SSIA Debate Club:
New and Improved!

The fall debate season is underway at our four elementary schools. As I visited classes last week I saw students who were excited and engaged as they prepared their cases, practiced speaking in front of their peers, and listened critically to their classmates' arguments. Their poise and growing self-confidence were evident.

This year brings a significant change to our always popular debate program - classroom teachers are now coaching debate! In addition to wanting to learn debate, the participating teachers - Bentley Alberts at Blaine, Kelli Munro at Coe, Steve Reddy at Lawton, and Tom Lincoln at Hay - cited their students' enthusiasm about debate as a primary factor in their decision to become coaches.

We are very excited about this for a couple of reasons:

• Classroom teachers are the experts in instruction and classroom management, and the students are clearly reaping the benefits.
• It's an important first step to integrating debate into the classroom so all students can benefit.

Each debate session has been extended to 12 weeks so that students have more time to learn the structure of debate and prepare and practice their arguments. This week, former Debate Club students, now 6th graders, will visit classes to stage a mock debate.

The culminating event - a four-school tournament - is scheduled for Saturday, January 16th.

To volunteer as a tournament judge or to learn more, please contact:

sandynielsen@schoolsinaction.org