Standalone lesson materials – “Statues and History” I finished putting together a self-contained study for my Year 9 students based on the recent debates about the future of historical statues – you can download the materials (and find links to additional videos/podcasts) here. Happy to hear any suggestions for further improvements.
Category: Debate
Simulate a conference
Overview When studying how successfully different countries achieved their objectives in an international conference, conduct a simple re-enactment where students score points for achieving their national objectives. Then study the terms of the real agreement reached to determine who gained the most and how creatively they solved the problems they faced. The example I give here…
“Beat the Teacher” – Hotseating with an edge!
This is a great way of encouraging students to conduct vigorous research in preparation for a debate about the success/failure of a particular ruler. It can be conducted either as a way of revising and consolidating topic knowledge at the end of a unit, or as an intensive means of studying the topic for the very…
6 Hats. 6 Interpretive Approaches.
Practical applications for the ‘De Bono’ Approach The teacher will take the role of someone with a “Green Hat” If they have not already been decided upon in advance in an assembly, they will choose (or ask the class to vote on) one of the numerous “Imagine a world” discussion points which are provided (or…
Balloon Debates!
“You are in a hot air balloon that is losing height rapidly. It will soon crash into the side of a mountain because it is overweight. To prevent the certain death of everybody on board, only one person will be allowed to stay in the balloon!” Balloon debates are a great way of promoting research…
Make a Mask!
When conducting debates in role, get students to create a simple mask to add an extra dimension to the event. Use Google Images to locate an image of the character’s face. Copy and paste this into Word. Scale it up so it fits the available space. Print off on A4 and it will be roughly the…
