Formative
Courage Debates:
Teacher Notes
I will be taking notes on
student behavior during
the debates, such as the
kind of language
students are using,
what tone students are
speaking in, body
language, etc. to assess
how students are
articulating their
response to other
peoples opinions, which
might be very different
from their own. I will
also be assessing
students developing
understanding of the
process of a courageous
action. This will inform
my instruction by
showing me how much I
need to embed
instruction on being
respectful into the unit.
(1b, 3b, 5a, 5b, 7b)
Journal Entry
Courage Goal
I will be reading these
Summative
Use Your Voice Project
At the end of the unit on
Presentation Day
(Lesson Plan 9), students
will express their ideas
about courage (still
developing during this
lesson) by presenting
their persuasive text to
an audience of their
peers. Students will also
respond to each others
and their own acts of
courage in a reflection.
4. The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. (Coco Chanel)
5. Without fear, there cannot be courage. (Christopher Paolini)
6. A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
(Lao Zi)
7. Speak up, because the day you dont speak up for the things that matter to you is the
day your freedom truly ends. (Google)
[5 mins.] Courage Continuum
After students have had some time to consider each quotation/statement during the Do
Now, I will display each quotation or statement on a Google Slide. When I show each
quotation or statement, students should quietly go stand along the length of the room that
they feel best represents their stance on the quotation/statement. On the left front corner
of the room, there will be a sign that says, I absolutely DISAGREE and on the right
front corner of the room, there will be a sign that says, I absolutely AGREE. Students
will be able to see the range of opinions that each person has, but it also doesnt put
anyone strictly on the spot to volunteer their opinions. There will be a trial statement to
let students practice once, using a silly statement such as Broccoli is one of my favorite
foods.
[5 mins.] Whole Class Debrief
After students finish doing the Courage Continuum with the last statement, we will
transition to the whole class debrief. When students sit back down in their base groups, I
will ask them a few questions. In a whole class context, students will discuss how they
felt in having to commit to feeling one way or another on a quotation or a statement
(because they had to physically stand up and move to a location indicating agreement or
disagreement), especially if most of their peers felt differently. Did they feel some
conflicted feelingswanting to say something different but bowing to peer pressure? Did
they want to change their stances on any of the quotations? Why didnt they? What held
them back? I will also ask students if there are any statements that they are burning to
briefly discuss before we move forward with class.
[1 min.] Hook
Now that we have finished our warm up activities of seeing what the general class initial
opinions about courage are, we are going to stretch our definitions of courage by seeing
how other people take courageous action. We are going to look at some really cool
examples of real people dealing with obstacles and/or scary situations and analyze what
exactly these people are feeling and doing. Some big questions we will be thinking about
today include: How is courage being expressed in these situations? What inspires
people to take courageous action?
2. [51 mins.] The Courage Debates
I will introduce students to The Courage Debates, explaining the purpose of this activity,
which is to see where we all stand in terms of how we think about courage. I will
emphasize that when I have done this activity with students before, there were always a
lot of people with different opinions. These people didnt come to an agreement every
time, and discussion was actually really interesting because of the different opinions! I
will encourage students to stay true to their opinions and be courageous in expressing
them even if it seems like everyone else thinks differently.
[3 mins.] Directions
I then will give directions on how this activity will proceed. Directions will be displayed
on the projector as well. Students will watch or read the mentor text in question, then
decide whether or not they think this mentor text is a powerful example of courage.
(Students will put their heads down and raise their hand if they thought the text was not a
powerful example of courageso I can see what the break down of student opinion is.
When students lift their heads I will instruct them to split into teams of NO, YES, and I
DONT KNOW, whereupon students will work together to come up with a defense for
that texts courage or lack of demonstrating courage. If students are unanimous in a YES
or NO side, I will be the defense for the other side. Students in the I DONT KNOW side
will function as the audience for the debate, though they will also be having a small
group discussion on the mentor text.) If students have been in the audience twice already,
they must pick a side for the final text so they get a chance to speak.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 1: King Elizabeths Hoist the Colors Speech from Pirates of
the Caribbean (2:46)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage
(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 1
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 1 to a close and transition to Text 2.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 2: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad History
Channel Video (3:07 mins)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage
(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 2
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 2 to a close and transition to Text 3.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 3: Unforgettable by Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo, & G.
Yamazawa (3:05 mins)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage
(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 3
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 3 to a close.
Transition: I will call student attention by raising my hand and calling, Give me 5! I will
ask students to come back together as a class so that we can have a brief debrief on how
courage showed up in these three texts.
[5 mins.] Whole Class Debrief on Courage Debates
As a whole class, we will have a debrief where students explain the similarities and
differences in how the people in these three different mentor texts demonstrated courage
and what inspired them to take action. I will ask for student to raise their hands when they
have something to say.
Transition: If students are still talking, I will try and wait for a natural pause in student
dialogue before calling attention. I will observe that we had a really productive discussion
today about how different people demonstrate courage differently. I will explain to
students that by the end of the unit, they themselves will have demonstrated courage in
their own way through the summative assessment.
3.
Unit Objectives
You will be able to act courageously.
You will be able to understand the process of a courageous action.
You will be able to reflect on the effect of a courageous action on an audience.
You will be able to express your reactions to your own and your peers developing
ideas of courage.
Description
Picture This: You are an activist! Although you are one person, everyone has a
voice. That means you has the power to speak up and create change! For the Use
Your Voice Project, you are going to demonstrate courage by undergoing and
reflecting upon the process of a courageous action. Your task is to decide on an
injustice to speak up about. You will choose your stance on this injustice and speak
to an audience about your stance, persuading them to your side to the best of your
ability. This speaking up can take the form of an actual speech, a podcast, a blog
post, etc., and will be presented, shared, and/or published to your actual audience.
Requirements of your Persuasive Text:
1) Length: 1-2 pages
2) Style: 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced
3) Contains: at least 2 persuasive techniques
Your Steps
Decide which injustice you find important enough to speak up about.
Explain your personal connections to this cause.
Identify your stance and the stances that your opposition/critics might have.
Identify an audience that you want to speak to about your injustice.
Decide which medium (e.g. speech, blog post, podcast, radio show piece,
etc.) would be the most effective for you to persuade your audience.
Create your persuasive text.
Present, share, and/or publish your persuasive text.
After your peers present, share, and/or publish their persuasive text, you will
respond to their persuasive text.
Reflect on the Use Your Voice Project and describe your process of speaking
up for your cause, its effect on your intended audience, and your own
response.
Note: You will be required to conference at least once with me to discuss your
ideas and plan for the project.
demonstratesathought
demonstratesa
demonstratesan
Persuasive
provokinganalysisof
competentanalysisof
emerginganalysisofthe
Text
theinjusticetopicand
theinjusticetopicand
injusticetopicand
potentialsolutions.
potentialsolutions.
potentialsolutions.
Clarityand
Organization
Emerging7
Thepersuasivetext
demonstratesalimited
(requiringrethinking)
understandingofsomeof
thecharacteristicsof
persuasivewriting:
introduction,stanceon
injusticetopic,possible
solutions,andconclusion.
Morethantwoofthese
characteristicsare
incompleteornotaswell
developedastheothers.
Thepersuasivetext
demonstratesalimited
(requiresrethinking)
analysisoftheinjustice
topicandpotential
solutions.
Allofthepersuasivetext Allofthepersuasivetext Allofthepersuasivetext Notallofthepersuasive
isorganizedinto
isorganizedinto
isorganizedinto
textisorganizedinto
paragraphswith
indentations.
Thewritingisalways
clearandusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Grammarand Thepersuasivetexthas
nogrammaticaland
Mechanics
mechanicalerrors.
Thesentencesvaryin
structureandflow
smoothly.
paragraphswith
indentations.The
writingismostlyclear
andusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Thepersuasivetexthasa
fewgrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Mostofthesentences
varyinstructureand
flowrelatively
smoothly.
Presentation Thepresentationlasts
Thepresentationlasts
between45minutes.
between45minutes.
Thespeakerspeaks
Thespeakerspeaks
clearlyandloudly
clearlyandloudly
enoughtobeheardby
enoughtobeheardby
everyoneinthe
mostpeopleinthe
audience.
audience.
Thespeakerisalways
Thespeakerisfrequently
usingeyecontact,a
usingeyecontact,a
livelytone,hand
livelytone,hand
gestures,andother
gestures,andothertypes
typesofbodylanguage
ofbodylanguageto
toengagetheaudience.
engagetheaudience.
*Ifthereisapartmissing,you will get a zero for that part.
paragraphs,butsomeare
missingindentations.
Thewritingis
sometimesclearand
sometimesusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Thepersuasivetexthas
somegrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Manyofthesentences
varyinstructureand
flowsomewhat
smoothly.
Thepresentationlasts
between45minutes.
Thespeakerspeaks
clearlyandloudly
enoughtobeheardby
somepeopleinthe
audience.
Thespeakerissometimes
usingeyecontact,a
livelytone,hand
gestures,andothertypes
ofbodylanguageto
engagetheaudience.
paragraphs,andmanyor
allaremissing
indentations.Thewriting
israrelyclearandrarely
ordoesnotusespecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Thepersuasivetexthas
manygrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Someofthesentencesvary
instructure.Theflowof
thesentencerequires
somerethinking.
Thepresentationdoesnot
lastbetween45minutes.
Itiseithertooshortor
toolong.
Thespeakerspeaksclearly
andloudlyenoughtobe
heardbyveryfewpeople
intheaudience.
Thespeakerisrarelyusing
eyecontact,alivelytone,
handgestures,andother
typesofbodylanguageto
engagetheaudience.
ReflectionRubric15%
Scoring
Category
Personal
Process
Effect(s)on
Intended
Audience
YourOwn
Response
Distinguished10
Proficient9
Intermediate8
Novice9
Itisunclearwhatarethe
aspectsofyourprocessof
speakingupforyour
cause.
Itisunclearhowyour
projectdemonstrates
courage.
Itisuncleartheeffectsof
yourspeakinguponyour
intendedaudience.
Itisunclearwhoisyour
intendedaudience.
Clearlyidentifiesand
Somewhatclearlyidentifies Itisunclearyourown
explainsyourown
andexplainsyourown
responsetoyourspeaking
responsetoyourspeaking
responsetoyourspeaking
up.
up.
up.
UseYourVoiceProjectTotalScore
/ 50
Reflection Score
/ 30
/ 80