5+Scaffolding+Debate


 * __Scaffolding Instruction__ (Building Skills and Supporting Student-Learning)**

Most teachers find that their students (and they) are not ready to jump into a full debate right away. Teachers can build confidence and develop skills needed to participate in a full-length debate by having students particpate in activities that focus on a specfic part of the debate process.

__**Evidence Hunt Activitiy**__**.** To help students learn how to use evidence to support an argument, students can do an evidence hunt. The teacher gives students a list of arguments and a list of excerpts from a text. Students match the evidence to the appropriate argument.

A teacher who wants to help students understand how to use evidence to support an argument can do an evidence hunt activity where she gives the students a list of arguments and a list of excerpts from a text and ask them to match the evidence to the appropriate argument.

__**Soapbox Activity**__**.** To assist students in using evidence to advocate for a position, the teacher can use the soapbox activity. Students make a 20-second argument with a piece of evidence from a text. For example, students might argue that a particular character in a text, such as Anthony in //Julius Caesar//, is not really a good person.

A teacher that wants to focus on helping students use evidence to advocate for a position can do Soapbox activity, where he requires students make a 20 second argument with a piece of evidence from a text. He can ask students to argue that a character from //Tale of Two Cities// is a good person or that a particular type of radiation is helpful to society.t

Cross-X Circle.
 * Cross-Examination Activities**