The Middle School Debater

"The Middle School Debater" is written for social studies teachers who wish to use debate in their classes. It is for the teacher who desires to involve the students in the historical moment; it is not written for debate teachers. Students this age (6th to 9th grade) must be "doing". They cannot sit still long enough for a lecture to have any meaning for them. But they certainly do learn in cooperative experiences.

Debating is a "hands-on" experience. Students use reading skills, analysis, research, note-taking, and speech (to name a few). The debating process in this book is simplified but still guides the teacher through basic argumentation.

There are two types of debates, those that argue policy and those that argue values. This book will be concerned with only one: the proposition of policy, which maintains that a new course of action should be adopted.