For the first part of class today, everyone prepared a five sentence argument on their side of the marijuana legalization debate specific to the area on which they have been focusing their research. We talked a bit about demographics and how messages can be crafted for and presented to specific audiences that fit a certain demographic. For the purposes of practicing debate, everyone then crafted their argument specifically for a parent of teenagers who was neutral on the topic of legalization.
Everyone had time to create this argument and then the class presented these arguments to a panel of three adults who were available this period. These adults assumed the perspective of a neutral parent with teenage children and listened to the arguments. After all of the arguments had been presented, this panel discussed what they had heard and how their views were affected by the arguments.
Next, groups got together to talk about these reflections and decide how they could better plan their debate to make it more effective in light of this practice opportunity and the feedback they got from our panel.
We then looked at creating topic specific thesis statements for the main arguments that people will be making.
Handouts:
Argument creation sheet
Homework:
Identify the 2 - 3 arguments you will be using to make your case for/against legalization.
