This week my co-teaching partner and I taught a lesson about the Second Seminole War as well as events that occurred prior to and after the war. We presented this lesson to the fourth graders in our class. We had the students read aloud the section about the war from their social studies textbooks. Then, we showed them a powerpoint in order to review what they had read as well as show the students additional pictures of important people and events during the time period. Following the information session, it was my co-teaching partner's idea to have the students participate in a debate.
The topic of the debate was whether or not the students agreed or disagreed with the Indian Removal Act. This act forced the majority of the Seminole Indians, along with any Native Americans living east of the Mississippi, to relocate west to a reservation located in present day Oklahoma. Before the students began debating, my co-teaching partner asked the students if they knew what a debate was. Many of the students said that it had to deal with the president and voting. My co-teaching partner mentioned that presidential candidates do debate each other and clarified that sometimes their debates sway people to vote a certain way after hearing the candidate's opinions of issues that they discuss during debates. We mentioned that a debate is basically a discussion between people in which opposing sides listen to each other's opinions, then state their own opinions. We clarified that when one person or side is speaking, the other is quiet and listening until it is their turn to speak. We also mentioned that people often back their opinions up with facts. Based on what the students had just learned, we encouraged our students to incorporate facts from the reading and powerpoint during their debate. We then demonstrated a debate about which season was better- summer or fall? We wanted the students to see that they did not have to yell or argue during the debate. We reiterated the need for respect when expressing your opinions. Then we asked the students to put their heads down on their desks and raise their hands if they agreed with the Indian Removal Act or disagreed with it.
I was under the impression that every student would disagree with it because it was not fair to the Native Americans. However, three of the students in the class agreed with the act and believed that the Native Americans should have been forced to leave Florida. Also, I expected that the students would not know what to say or would find the activity boring. To my surprise though, the students were very passionate about their opinions during the debate. None of them were too out of line or rude to the opposing view. They said things like "I disagree with your statement" rather than saying that the opposing side was stupid or something hurtful. Each of the sides also took the role of the Native Americans and the settlers by speaking in first person often. They said things such as, "You forced us off of our land" rather than speaking in third person about the Native Americans and the settlers. Lastly, I was blown away by the fact that the students referred to their textbooks during the debate, and they remembered a great deal of information from the reading and the powerpoint. This showed us that they were paying attention and actively engaged during the lesson.
Overall, this activity went much better than I anticipated. Several of the students came up to us later in the day asking if we could do another debate. I was pleased with the impact the lesson and accompanying activity had on our students. It made me wonder if I should incorporate debates more often in social studies lessons, as long as I set clear ground rules about respecting each other beforehand.
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