The simple aim of this course is to teach the basic skills of argumentive writing. It defers from a debate class in that assessment will not be done on speaking skills (although these should improve in the process), but on writing skills. Some debate will take place in a computer lab via a discussion board where students will have to debate with each other through typing.
Students can expect to have lively debate in class and to use that debate as one of the sources to improve their argumentive writing. The other sources will include some teacher provided provocative reading and some student research. Students will work in research/debate teams with the aim of sharing their load of topic background work. This 1) in class debate- some in online discussion board format 2) provocative reading and 3) team research will be used by students to fulfill their individual writing requirements.
Students can expect to write a series of argumentive essays of about 1-2 typed pages in length. This will be the graded assessment for the course. Students can also expect to be engaged in active editing of their writing. That is, students will write multiple drafts of each essay. Students will get written feedback from classmates and the teacher on these drafts.
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