Summer SAVY Session 1, Day 3 – The Great Debate
Day 3: Good evening families and great debaters!
Today we finally got to learn the fundamentals of making a strong rebuttal. And we learned how easy it is to get thrown off topic, confused, or to feel put on the spot in our game of rebuttal kickball. We practiced “pitching” facts as either a positive or negative and watched some debate training videos about principle, effectiveness, and mitigator rebuttal. We also practiced our public speaking skills while trying to use descriptive and effective language. After lunch, we learned the style of debate called Australasia and prepped for our first back-and-forth debate about what animal makes the best pet. I am proud to say that both teams were incredibly professional, included great research from good sources, and spoke clearly and with conviction. In fact, they both did so well that our esteemed adjudicators declared the debate a flat tie! Tomorrow, we will have a tie-breaker as we start having more high-stakes debates in preparation for our final, formal debate. We will also learn the five tenets of rhetoric but for now, congratulations to both the Affirmative and the Opposition teams.
Trivia treasure hunt hint: if your debater uses some of the research skills they practiced today, they may be able to discover who the five tenets/cannons of rhetoric are attributed to. Who ccccould it be?