Note from Dave: I met Les Lynn through an author-thinker-teacher hero of mine, Dr. Jerry Graff. In one of those rare, surreal, “out of body experience” moments that this blog has blessed me with, I once found myself having a drink with none other than the author of the seminal Clueless in Academe and co-author (with Cathy Birkenstein) […]
Teaching Argument
The 300-Word Guide to Pop-Up Debate
Notes from Dave: I treat pop-up debate extensively in Chapter 4 of These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most. Teachers around the world tell me it’s one of their favorite chapters on argument in any source. Pick up your copy today! Pop-up Debate is a method for managing and facilitating in-class debates; […]
A Simple, Two-Paragraph Template that Helps Kids to Really Argue
In the last post, I shared the new argumentative focus I’m experimenting with for the article of the week (AoW) assignment. Rather than choosing just any type of article, I’m looking for articles that argue. [1] It’s not exactly the discovery of the polio vaccine, but still, it’s pretty cool. I like this new focus […]