January 5, 2007

I will have the grades updated Monday morning. I will send out an e-mail when I am done.

The results of the ant debates are also posted online:
(If you have been there before, you might have to hit "Refresh" on your browser.)
Honors 1
Honors 2
Academic 3
Academic 6
Academic 7

I don't know if the students notice all the factors that went into getting a win. Since the winner is decided by the class, each student in the class scores the debate. When the debate was over, I then entered all their scores into a spreadsheet which totaled the points and revealed the winner. The class and I didn't always match. There was only one time where I overruled the class and determined the winner. Sure, sometimes students added points for their friends. Sometimes they just made up scores that sounded like those around them. Other times students weren't really being critical, and they gave points for everything that was said no matter how silly it was. In summary, the votes they cast are as accurate as some of the votes we cast when we vote!

I don't know what each participant takes away from the debate experience. They stand in front of the class, deliver a presentation on a fictitious ant's fate, rebut an opponent that might have terrible supports, and then they are scored and given a 100 point grade! How crazy is that? But it is an experience they won't forget. I hope they remember the lesson when they are asked to write a persuasive speech in the future.

I will be reading the essays soon. I look forward to seeing how all of the preparation has resulted in intelligent, well thought out essays. That is what I will be scoring them on.