Here are the videos we've recorded today. Please listen carefully to what is being said. You'll find out that there are many things you have missed from your previously written arguments. Also pay attention to the body language: your stance, the movements of your hands, your faces... Everything counts!
Me and Elena will add more comments to these videos.
Enjoy!
First group @ 5B
Second group @ 5B
Preparation. I know you guys have had multiple weeks to prepare for this, but unfortunately it doesn’t really show. Remember the four kinds of evidence: example, common sense, expert opinion and statistics, and try to use some of each. Especially for the expert opinions and statistics, this means research on the internet, but the time is worth it because all of the arguments were weak in the area of facts, as opposed to common sense logic or example.
ResponderEliminarOrganization. Organize your argument into reasons and supporting evidence, like I did on the board with the cupcake example. For every reason you MUST have supporting evidence, and DON’T give an example without first stating what point you are trying to make! If you do this, it makes your argument difficult to follow for the audience. Remember, your audience is those people you are trying to convince – the people listening, NOT the other debaters.
NO. →Reason without evidence: The toothbrush is the best invention because using it keeps your teeth clean. (Missing: Why is this reason important? Why should I believe you?)
NO. →Evidence without reason: The toothbrush is the best invention because if teeth that are never cleaned will rot and fall out, and then you can’t eat. (Missing: Why are you talking about teeth falling out? What’s the point?)
YES. -→Reason supported by evidence: The toothbrush is the best invention because using it keeps your teeth clean, which is important because unhealthy teeth will rot over time and fall out. Without teeth you cannot eat a lot of different foods that we enjoy everyday, like pizza or apples. Before the invention of the toothbrush, 70% of people over the age of 65 were missing at least half of their teeth. This meant that they could only eat soup, soft bread, or mushy foods. However, today, 97% of people over 65 have all of their teeth and can eat normally. (*I made these statistics up!)
Notice that the last option is the longest. This will usually be the case, because you are taking the time to present your thoughts in an organized way and thoroughly explain what you mean. This doesn’t mean that talking more makes you a better debater. Try to say what you mean in as few words as necessary, but still having all the elements of a good argument.
Style. I was not there to organize, so the format of the debate was different than it will be on Debate Day. On Debate Day, you will not be seated facing each other, but standing, facing your audience. You will speak to the audience, NOT to the other team. You will take turns speaking in an orderly fashion directed by Javier or myself. You will not be allowed to talk over each other or interrupt.
To help you remember your reasons and evidence and make your arguments in an organized way, you will be allowed one sheet of paper with notes that you may refer to during the debate. I strongly suggest you take advantage of this!
*Now I'm going to give some comments for each group. I would read ALL of the comments, because you can learn from what I say to other groups!
ResponderEliminarMatt+Mollie
As I see it, you guys put forth three strong reasons, one in favor of mobile phones and one against paper: 1) Mobile phones increase the speed and ease of communication, 2) New technology is replacing paper in many situations and 3) making paper requires cutting down trees, which is bad for the environment.
1) Mobile phones increase the speed and ease of communication. You could make these into two separate points. A) “Mobile phones mean that people can communicate almost instantly from across the globe” and then contrast this with paper communication, as you did. B) “Mobile phones make it possible to communicate from almost anywhere” and then you can use your example of emergency communication.
2) New technology is replacing paper in many situations. This is a good point but you must provide good evidence for it. Mollie mentioned ebooks – try to find a statistic, such as the number of eboks sold in 2010.
3) Making paper requires cutting down trees, which is bad for the environment. I’m sure you can find more evidence for this point too.
The bottom line: BETTER PREPARATION AND ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS. You have a good start, but you need to be better prepared and more organized, as I wrote about in the first general comment for everyone. Also, I’m sure you can think of even more reasons! Finally, and this goes for EVERYONE, make sure you know WHO is going to say WHAT, so you don’t repeat each other or leave anything out.
Jack+Amelia
ResponderEliminarAmelia hardly got a chance to talk – this will change on Debate Day as you will take turns.
You seemed to spend more time talking about the mobile phone than about why paper is important. While it is important to show how mobile phones are not the most important invention, the best way to do this is to actually come up with reasons the Matthew and Mollie have not thought of, rather than contradicting everything they say.
Try to develop the paper side of the argument more, because there is a lot you can say here. To be fair, I don’t think you were given as much time to talk as the other group, and that will be different on Debate Day.
The point about paper money is a good one, but could be made better if you looked up what kinds of things people used for money before paper and the problems with each. It seemed like you were using your own logic rather than facts, and facts would make a stronger argument. For instance, I don’t think any culture ever tried to make money out of leaves. So, your evidence for this reason is good, but could be even better with a little bit of research.
Hint: Paper had an absolutely HUGE impact on history. Think about what life would be like if paper were never invented, then research on the internet to find facts to support your ideas. Remember how before paper people used to write on clay and stone tablets? What are the problems with this? Do you think as many people knew how to read and write back then as do today? What are all the ways that you use paper in your daily life, that they couldn’t have done back then? For many years, paper was the MAIN way of communicating across time (you write something down and people can read it later, even after you are dead) and space. Without this possibility of communication, what would life be like? You could only learn from the people around you, people who you could talk to. So it could be argued that paper enabled the exchanging of ideas, which lead technology to advance at such a fast rate. Could mobile phones even have been invented without scientists and engineers exchanging ideas with each other?
The bottom line: MORE REASONS AND EVIDENCE. ABOUT PAPER. I haven’t seen your written work, but from this video it seems to me you need more reasons (of course supported by evidence), so try to ask yourself these types of questions as I just did. I know you guys are capable of coming up with a really solid argument if you combine creativity and research.
Vincent+Patrick
ResponderEliminarNo visible preparation whatsoever. Need many more reasons and evidence as to why Penicillin is the most important invention. “It saves lives” is NOT enough. When talking about how seatbelts are not important, don’t just argue with everything the other team says, such as saying that people can be allergic to seatbelts. The best resosns you can give will be those you think about and find evidence for BEFORE the debate, not just saying the opposite of what your opponents say. Show us what you have been doing for the past few weeks. If , after all this time, you seem unprepared for the debate, you will not only lose, but will also receive a low grade.
The bottome line: DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Think of reasons, then either find evidence online (expert opinion, statistics and examples), or think of your own evidence (common sense and examples). Make sure you are organized so you know who will say what. Prepare a sheet of notes to use. Basically, you must do all the work of these weeks in the next few days, in order to not fail this debate.
Ross+Yannick
You guys have some good points against penicillin: it’s expensive to make and because of this not everyone has access to it. The point about penicillin not saving lives but only curing diseases would have to be developed more to make sense. Are you saying that the kinds of diseases that penicillin cures are not the kinds that kill people? Make sure your research supports this idea.
To make a strong argument about seatbelts, try to look up more information about how effective they are in saving lives. Good job trying to use statistics, but it came out a bit confused so the audience may think you do not know what you are talking about. Write them down on your sheet of notes to remember exactly what the facts are.
I’d say you need to think of more reasons why seatbelts are the best invention. Yes, they save lives, but so do other things, including medicines like penicillin. What makes seatbelts more important than these other things? Is it how many people use them? Are they more effective than other inventions, such as airbags? Do research to find out why seatbelts are so effective.
The bottom line: MORE REASONS AND IMPROVE ORGANIZATION. Make sure to divide who will say what. Have your evidence prepared. Organize it on a sheet of paper like I did for my cupcake example, and use this sheet to keep you focused during the debate. You have a good start, so just try to improve on the work you’ve already done.