Prior to the first debate, we will take time to talk about how the debates will be structured, so that you will know what to expect. Each debate will feature two groups of 2-4 students each, allowing the rest of the class to serve as the audience. Because I recognize that some students find debating stressful and that many students are new to debate, participation in the debates is encouraged, but not mandatory, and the debates themselves will not be graded. However, you are required to debate at least once this semester.
The graded part of this assignment will be a 4-6 page reflection paper that will be due on 4/13. In this paper, you will consider the following two questions:
1. Based on your experiences participating in and/or observing the in-class debates, what are 3-5 virtues of a great debater or advocate? Why are they important?
2. Using the author(s) we have discussed thus far, consider: How would this/these author(s) define advocacy? How do the virtues that you defined in question 1 enrich this understanding of advocacy?
Authors
- Luvvie Ajayi Jones’s “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” available at
- Bren Brown’s The power of vulnerability, available at
