Wikibible

Debate 101: Lesson 2 Lesson Plans

Goal: Research

I.                   What to research? ORIGINAL SOURCES

With help, my 7^th Graders read the US Constitution.
My 8^th Graders -Supreme Court cases and judgments.
With just a question or two, my 9^th Graders -Congressional Committees Reports
My 10^th – 12^th graders - United Nations Human Rights reports – which they explain to me 

My 12 – 18 year olds WATCH presidential speeches live and take notes. Believe me; I’ll know if they listened to the “summery” by FOX or CNN the morning after. FOX and CNN might give sound bites of the actual speech, but those bites taste very different. In fact, if you listen to two different news stations, you might think they are speaking about two different speeches. How is a 15 year old to know which report is “the truth” if they didn't listen to the actual speech?

Let’s not forget that debate is a competition. The surest way to get creamed in a round is to bring up Wikipedia or BBC news as a source. The judge can’t believe a student who says he knows the “truth” yet his “truth” come from an unreliable or bias source.

My debate students are smart. My church students are smart, too. The only difference is one is taught to go to the ORIGINAL SOURCE and the other is spoon fed second hand material that may or may not be true.

In 25 years of teaching youth, you can imagine the vast array of lessons I have taught. Because I've served at Biblical Churches under Biblical Pastors, most of the material has been Biblical – but the students may never know that. With the exception of the couple of years I taught Teen Precepts, Biblical youth lessons are broken down and spit out in topical sound bites for the students to chew on – too bad most don’t have much meat.

Students are rarely, if ever, taught how to read and study the Bible as it was written.