Steven Kucklick

Lesson Plan 1

Grade Level: 11th Grade

Content Area: AP US History, World War II
Strategy Addressed: Teaching Public Speaking and Debate Skill
Length of Instruction: Four 90 min class periods.

Student Objectives: The students should gain a good understanding of the outcome of the
United States and Japanese conflict of World War II. They should also gain a firm understanding
of reasons why United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The students will divide into
two groups assigned by the teacher. The teacher will then task Group A with defending the
dropping of the atomic bombs, and Group B will defend against it. The students will have to
participate in a light debate, defending which either side they were assigned to. While students
are learning the core facts, they also learn an important skill, how to properly argue and have a
successful debate. This is an important skill, especially in history, as things are often debated.

Standard Completed: Satisfies state standard USHC-7.3, specifically, explaining the

controversies of dropping the atomic bombs.

Procedure: This lesson will take place over the course of four ninety minute class periods. The
reason that this will take so long, is because not only will the teacher have to teach the content,
but they will also need to teach the students how to actually debate. This is crucial. Not only
should the students walk away with a firm understanding of why the atomic bombs were dropped
on Japan, but they also need to learn how to successfully debate.
The first three days will be broken up into forty five minute chunks. On day 1, the teacher will
teach the content (the end of WWII) for forty five minutes. Then, for the second half of the day,
the teacher will begin to teach debate to the students. There is a great step by step guide to
teaching debate that will cited. As mentioned in there, the first day should consist of just
introducing debate to students. The teacher should explain key terms, as well as how a debate is
set up. Then, show clips of famous debates to students and get them to fill out the rubric
(attached). After playing the clip discuss with the students what they thought about it. What did
the debaters do right? Wrong? For homework, assign students the task of imagining that they
were taking part in a debate. Pose a question to the students that they should not have to research
(such as: should the school get a new football field? Or, should lunch be fifteen minutes longer?).
Have the half the class argue for and half the class argue against. Have them outline their
arguments and bring them in the next day.

Day 2 will be divided up much in the same way as Day 1 was. The first forty five minutes will be
teaching content to the students. The second forty five minutes will go back to teaching debate.
Ask the students how they felt about the homework assignment. Was it hard? Was it easy? Then,
get two volunteers, one who argued for and one who argued against, to come up and participate
in a small debate for the class. This debate should not take more than a few minutes. After the
mock debate, ask the class what they did right and if they have some constructive feedback. After
discussing debate some more the students will divide into two groups assigned by the teacher.
The teacher will then task Group A with defending the dropping of the atomic bombs, and Group
B will defend against it. The students will be given the rest of the class period and all of Day 3 to
do research on their particular POV with their group. The students, with the help of the teacher,
need to come up with five to 8 solid sources, and be able to explain their importance. They
should also work on coming up with their arguments and counter arguments.
Then, the following day, the students with participate in a debate in class. The debate itself will
be set up in sort of a round table discussion, with each team facing each other. A spoke person for
each group will then give their opening arguments, and then another speaker will give counter
arguments. After this is all done, the floor will be opened up for debate/discussion (dont let it get
too heated!). The last twenty minutes of class should be set aside for a debrief about the debate.
The debrief should explain the importance of learning how to debate and argue productively. The
teacher should also ask the students how they felt about the assignment and if they found it
effective. Also see how they feel about having to defend something, even if they did not
necessarily believe it.

Materials: The students will need access to resources to help them find sources. This will most
successfully be done with computers. The teacher can either reserve a set of computers for the
class on the day of research, or the teacher can take them down to the library. Students will also
be given a rubric for how they will be graded.

Evaluation: Each student will be receiving a project grade for this assignment. Each group will
be receiving an overall grade based on the information and arguments that they brought to the
table. The grade will also be determined by active participation. The teacher will be observing all
of the students during the research gathering process and will keep an eye out for anyone not
participating. The teacher should then urge the student to participate, and if he is still not, then
points should be docked. During the actual debate, it will be harder to make sure everyone is
involved, however, as the moderator, the teacher should encourage students to speak up and give
their opinions. The rubric (attached) will determine what their final grade is. However,
encouraging the students to not worry about their grade and to just have fun with it, is key.

Theoretical Rationale:
I feel as though this is an important lesson. First, it teaches students an important skill, how to
properly participate in a debate and argument. This is something that they can take with them as
they enter into college. This also would appeal to gifted students. Looking at Renzullis Three
Ring Definition of Giftedness, we can see that this lesson would line up with the Above

Average Ability of gifted kids. More specifically, it would appeal to their adaptation to novel
situations and their rapid and accurate retrieval of information. Debating requires students to
think quickly on their feet and alter their arguments to fit whoever they are debating, therefore, I
think gifted kids would really thrive in this lesson. Clarks list of gifted characteristics also help
support the importance of this lesson, specifically their cognitive characteristics. Clark explains
that gifted kids are able to retain a high amount of information and also have a high language and
verbal ability. This means that not only would they be able to recall a large amount of
information during the debate, but they would also be able to express that information in a
concise and well put way.

Works Cited:
Reis, Sally M.; Sullivan, Erin E.; and Renzulli, Sara J. (2015). Characteristics of Gifted Learners.
In Karnes, Frances A. and Bean, Suzanne M. (Eds.), Methods and Materials for Teaching
the Gifted. (69-103). Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press Inc.
Newfoundland and Labrador Speech and Debate Union. Teachers Guide to Introducing Debate
in the Classroom. Retrieved from, http://csdffcde.ca/UserFiles/File/resources/teacher_debate_guide.pdf
Zais, Mick. (2011). South Carolina Social Studies Academic Standards. South Carolina
Department of Education. Retrieved From,
http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/cege/resources/dailygeog/2011SocialStudiesStandards.pdf