Summer SAVY 2018: Session 4, Day 5 – The Great Debate, Mr. Lee (Rising 3rd/4th)
Parents,
It is hard to believe today was the last day of SAVY Session 4. It has been a pleasure to get to know and to work with your children these last few days! We have grown tremendously in terms of academics, social skills, and intellectual abilities.
On our final morning together, we made a visit to our competitor’s classroom to flip a coin and decide on today’s debate topic. The students were excited to find out that we would be debating “Should Children Have More and Longer Recess?” We spent the majority of the day preparing and researching this topic.
Before our daily ORA, we had a guest speaker join our class. Our speaker, Eric Ventress, is an administrator and editor for Wikipedia, and he was able to share with the students some expert research tips and knowledge. After lunch, we had a focused research session in the computer lab, putting to use new skills learned from our guest speaker.
Before the final debate at 3:00 pm, we held two practice debates: in the space of a very short time, your children prepared and argued both sides of the debate topic! The students stayed on task as they worked to refine their arguments, but remained excited and enthusiastic until the very last minute of the day!
It was incredibly rewarding to see the students perform in the final debate with such excellent prose, sportsmanship, and confidence. For those of you who were able to attend, I hope that you were pressed with the work of our your interlocutors!
And, regarding that word: Throughout the week we have updated a running vocabulary list that has hung in our classroom. Anytime a student was unclear about the definition of a word, we added it to the list and defined it! Attached to this blog is photograph of learned vocabulary from the week!
Your children have been intellectually challenged and pushed to new limits in their group and individual work, and they have put in an incredible amount of effort by using their talents to the fullest. More than anything, we are so happy to have had the opportunity to foster this passion for speech, debate, and learning in your child. To allow them to explore these passions in the company of other children with the same drive for learning is an amazing opportunity. We hope to see your child back at SAVY in the future!
David Ian Lee (Instructor)
Niah Charles (Teaching Assistant)
Some of Your Students Getting Ready to Wow You With Their New Debate Skills
