Reflections on a Great Debate...

I want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the online debate that we just completed for our Master's class.  Perhaps it's because the last thing I did with my students was a debate and it's still fresh in my mind, but I feel like we were well prepared for what was expected of us, and I had a lot of fun gathering data, trying to tone down my arguments, and to try and present what I could in the best way possible.  One thing that I would like to try and do next year with my own students, is to give them more time preparing for and practicing the debate.  This year, I spent one day explaining (and practicing!) the format of a debate, another day gathering research and preparing speeches, and that's it.  They had little time once the debate begun to actually figure out what they were going to say.  For a student who is already wary of speaking in public, the lack of time would be truly nerve-wracking for a student, especially when many of them have never actually participated in a debate before.  I don't know if engaging in online debates through VoiceThread would work well with 8th grade students, but the time it allows for formulating clear thoughts is certainly something I'm going to look into!