Up For Debate

In Up for Debate!: Exploring Math Through Argument, high school math teacher and debate coach Chris Luzniak shares stories, examples, and step-by-step routines that will help you build a classroom culture where students do the talking, explain their thinking, and critique each other's reasoning, all in the context of the math content you're expected to teach. Inside, you'll find: Inspirational stories of students debating math in real classrooms Concrete structures and routines that will get your students talking, listening, and debating Specific techniques you can use to transform existing math problems into debatable ones You'll begin with short speaking and listening routines that take just a few minutes to introduce. When you and your students are ready, you can layer on additional debate routines, until your class is engaged in full-class debates using mathematical reasoning. With this easy-to-read guide, you don't need to wait any longer. You will be able to start debating in your classroom, tomorrow.

An introduction to debating, including preparation and research of a topic, finding evidence, attacking opposing arguments, and giving an effective delivery

"Chris is a math teacher and debate coach, and this book is about how he uses the tools of debate to get his students arguing in math class. Students are highly engaged and learn mathematics more deeply when using his techniques. The book is short and clear and will help readers learn how to incorporate debate in an incremental, totally not overwhelming way because Chris has broken the work down into a lovely step-by-step sequence. It's a super practical and readable manual, written by a working teacher for working teachers"--

Broadcast to tens of millions of Americans, the presidential debates are the Super Bowl of politics. A good performance before the cameras can vault a contender to the front of the pack, while a gaffe spells national embarrassment and can savage a candidacy. The slim margin for error has led the two major parties to seek—and achieve, under the aegis of the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates—tight control through scripting, severe time limits, and the exclusion of third-party candidates. In No Debate, author and lobbyist George Farah argues that these staged recitations make a mockery of free and fair presidential elections. With urgency and clarity, this book reviews the history of presidential debates, the impact of the debates since the advent of television, the role of the League of Women Voters, the antidemocratic activity of the CPD, and the specific ways that the Republicans and Democrats collude to remove all spontaneity from the debates themselves. The author presents the complete text of a previously unreleased secret document between the Republicans and Democrats that reveals the degree to which the two parties—not the CPD—dictate the terms of the debates. In the final chapter, Farah lays out a compelling strategy for restoring the presidential debates as a nonpartisan, unscripted, public events that help citizens—not corporations or campaign managers—decide who is going to run the White House.

All of us use heuristics--that is, we reach conclusions using shorthand cues without using or analyzing all of the available information. Heuristics pervade all aspects of life, from the most mundane practices to more important ones, like economic decision making and politics. People may decide how fast to drive merely by mimicking others around them or decide in which safety project to invest public resources based on the past disasters most readily called to mind. Not surprisingly, opinions vary about our tendency to use heuristics. The 'heuristics and biases' school argues that the practice often leads to outcomes that are not ideal: people act on too little information, make incorrect assumptions, and don't understand the consequences of their actions. The 'fast and frugal' school contends that while mistakes will inevitably occur, the benefits generally outweigh the costs--not only because using heuristics enables us to reach judgments given realistic constraints of time and attention, but because heuristics users often outperform those using more conventionally rational methods. In The Heuristics Debate, Mark Kelman takes a step back from the chaos of competing academic debates to consider what we have learned--and still need to learn--about the way people actually make decisions. In doing so, Kelman uncovers a powerful tool for understanding the relationship between human reasoning and public policy. Can we figure out more optimal modes of disclosure to consumers or better rules of evidence and jury instructions if we understand more accurately how people process information? Can we figure out how best to increase compliance with law if we understand how people make decisions about whether or not to comply? Alongside a penetrating analysis of the various schools of thought on heuristics, Kelman offers a comprehensive account of how distinct conceptions of the role and nature of heuristic reasoning shape--and misshape--law and policy in America. The Heuristics Debate is a groundbreaking work that will change how we think about the relationship between human psychology, the law, and public policy.

Ask mathematicians to describe mathematics and they' ll use words like playful, beautiful, and creative. Pose the same question to students and many will use words like boring, useless, and even humiliating. Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You' d Had, author Tracy Zager helps teachers close this gap by making math class more like mathematics. Zager has spent years working with highly skilled math teachers in a diverse range of settings and grades and has compiled those' ideas from these vibrant classrooms into' this game-changing book. Inside you' ll find: ' How to Teach Student-Centered Mathematics:' Zager outlines a problem-solving approach to mathematics for elementary and middle school educators looking for new ways to inspire student learning Big Ideas, Practical Application:' This math book contains dozens of practical and accessible teaching techniques that focus on fundamental math concepts, including strategies that simulate connection of big ideas; rich tasks that encourage students to wonder, generalize, hypothesize, and persevere; and routines to teach students how to collaborate Key Topics for Elementary and Middle School Teachers:' Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You' d Had' offers fresh perspectives on common challenges, from formative assessment to classroom management for elementary and middle school teachers No matter what level of math class you teach, Zager will coach you along chapter by chapter. All teachers can move towards increasingly authentic and delightful mathematics teaching and learning. This important book helps develop instructional techniques that will make the math classes we teach so much better than the math classes we took.

Offers students an overview of the world schools style of debating, with expert advice for every stage of the process, including preparation, rebuttal, style, reply speeches, and points of information.

Discusses the fundamental skills needed to participate in debates, and includes information on debate propostitions, ethics, preparing evidence, and succeeding in student congress debates.