Power Up Plus! Unit Template
for 21st Century Teaching and Learning
Unit Plan Title: Debate/Persuasion
Developed By: Megan Jones
Grade Level: 9
Length of Unit: 4 weeks
Standard: What standards will provide the focus for this unit? Choose one core content and one educational technology.
9.W.1.1 Students can write a thesis statement for an expository or persuasive document.
9.W.1.3 Students can write an informational document using primary and secondary sources that are
listed on a reference page.
9.LVS.1.1 Students can analyze the use of images, text, and sound in media for accuracy, validity, and
influence.
9.LVS.1.3 Students can clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence within an
informal setting.
9.R.5.1 Students can evaluate primary and secondary sources for credibility.
Essential Questions: What essential questions will focus this unit?
How do writers and speakers use emotional, ethical, and logical appeals to persuade?
What kind of information is credible and why?
How does one find good information using electronic resources?
How does a writer give credit to his/her sources?
Academic Vocabulary: List the key terms students will need to know in order to understand the content.
Rhetoric
Credible
Citation
Parenthetical Citation
Claim/Warrant/Impact
Rebuttal
Learning Targets: What are the knowledge, reasoning, skill, and product targets unpacked from the standard or benchmark?
Create
Evaluate
Content (nouns)
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
Analyze
Apply
Skill
Understand
Remember
Assessments
(verbs)
What topics do students need to know?
What should students be able to do to
process and retain the knowledge?
Page 1
What could students do or create to
demonstrate their understanding?
Greek triangle of persuasion:
ethos, pathos, logos
Proper Paragraph format
MLA parenthetical citations
MLA works cited format
Debate flow
Public format debate speaker
duties
Debate case format
Evaluate sources
Write proper paragraph formats
Cite correctly
Flow a formal debate
Write a case
Work with a partner
Debate a resolution
Persuasion Map
Proper Paragraph
Works Cited Page
Debate flow
Pro/Con written case
Final debate
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Learning Cycle
Lesson 1: Techniques of Persuasion
Tech Integration
None today, class
Hook: On the board, the question: How do discussion
you persuade?
Then I list…your parents? Your teachers?
Your boss? Your friends? Then, how do
politicians persuade voters? How do
advertisers persuade consumers?
As students call out answers, I write them
down. We discuss.
Page 2
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
x
During
Anticipatory: This is all class discussion to
explain the purpose for debate and what
they need to consider while researching and
building
arguments.____________________________
_
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
After
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
After we come up with some ideas about persuasion, I present the Greek triangle of persuasion, and discuss how those methods fit
in. The students are expected to take notes about those methods. We brainstorm which methods work the best…usually, logic
should come up as the best. I let them know that they can use emotional and moral arguments for the debate, but facts and logic are
absolutely essential.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Exceeding Standard
For discussion, there are
not modifications.
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Page 3
Learning Cycle
Lesson 2: Setting up the debate
Explore: We brainstorm topics, get
partners and opponents
Tech Integration
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Use wikispace, Sirs
online database
During
Read and discuss topics
After
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
As a class, we get online and go to my Wikispace, the debate page. All past public forum topics are listed and we brainstorm them
on the board. I use colored cards to randomly assign debate partners. Then, the partners get together and decide on topics. This is
chaotic, but more efficient than I expected. After everyone has topics and opponents, I created a table and posted it on the
Wikispace.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Page 4
Exceeding Standard
In this activity, my major
goal was to make sure
that the pairings were as
mixed as possible. In
almost all cases, students
who were far below
standard were paired
with someone who met
or exceeded standards.
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Learning Cycle
Lesson 3: Brainstorm arguments, identify
credible sources, map out ideas, and find
evidence
Tech Integration
Wiki, Interactive
Persuasion map from
read, write, think
SIRS researcher
database
Where: Wikispace
Explore: Persuasion map
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
During
Graphic Organizer: Students map out
thoughts and begin to organize evidence.
Identify the main idea.
Exhibit: The persuasion map should be used for
the next step, which is writing a proper
paragraph/case.
Use highlighters to find evidence that will
support their debates.
After
Use the evidence found to create a proper
paragraph that develops one argument for
the debate.
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
The persuasion map is a starting point for the debate. Students identify three reasons that support their argument. Then, they find
sources on sirs researcher or nflonline.org, and find specific facts or quotes that will support their ideas.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Page 5
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Exceeding Standard
Students below standard
are brainstorming with
students who meet or
exceed standard. They
are also provided extra
support from a special
education teacher.
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Learning Cycle
Lesson 4: Write a proper paragraph that
develops one strong argument for the
case, with two pieces of supporting
evidence. Then, partners incorporate
proper paragraphs into a debate case.
Tech Integration
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Wiki has examples and
format, Sirs researcher,
turnitin.com
During
Where: Wikispace, Sirs researcher
After
Explore: Proper paragraphs
Exhibit: Examples of formatting, the MLA stylus
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
Students use their research to create a proper paragraph. This takes a class period or two. The paragraphs must be cited correctly.
Once they are complete, students submit paragraphs to turnitin.com. I use that cite to show them how it detects plagiarism.
Freshmen really struggle with using sources correctly, and this tool has been useful. When they paragraphs are finished, partners get
together to combine proper paragraphs and writing an intro and conclusion for a debate case.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Exceeding Standard
Students below standard
are working with
students who meet or
exceed standard. They
are also provided extra
support from a special
education teacher.
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Page 6
Learning Cycle
Lesson 5: Debate
Tech Integration
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Video example of
debate, embedded
video on wiki , poll
everywhere
Hook: example debate
During
Students take notes during the debates
After
After reading a packet about general debate
rules and speaker duties, students do a
writing to win activity called “Admit Slip”
where they admit in writing everything they
remember about debate from the reading.
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
After reading about debate rules and speaker duties, students wrote the admit slip described above. Then they watched a sample
debate and flowed (took notes). We stopped the video and frequently discussed what was going on. Then we started debates. This
was about a two week process. Every class period, we would have a debate. Afterwards, students voted for the winner and we
discussed why we voted as we did. One day, I used poll everywhere in order to vote. The kids loved it, but it was kind of tricky since
not all kids had a cell phone.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Exceeding Standard
Students below standard
are brainstorming with
students who meet or
exceed standard. They
are also provided extra
support from a special
education teacher.
Planning the Learning Experiences: What learning experiences will equip students to demonstrate the targeted learnings?
In other words, what instructional strategies can be used to facilitate students’ ability to successfully complete the assessments?
Learning Cycle
Lesson 7: Propaganda techniques with
Animoto
Tech Integration
Wiki, animoto.com
Page 7
Reading Strategies
Before
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
Hook: My animoto video
____________________________
Where: Wikispace, animoto
During
Graphic Organizer: Students map out
thoughts and begin to organize evidence.
Explore: Propaganda techniques
Exhibit: Students published their animoto videos
on my wikispace.
Identify the main idea.
Use highlighters to find evidence that will
support their debates.
After
Use the evidence found to create a proper
paragraph that develops one argument for
the debate.
21st Century Skills:
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Lessons/Activities: Use this space to describe sequence of learning activities, materials/resources needed, time frames, etc.
After the debates, students used their debate topic to create an animoto video. We discussed propaganda and the effectiveness of
music and images to provoke an emotional response. Students were given instructions to create an account, find images, create a
video, and embed the videos on my wikispace. We used a 90 minute block to complete this activity.
Modifications: In what ways will the learning experiences be differentiated to meet student needs?
Far Below Standard
Approaching Standard
Meeting Standard
Students below standard
are brainstorming with
students who meet or
exceed standard. They
are also provided extra
support from a special
education teacher.
Page 8
Exceeding Standard