Debate Unit Reflection

Overall, on the broad scheme of things, I think my improvement as the Debate Unit progressed increased a lot. I think one of the biggest concepts when performing in a debate that I learned personally was to argue what the other person was stating. In other words, if they were to say something about M and M's containing a lot of calories, when it's my turn to speak I should argue the point about the calories instead of arguing something totally different about M and M's. This tool as well as skill helped me increase my grade in these debates throughout the time in this unit especially when it came to the point where we were doing the 1 on 1 mini debates, this was a huge skill that came into play during those sepcific debates just because it was so hard to think of information on the spot. On top of this concept, I also learned to mix in real life facts as well as a real life experience and even a quote stated by a famous person or an expert on the topic of the debate. This allows me as a speaker in the debate to provide the audience as well as the opposing team with a taste of logos and pathos which spices up what I am trying to say as well. This is a huge skill when debating because it allows the audience as well as the opposing team to really think about what I am arguing and also really allows them to paint a picture in their head's when I add the real life experience into my point. Adding real life facts is key to backing up what I am trying to say. These facts also make it easier to prove my point and more importantly for the judges to come up with a winner because you can't argue real life facts, they are what they are. Like I said before, as the unit went on I think my ability to be able to debate increased tremendously. Throughout the first 2 mini debates we did in class, it was more of a free for all. It was 2 on 2 where each team was just blerting out information. After these 2 mini debates were completed, I learned that in order to have a more formal and more organized debate we'd have to have an opening statement, followed by our rebuttals and then ending with a closing statement. As we began to perform the debates in this type of style, it allowed me to learn and improve on my debating skills because it made it easier to argue each other's points as well as getting my point across to the opposing team. The 2 formal debates allowed me to put all my knowledge into the opening or closing statement whichever one I was assigned. This allowed me to receive a good grade because I was able to follow the correct guidelines in completing a full statement. These guidelines were, add real life facts, add a real life experience and also add a quote stated by an expert on that specific topic. On top of this, if I was doing the closing statement I also had to be alert during the rest of the debate in order to hear the opposing teams points so that I could argue them in my closing statement, another key skill that I learned throughout this process. Lastly, the final mini debates we performed in class allowed me to put all the tools and skills that I learned on debates together and to just let it all out there. These quick mini debates also allowed me to think of information quickly on the spot so that I could argue my point thoroughly throughout the mini 6 minute debate (each person had a total of 3 min to talk). Overall, I think that my ability to debate increased tremendously throughout this Debate Unit and I think these skills and concepts that I picked up will help me in the real world as well as future debates in school as well. I really enjoyed this unit and I encourage Ms. Guarino to keep doing this unit with future Public Speaking Classes