March 27 and 31, 2014 7th grade reading class The class is made up of 12 students (8 girls and 4 boys).

Students entered and went directly to their desks and got settled in for class. The activity for the class was written clearly on the board. (Debate: school uniforms) The students completed an assignment last class, reading and responding to an informational text piece about required school uniforms. Based on student interest and connection to persuasive writing, Mrs. Michaud created a two period investigation activity that would culminate in a class debate. Students were instructed to take out their completed homework. All students complied immediately. Mrs. Michaud circulated around the room to check their work before they went over the assignment together in class. Mrs. Michaud reviewed authors purpose and text structure for the article they read. T: Do you think the author has a bias? Do you think the article sways more to one way? S: It seems like the author wants uniforms because there are a lot more good things about wearing uniforms. T: You will be split into two groups. Each group will get a paper where you will indicate if youre for or against school uniforms. You will then work together to research 5 reasons to support you side. You also have to come up with reasons the other side might argue and think up ways to refute that. Once you get your papers, you need to divide the tasks so everyone has a job to do. Each group will select the speaker for the group. Do good research so that your speaker has good arguments. Mrs. Michaud then went around and students drew cards to determine which side they would be on. Once the cards were distributed the students immediately got into their groups and got to work. The first decision was to elect who would be the speaker. Then the kids began researching. Everyone was engaged. The kids were enthusiastic about the activity and lots of learning was happening. Not only were the students learning about the topic (school uniforms) but they were putting persuasive techniques into practice, working cooperatively with others, researching, and contributing to a group product. The level of excitement and engagement was palpable, which was very exciting. Some comments I overheard was this is cool, this is exciting, lets all work together. Mrs. Michaud alternated between groups to monitor the students, offer support, or to clarify the task and expectations. The students were very self-directed, so she operated as a facilitator much more than an instructor. Once the teams brainstormed their points and counterpoints, they were instructed to rate their points from strongest to weakest. Then, teams were to construct a closing statement. The preparation for

the debate took the entire class period and students were instructed to be prepared to conduct the debate during Mondays class. *** On Monday, the students entered the class really excited for the debate. Once the students got into their groups and settled, Mrs. Michaud explained the format for the debate. T: You will pick someone to be the speaker. The speakers will play rock, paper, scissors to see which team will go first. Each side will have two minutes to state their point. Each team will have a minute or two to talk to their team and then the speaker will give their rebuttal. The students worked for a couple minutes to prepare and then the debate began. The students were struggling a little with rebuttal, part, so Mrs. Michaud made a small adjustment to the plan to allow teams to switch off speakers and get more support from their team. This little adjustment made a HUGE difference to the overall success of the debate. Overall I found this activity to be awesome! Everyone participated enthusiastically, shared in the work equitably, and left with a lot of knowledge. Initial teaching standards observed: 1. Demonstrates knowledge of the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) s/he teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful to students. 2. Demonstrates the ability to integrate the concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures among the disciplines (reading, writing, researching a contemporary topic). 3. Demonstrates knowledge of the diverse ways in which students develop and learn by providing learning opportunities that support students intellectual, physical, emotional, and social development. 4. Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, and curriculum goals. 5. Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technologies. 6. Creates and maintains a classroom environment which supports and encourages learning. 7. Demonstrates the ability to support students learning and well-being by engaging students. 8. Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner. 10. Demonstrates a strong professional ethic.