LESSON PLAN: HOLDING AN IN-CLASS POST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
By Syd Golston, an educational administrator, curriculum writer and historian

Subjects: Government, civics, social studies

Topics Covered: Presidential Debates and the Vice Presidential Debate of 2004; Debating Procedure; Formal Logic; History of Presidential Debates

Time: Two class periods

Lesson Objectives
The objectives of this lesson are analysis of campaign issues, and introduction (with practice) of formal debate procedures and elements of logic.

Overview:
Students watch one of the 2004 debates on television, and then hold a debate of their own focusing on the major issue that emerges from that debate. Eight students on the two debate teams compose arguments and practice debating. The rest of the class reviews the history of Presidential debates and learns Logical Fallacies and Techniques of Persuasion, which are practiced using actual debate statements by John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. On debate day, the class members choose the winning team and try to catch debaters in logic errors.

Also see Watching the Presidential Debates, a second NewsHour Extra lesson activity that offers teachers a ballot developed by the National Forensic League to help students critique the 2004 presidential debates for effectiveness, reasoning, analysis and delivery.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/socialstudies/debates_short.html

Correlation to National Standards

Materials Needed Procedures for Teachers

• Handouts (in appropriate numbers for the class)
  Handout #1 - Debates Viewing Sheet
  Handout #2 - Debates Format Sheet
  Handout #3 - Debates Argument Template
  Handout #4 - History of Presidential Debates
  Handout #5 - Techniques of Persuasion and Logical Fallacies
  
• Stopwatch
• Four "blue ribbons" for each class - paper or real ribbon - marked "Champion Debater"

Procedures for Teachers

• Require students to watch the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates on television, and record their own and analysts' commentary on the Debates Viewing Sheet (Handout #1). Dates are:

  Thursday, September 30, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
  Tuesday, October 5, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
  Friday, October 8, Washington University, St. Louis (Vice Presidential debate), MO.
  Wednesday, October 13, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

• When the next class meets, ask students to share their observations and select the ONE issue they thought was most important in the debate. You must frame the issue as a positive resolution. (Example: "The Bush tax cuts are working to revive the economy," NOT "The economy did not fall deeper into recession because of the Bush tax cuts." The resolution will be written onto the Political Debates Format Sheets (see below).
  

• Remind students that the emerging issues may surprise them. In 1960, no one could have predicted that a whole presidential debate would center on Quemoy and Matsu, two small islands near Taiwan.

• Select 8 students in each class for the debate teams. Ask each team of four to record the resolution the class has written and to select its own debate slots, on the Political Debates Format Sheets (Handout #2).

Note: Students who fear debating should choose Opening Statement, which can be prepared beforehand and simply read.
Students more comfortable with debating can do the Rebuttal Statement.
Students most confident of their ability to think quickly on their feet should choose Question Session.
The most eloquent speakers should choose in the Summary slots.

• If you feel comfortable about doing so, ask debate team members to share their telephone numbers. It is highly motivational to a high school student to call another student in the evening, especially if you've mixed the sexes in assigning the teams. (When this lesson was first used, parents and students often reported that there were marathon phone calls the night before. Debaters sometimes became fast friends.)

• Teams will then work outside the classroom and as homework to prepare their arguments, using the Debate Arguments Template (Handout #3).

• While debating teams are working, review with the rest of the class the History of Presidential Debates (Handout #4) and then learn and practice (with quotes from actual presidential debates) the Techniques of Persuasion and Logical Fallacies (Handout #5).

• Hold the debate on the second day. While you give the debaters 5 final minutes for last minute review, distribute and go over the Political Debates Format Sheets, which are also used as the students' ballots. Emphasize the rules at the bottom about objectivity, as well as the observers' extra credit opportunity.

• Time each portion of the debate carefully, using a stopwatch. The debate itself takes 30 minutes.

• Allow only 5 minutes for students to mark their ballots and fill out the extra credit portion, if they wish to. Collect the ballots.

• Tally the ballots on the board, reading an occasional "This team won the debate because…" if there is time. Excitement is high at this point; be sure you've finished the tally before the bell rings!

• Award the winning debaters their "Debate Champion" blue ribbons (real or paper).

• Grade the debate ballots, using any number of points and extra credit you wish to use.

The day after each televised debate, students can check NewsHour Extra for a commentary by a National Forensic League champion high school debater. Each of the top four winners in N.F.L. national competition in June 2004 has been given a byline to judge one debate using the standards by which they themselves were judged in the Lincoln-Douglas (individual) debate category.

Correlation to NCSS and Civitas Standards

• National Council for the Social Studies Standards, X: Civic Ideals and Practices: g. practice forms of civic discussion and participation consistent with the ideals of citizens in a democratic republic.
• Civitas Standards (National Standards for Civics and Government): "Political communication: television, radio, the press, and political persuasion," page 118

About the Author Author Syd Golston is an educational administrator, curriculum writer and historian. She taught secondary Social Studies for 20 years, wrote lessons and in-serviced teachers in 40 states as Supervisor of Education for Kids Voting USA, and serves now as Dean of Students at Alhambra High School in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council for the Social Studies.