1D2 – Bellringer! Take a look at the following issues, and pick one that you feel strongly about. Start with procon.org Alternative Energy vs. Fossil Fuels Can alternative energy effectively replace fossil fuels? Animal Testing Should animals be used for scientific or commercial testing? Banned Books Should parents or other adults be able to ban books from schools and libraries? Next, find someone else in the class (after 10 minutes of research), and share your opinion on the issue, including exploring other opinions. Share both of your views respectfully. Then we’ll share with the class!

Intro to Speech & Debate 1D2 – Part II Clipart source: flaticon.com

Speech & Debate: Next, let’s talk about Rhetoric. Grab a textbook, according to your assignment on the chromebook / textbook assignment list, and read Ch. 1, pp 1- 6. Answer the following questions as you read: Who does the author describe as an “expert” of basketball? (p.1) Why should persuasive writing / speaking matter to you? (p.2) What’s the “big secret”? What is rhetoric? What rhetorical ideas did the author’s friend use to make his letter effective? List / explain 3 of them (p.5)

Continuing… Anyway, we’ll do something similar (perhaps with more complexity in the future) each class period, and I will allow you to pick the topics, so come to class prepared! The remainder of class will be spent covering necessary material. The first few weeks of class will focus on the importance of rhetoric and persuasive writing, important precursors to persuasive speaking ability. After that, you will be given options on what competitions you would like to participate in. We will decide as a class on 4 or so of them, and then spend the rest of our middle class time preparing for these events! Finally, we’ll also spend the last bit of class studying what are called logical fallacies, or flawed logical ideas that seem on the surface to make sense, but really don’t upon further analysis.

Disclosure Finally, let’s talk about Logical fallacies. Here’s a specific one: The Strawman Fallacy Vid1: Straw; Vid2 Strawman: