2+Why+debate?

__ **Advantages** __ - Students must participate. - Students have to use a variety of skills. - Students must integrate knowledge gleaned from various sources. - Students must use critical thinking skills.
 * __Students' Perspective__**

__**Potential Obstacles**__ - Students are unfamiliar with the mechanics of debate. - Argument has a negative connotation and may be associated with hostility for some. - Time management - Competition

__**T****eacher's Perspective**__ __**Advantages**__ - Develops critical reading skills - Develops critical thinking skills - Develops writing skills (An effective debate speech/case mirrors a well-written essay as it requires an attention-getting opening, background knowledge, a thesis that is supported by evidenced-based argumentation, and logical analysis that is persuasively structured and delivered.) - Increases student engagement - Understanding of class content - May improve attendance, test scores, and overall expectations - Teachers who use debate in the classroom report being a more effective teacher, better able to connect to their students, and report greater job satisfaction. - Develops nonverbal as well as verbal communication - Enables students to adapt to audiences. - Engages resistant and reluctant learners (competitive nature, argument, developmentally-appropriate)

__**Potential Obstacles**__ - Engaging __**all**__ students in the classroom. (Giving students a specific task: judging, keeping time; Group Debates: Quiet students fade to the background, and a few students dominate; Team Debates: can become chaotic and the learning seems uneven either across the team's members or if debates are spread out across the year, only the students debating have that increased contact with the material.) - Teaching unfamiliar skills and concepts.