Jessica Garcia

Dr. Z

English 487

May 7, 2018

Standards Paper

The grade level and standard that we were assigned for this assignment was 7th grade,

emerging. Once we were assigned this specific grade level, we searched for skill domains that

we can focus on in order to create a lesson plan. The two skill domains that we picked were

interacting via English and supporting opinions and persuading others. Once we picked those

two domains, we decided that the best way to develop both skills were to end the lesson plan in a

debate. The debate would help develop interaction via English because it would help students

engage in short written exchanges with peers. It would also help them collaborate on simple

written texts and use technology as resource. The debate would also help students support their

own opinions and learn how to properly persuade others by learning how to properly facilitate a

debate. The purpose of the debate would be to develop certain skills that would be beneficial in

later years as students strive for higher education. They would be able to develop their oral

language skills, develop useful and effective research skills, develop interaction skills among

peers using academic language, develop opinions and persuade others using evidence. The first

day of the lesson plan would begin with an introduction to what a debate is and how to use

persuasive speech and your own opinions to persuade others. The class would end that day with
a short video demonstrating what a in classroom debate looks like. The second day would focus

on persuasive writing and a presentation lesson. Students will be given a lesson on persuasive

writing skills and tips and would also focus on how to develop effective research strategies and

how to present them in a debate setting. Students would also benefit from a brief lesson on public

speaking and the importance of using academic language. Students will also be informed of a

persuasive essay that will be assigned later in the week. On day 3, students will be broken up into

group and be placed into random debate groups and will be assigned debate topics and the

position they will be taking. At this point, students will exchange information and talk about the

topic and what strategies they will take. On day 4, students will have a chance to visit the library

or computer lab for research tips and a lesson on internet sources. This lesson would help

students know the difference between appropriate and inappropriate sources and how to use and

search for academic sources. The homework assignment for that day will be to bring a page of

notes on research about your topic and the position you are going to take. Students will be

encouraged to save these sources because they will be later used in the persuasive essay that will

be assigned. For days 5 and 6, students will continue on doing their research and working

together. For day 7 and 8, students will now return to class and will work in their groups. At this

point, students will delegate topics, choose speakers, choose rebuttal speakers and assign essay

parts. Day 9 and 10 will be the days that students get to present their debates and try to win the

debate by being able to persuade the other side to agree with them.

We decided to choose a debate for the easy and effective development of both skill

domains. The debate would help students practice their English language skills in an oral and

academic manner because when students are presenting their sides and their perspective on the
issues, they will need to use words that will have other students and other people take them

seriously. This means that when a person uses strong, clear academic language, they are taken

seriously because they are seen as educated people who have extensive knowledge on the topic

they are speaking about. It is important to tackle on these skill domains because it will help

students in the long run when they are striving for higher education. The second domain skill that

we believe would benefit from a debate would be the persuading others and using evidence

portion. This particular skill would develop from the debate because in order to succeed in a

debate, a person must come to the debate with their own opinions and views on things but should

also come with strong evidence to back up their point of view. In order to be able to achieve this,

students will be given the opportunity and the necessary resources to achieve this. We believed

that a debate would help students develop these two standards but to also develop in several

different ways. We believe that if students are more exposed to experiences in which public

speaking is required, it will become something so natural and will be nothing to be afraid of.

Public speaking is something that many different jobs require and it is essential that schools do

their best to send their students off into the real world with knowledge, experience and skills that

will benefit them in the long run. A debate would help students come up with their own opinions

and conduct research that would help them prove their point. We believe that the debate was an

appropriate assignment/project for this grade level because students are old enough and mature

enough to engage in a debate to discuss a topic that is relatable. Also, because the students are at

the emerging level, this debate is the perfect opportunity to help them further develop their skills

to be able to get to the next level possible so that they can continue on growing, learning and

developing.