to reflect thefeedback they received during the Challenge.

As it is described here, the lesson focuses on how to respond effectively to counterarguments. Itcould be adapted, however, to hone any number of argumentation skills. Groups could competeto incorporate textual evidence most smoothly into their arguments, use the greatest variety ofwarrants to support their claims, organize their arguments most clearly, and so on. Of course,content could be privileged over argumentation skills at any time; for instance, students mightbe graded on how well they understand the applications of Newton’s first law ofthermodynamics rather than on how persuasively they argue that the first law is moreimportant than the second.



1 Lead a discussion in which the classgenerates both a claim to be defendedand a counterargument to that claim.(Or, if time is a more pressing issuethan buy-in, just provide the class withthe claim and/or counterargument.)

2 Divide the class into groups of 3–5students.

3 Set a timer for three minutes. While itruns, monitor students to make surethey are on task.

Take three minutes to draft a one-minutespeech refuting the counterargument anddefending the claim. Select a representativewho will deliver your speech.

4 Set a timer for one minute. While itruns, have one group’srepresentative...

Take one minute to deliver your speechwhile the rest of the class listens.

5 Repeat step 4 until all groups haveshared.

Repeat step 4 until all groups have shared.

6 Lead a discussion in which students... Discuss which group’s speech was thestrongest and why.

7 Repeat steps 2–6 as desired. Repeat steps 2-6 as required.


Round Robin Debates

The name of this activity refers to the fact that students take turns being advocates and judges,switching roles after each round of debating. They work in groups of three, with each person ina group designated “A” or “B” or “C.” The teacher supplies a prompt, and everyone assigned tobe person A in their group stands simultaneously to deliver a short speech in defense of thatprompt. Then person B in each group stands to refute the prompt while person C decides whowins (based on criteria provided by the teacher). Persons A and B may give a round of rebuttalspeeches if desired, but when the debate is over and C has named a winner it is time to changeboth the prompt and the roles: for the next debate, B and C will argue while A judges.Throughout the activity, multiple students will be speaking simultaneously, so keeping voices toan appropriate level so that only the other two students in the group can hear is paramount.

The criteria for judging in these debates will vary. Some teachers might have students judgeholistically or generate their own criteria for picking a winner within each group. Others mightimplement a point system in which the judge awards one point each time a speaker citesevidence from a text, two points each time someone directly refutes an opponent’s argument,and so on. In this way teachers can ensure that the Round Robin debates directly fulfill theirspecific skill objectives for each day, week, or unit. For purposes of scaffolding andaccountability, judges can also be provided with worksheets that will help them make theirdecisions (and be graded as classwork at the end of the day).

Round Robin Debates allow all students in a class to debate simultaneously in small-group, low-stakes situations. They also place the burden of choosing a winner on the students, who must


understand and articulate what exactly constitutes a winning argument. Finally, this activityforces students to argue for positions they do not choose themselves--a valuable exercise incritiquing their own assumptions.

Round Robins help students gain in-depth understanding of specific issues. They might developoriginal arguments on a single text or topic: for example, argue that a asexual reproduction is abetter evolutionary strategy than sexual reproduction. Or they might take a broader look at atopic, for example comparing the chemical properties of different elements to determine whichchemical would make the most impressive addition to a fireworks display.


1 Place students in groups of three anddesignate each group member “A,”“B,” or “C.”

2 Provide a prompt: a controversialstatement.

3 Explain the judging criteria andhow torecord points in the debate (whetherfor using textual evidence, respondingto an argument, or something else).

4 Optionally, set a timer for 30 secondsof “prep time” to ensure that everystudent has a chance to process thetask at hand before beginning it.

All, if prep time is given: make sure youunderstand the prompt and can anticipatethe types of arguments people might makeabout it.A, if prep time is given: prepare to defendthe prompt in a 30-second speech.


A: stand and defend the prompt in a 30-second speech.B: listen and prepare to refute thestatement.C: listen, take notes, and award points asappropriate. All persons assigned “A” willbe speaking simultaneously.


B: stand and refute the prompt in a 30-second speech.A: listen and prepare to rebut B's openingarguments.C: listen, take notes, and award points as


appropriate. All persons assigned “B” willbe speaking simultaneously.


A: stand and rebut B’s opening argumentsin a 30-second speech.B: listen and prepare to rebut A's openingarguments.C: listen, take notes, and award points asappropriate.


B: stand and rebut A’s opening argumentsin a 30-second speech.A: listen.C: listen, take notes, and award points asappropriate.

9 Invite or call on a judge (“C”) to share. C: explain which side won in your groupand why. Talk about arguments rather thanabout the people who made them.

10 Repeat step 9 as desired. Repeat step 9 as required.

11 Repeat steps 2–9 with anotherprompt if desired.

Repeat steps 2–9 as required with person Ajudging, person B defending the prompt,and person C refuting it.

12 Repeat steps 2–9 with yet anotherprompt if desired.

Repeat steps 2–9 as required with person Bjudging, person C defending the prompt,and person A refuting it.


Defeating the Critic Paragraph

This exercise is fairly advanced, but students who have progressed this far in the sequenceshould find it manageable. Students are asked to choose a controversial thesis statement abouta text or concept they are studying. Instead of providing reasons why that statement is true,however, students are asked to come up with two reasons that someone might disagree withtheir thesis statement. Then, they write a paragraph that refutes both potentialcounterarguments.

These paragraphs can take many forms as long as they focus on identifying a claim and acounterargument to that claim, followed by a defense of the original claim against thecounterargument. The claims might be ones provided by a teacher either to activate priorknowledge at the start of a unit or to review what has been learned at the end of a unit. Claimsmight also be generated by students: for example, students could be asked to take a stand onwhether metals or nonmetals are the most interesting type of element. Since they will havelearned about a variety of examples from within each category, they should be able to easilyshoot down potential objections to their chosen type of element.

Defeating the Critic is a written task but can be used in conjunction with oral ones: for example,students might write their paragraphs in preparation for a debate so that they can betterpredict what their opponents might say, or they might debate first and incorporate argumentstheir opponents made into the paragraphs they write afterward.


The activity can be scaffolded heavily or not at all. In step 3, some teachers might providegraphic organizers or have students articulate counterarguments in a specific format: forexample, “the claim that … is not true because (1)… and (2)…” Again in step 4, some teachersmight require students to follow a clear-cut formula: “some may say that … ; however, my claimis still valid because …” Others might provide editorials or other texts and samples to emulate,and still others might simply leave students to their own devices.


1 Select a controversial topic for theclass to discuss.

2 Make sure each student can make aclaim about the topic. Students canchoose the claims or the teacher canassign them

Write down your claim in a clear, completesentence.

3 Explain that instead of just providingwarrants to support their claims,students need to think about whatwarrants others might use tochallenge those claims. If necessary,introduce the term“counterargument” and distributegraphic organizers that have space forthe counterarguments and theirresponses.

Think of an argument an opponent mightmake against your claim. Write it down inthe appropriate place on your graphicorganizer, if you have one.

4 Monitor students as they... Think of how you would respond to theargument you wrote in step 4. Write downyour response in the appropriate place onyour graphic organizer, if you have one.

5 Repeat steps 3–4. Repeat steps 3–4.

6 Provide students with any morescaffolding you deem necessary.

Construct a paragraph in which you addressand effectively refute bothcounterarguments to your claim.


Breaking Down a Text:

Students are provided with a short persuasive text (op-ed, editorial, etc.). They are asked toidentify the author’s main argument and then the sub-points which she uses to defend thatargument. Each sub-point should then be broken down into the claim the sub-point makes andthe warrants the author provides to support that claim. Providing a graphic organizer withspaces for the main argument and its subpoints will make this activity clearer for students.Proper text selection will also be crucial for ensuring students’ success.

This activity unlocks persuasive prose—an editorial, a letter to the editor, even a love poem ormovie review—by organizing it into a pattern students are familiar with: claims and warrants.Breaking down texts in this way allows students to read with purpose as well as to think abouthow writers structure their arguments. Breaking Down a Text can help students master thecontent presented by a specific text, but it can also scaffold essential notetaking skills thatstudents can apply to future readings.

Students may engage in a variety of follow-up activities after reading and “breaking down” theassigned text. Once they have filled out their graphic organizers, for example, they might beasked to give a speech defending the author’s position (or challenging it, for more advancedstudents) without looking at the original text. Alternatively, if the focus is on organizingstudents’ own arguments, the class might discuss whether the text ordered its warrantseffectively and try giving speeches presenting the text’s subpoints in reverse order to gauge theeffects of restructuring.



1 Provide students with a shortpersuasive text.

Read text—individually, in groups, or as aclass.

2 Distribute suitable graphic organizersand have students work individually orin groups to...

Identify the author’s main argument. Writeit in the appropriate place on your graphicorganizer.

3 Monitor students as they... Identify one subpoint (claim + warrant) theauthor uses to support her main argument.Write it in the appropriate place on yourgraphic organizer.

4 Monitor students as they... Repeat step 3 as many times as the graphicorganizer requires.


Essay Pre-Writing

Students are asked to complete a graphic organizer that breaks down a paragraph or essay intoits parts (topic sentences, supporting claims and evidence to back those supporting claims). Thisassignment can be used to help students to write a formal essay or to prepare openingstatements for a full-length class debate. To set up the activity, teachers create a graphicorganizer with spaces for students to write a claim and three warrants supporting that claim.Depending on the complexity of argumentation desired, there might also be a box for a piece oftextual or other evidence to strengthen each warrant, as well as one for an explanation of howthe evidence, warrant, and claim are all connected.

Once students have filled out their graphic organizers, the teacher helps them transform theirwork into an essay using as much scaffolding as needed. (This is where teachers could map theEBA language onto whatever formulas they already use for essay-writing: MEAL paragraphs, thehamburger model, and so on.)

Teaching the five-paragraph essay is much easier when students are already familiar with EBAconcepts like “claim” and “warrant.” They simply need to understand that a claim is a thesis andthat each body paragraph provides its own warrant and evidence to support the overall thesis.In this activity they use a graphic organizer to make that connection. Of course, more advancedclasses could incorporate counterarguments or evaluate the relative strength of warrants; whatappears here is only one possible version of this activity.


The Essay Pre-Writing Activity also works as an extension of lessons like the Evidence ScavengerHunt and the Defeating the Critic Paragraph . Students might even give a soapbox-style speechthat runs through their “basic essay structures so that the class can compare and contraststrategies for organizing writing. After all, any time students find themselves having to structurecomplex spoken arguments, they are also working on organizing their writing—whether theyknow it or not.


1 Prepare and distribute a suitable graphicorganizer.

Fill in the graphic organizer—individually,in groups, or as a class.

2 Provide as much scaffolding as youdeem necessary to make clear theconnections between claims and theses,warrants and topic sentences, and soon.

Use your graphic organizer to outline andthen write a five-paragraph essaysupporting your claim.


Full-Length Debate

Formal debates lasting an entire class period can be the most exciting part of EBA. The entireclass is involved in debating the same question, with teams of students being assigned todefend different perspectives on the topic. Within each group, every student has a distinct role:one delivers the opening statement, one asks cross-examination questions, another answersquestions posed by other groups, and yet another delivers the closing statement. Each group isresponsible both for defending its own perspective and for effectively critiquing the argumentsmade by other teams.

Students work together feverishly, sometimes for days at a time, to research and perfect theirarguments. They prepare lists of cross-examination questions for their opponents and speculateabout what questions they will have to answer. They highlight and annotate and use up wholeblocks of sticky notes as they outline and practice their speeches. And on the big day, they showup ready to compete, fiercely yet professionally, for the coveted victory.

These debates can take numerous forms. They can be adapted to suit the size of a class, thelength of a block, or the layout of a room. They can be graded with customized rubrics accordingto a teacher's priorities, so that one class might emphasize teamwork and listening skills whileanother focuses more on how well students understand the text or content being discussed.And they can appear at the beginning of new units to raise interest, at the end of units to reviewwhat has been learned, or anywhere in between.

Because of full-length debates can be so complex, requiring teachers to select certain kinds oftopics and prepare student to fulfill various roles, this manual dedicates the next section toplanning and executing them.

Documents

Four Corners · Four Corners In this activity, each corner of a classroom is labeled with a sign: “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” The