Hannah Moriarty
Teaching and Learning
Dr. Letina Jeranyama
Round Reflection #3
2/26/14
Round Reflection #3: Jefferson vs. Hamilton Debate:
Claremont Academy 10th Grade U.S History I
February 25, 2014
As a fellow colleague of Brady’s I am always interested in observing his classes and
seeing how is class as evolved over this year. I think Brady does an excellent job of connecting
with his students and I always enjoy going to his rounds as a way to support him and his
students. In today’s class the students were having a debate about topics such as gun control,
bank bailout and government spying on civilians. The students were assigned to defend the
perspective of former presidents James Madison and Alexander Hamilton’s perspective on these
topics. The class was divided into two either team Hamilton or team Madison. Those teams were
then divided into three subgroups, gun control, bank bailout and government spying on civilians.
The students were asked to choose quotes from both Madison and Jefferson to strengthen their
points and explain what each speaker was referring to. Prior to this lesson students made posters
or collages of Jefferson and Madison’s quotes to help them refer back to during the debate. Each
subgroup would first debate with the opposing side. Each student had a designated role and
chose to either make the opening or closing remarks for their group. Overall I felt this was a very
successful lesson and it ran rather smoothly, the students were able to relate to the historical
context as well as add their own personal viewpoints as well.
I was asked to videotape for this specific round it gave me a great bird’s eye-view as to
what was going on during the lesson and how the students interacted with one another. I noticed
that prior to the debate many of the students needing coaxing to help prepare their arguments.
They were reluctant to discuss the quotes but were very open to talking about their own personal
feelings on the subjects at hand. But as soon as the debate started the students became very
competitive. Students who I had seen appear unresponsive in class were participating and
making valid, educational points. There were times when the students veered too far away from
the historical content at hand and became too focused on their personal views. But overall I feel
as if it was a huge triumph that many of these students were even participating at all. I noticed
many teachable moments throughout this lesson where a student would say something off topic
or become too consumed about their own personal views and I personally felt the fact that Brady
didn’t address these tangents was the right call. This was these students first time ever having
any kind of debate. The fact that the students were over eager to share should be celebrated and
not reprimanded.
The first portion of the debate was about gun control. This particular part of the debate
was interesting because so many of the students felt so strongly about it personally. Many
students related it back to how cops never seek justice for people living in “their neighborhood”
and that sometimes they feel the need to take matters into their own hands. The opposing group
argued back that by doing this they are just creating more problems for this community in the
long run. The students spoke about this issue so passionately and as a teacher it was inspiring to
see them become so invested in anything. Brady did have to remind them a few times to stick to
Jefferson and Hamilton’s views but I thought it was extremely beneficial to see the students
discuss topics that are still relevant to their own lives. The second round concerning bank bailout
was more focused on the historical content, this is perhaps because the students are less
personally invested in this particular topic. The second round was less entertaining but more
focused on the historical content at hand. Overall I really enjoyed observing this class and
watching each student contribute to the lesson in some way.
This particular class was very interesting to observe and has inspired me to do a debate or
Socratic seminar with my biology class concerning evolution. The only problematic thing about
debates is that sometimes students become too passionate about certain topics and lose sight of
their actual goal or original point. I definitely want to incorporate an activity similar to this into
my biology class but since a majority of my students are very religious I am hesitant to move
forward with this idea. Similar to what Brady did I might assign students the sides they will
represent. Since Bill Nye just had a debate with Ken Hamm I may assign students to defend their
perspectives instead of the theory of evolution or creationism. This way the students will still be
discussing facts or the ideas of others as opposed to going against something they personally
believe in. This way students won’t be defending or disproving something they don’t believe it.
Working in school that is so diverse can at times pose certain challenges as well, especially in a
science class. Hosting a Socratic seminar can hopefully help students demonstrate their
knowledge of facts as well as learn to be respectful to their peers.
Overall I felt that Brady’s round was a success. It is great for me to see how his classes
have evolved into well run and educationally enlightening experience. The students obviously
have a lot of respect for Brady and feel his lessons are fun and engaging. Although the students
did go off on a few tangents I feel this is only natural when conducting a debate. I think this
lesson has not only helped his students learn to be more knowledgeable about history but also to
be more responsible and respectful as well. Lessons that are able to teach students both content
and life skills are extremely beneficial not only to aid them as students but helps to create more
well-rounded individuals as well.