English Language Arts Speech & Debate (2021)
Lesson Plans

Strand 2: Fundamentals

Students will analyze and evaluate various speech and debate formats to develop fundamental knowledge for application.

Standard 2.2

Explain the historical and contemporary role that speech and debate play in democratic society (e.g., diplomacy, government policy, justice system, politics).

• Civics 101 Podcast
  Engaging, teacher-created lesson plans on the Constitutional Convention, Freedom of Speech, 4th Amendment, Electoral College, Federalist and Federalism, more.
• Frederick Douglass |Orator, Editor, and Abolitionist
  Students explore what it means to speak out for your beliefs, or to right a wrong. After watching a short video, they will reflect on Douglass?s courage and the importance of literacy in his activism. They will read excerpts from Douglass?s autobiographies and examine an 1850 etching of Douglass being pulled away from a stage prior to giving a speech. Finally, they will reflect on Douglass?s importance as both a historical figure and as a role model for their own lives.
• Lesson 1: NAACP's Anti-Lynching Campaign in the 1920s
  This lesson focuses on the constitutional arguments for and against the enactment of federal anti-lynching legislation in the early 1920s. Students will participate in a simulation game that enacts a fictitious Senate debate of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. As a result of completing this activity, students will gain a better understanding of the federal system, the legislative process, and the difficulties social justice advocates encountered.
• Lesson 2: The Debate in Congress on the Sedition Act
  What provisions in the U.S. Constitution are relevant to the debate over the Sedition Act? For this lesson, students will read brief excerpts from actual debates in the House of Representatives as the legislators attempted to work with the version of the bill "Punishment of Crime" (later known as the Sedition Act) already passed by the Senate.
• Lesson 2: The Question of Representation at the 1787 Convention
  When the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention convened in May of 1787 to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation, one of the first issues they addressed was the plan for representation in Congress. This lesson will focus on the various plans for representation debated during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
• Lesson 2: The Social Security Act
  This lesson engages students in the debate over the Social Security Act that engrossed the nation during the 1930s.
• Lesson 3: A Debate Against Slavery
  Sometimes, people will fight to keep someone else from being treated poorly. Disagreement over slavery was central to the conflict between the North and the South. The nation was deeply divided.
• Lesson 3: Creating the Office of the Presidency
  As the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 continued to develop a plan of government that would remedy the defects of the Articles of Confederation, one of the most difficult challenges was creating the office of the presidency. This lesson will focus on the arguments over the various characteristics and powers of the office of president as debated during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
• Let Freedom Ring: The Life & Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Students listen to a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., view photographs of the March on Washington, and study King's use of imagery and allusion in his "I Have a Dream" speech.
• Sojourner Truth |Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Activist
  In this lesson, students will learn about Sojourner Truth?s egalitarian spirit in the face of institutional discrimination. After viewing a video about her life, students will examine an 1864 photograph of Truth and read excerpts of her most famous speech. The lesson concludes with students choosing a new name for a current-day exemplar of perseverance.
• The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said
  To what shared principles did the Founding Fathers appeal as they struggled to reach a compromise in the Constitutional Convention? In this lesson, students will learn how the Founding Fathers debated then resolved their differences in the Constitution. Learn through their own words how the Founding Fathers created"a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise."
• The Debate in the United States over the League of Nations
  American foreign policy continues to resonate with the issues surrounding the debate over U.S. entry into the League of Nations-collective security versus national sovereignty, idealism versus pragmatism, the responsibilities of powerful nations, the use of force to accomplish idealistic goals, the idea of America. Understanding the debate over the League and the consequences of its ultimate failure provides insight into international affairs in the years since the end of the Great War.
• The Federalist Debates: Balancing Power Between State and Federal Governments
  This lesson focuses on the debates among the U.S. Founders surrounding the distribution of power between states and the federal government. Students learn about the pros and cons of state sovereignty vs. federalism and have the opportunity to argue different sides of the issue.
• The Federalist and Anti-federalist Debates on Diversity and the Extended Republic
  This curriculum unit explores some of the most important arguments of those opposing or supporting the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
• What Makes a Change-Maker?: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
  Students will watch excerpts from Ken Burns?s film Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, a video about Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and read a speech by Harper. They will then analyze the factors that led these women to become iconoclastic advocates for women?s rights and compare how and why their experiences differed. Students will then create a diagram, recipe, or slide show that demonstrates how these women?s life circumstances, personal qualities, significant experiences, and role models contributed to their actions. The activity will culminate in students reflecting on what makes a change-maker and considering their own capacities as change-makers.

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