One activity you can do in your class is to have a classroom debate. This is something that can help students on a variety of levels. There are writing skills, critical thinking skills, and even speaking skills that will be put to the test in this type of activity. It is quite simple to have this type of discussion in your classroom as long as it is organized properly.

First of all, you will have to think of a theme. It has to be something where there is no clear correct stance either way. This makes both affirmative and negative positions equally attractive to those involved in the debate.

Get a style for your debate. Many use the Lincoln Douglas style but there are many others that you can use. The point is to allow time for both sides to make arguments, refute arguments, and ask questions. These formats will have equal minutes for both positions, giving both sides fair time to present and react to arguments.

Have your students work in both positions. This will not only challenge them, but also prevent you from having the problem of everyone taking the same side leaving no room for debate.

When you do the debates, have each student do at least one of each with a different person to go against. Try to group students according to what you think are skill levels to try to keep things challenging but fair.

Let the others in the class listen to be the judges along with you as the teacher. Ask the listeners to describe the arguments and comment on the debate so that everyone listens and pays attention to what is happening.

Keep in mind that something like this can take quite a bit of time in the classroom. It’s not a short project by any means, so don’t treat it as such.