This is only our second year for Dialectic.  Last year it was called "dialectic spar."  I'm going to post reports on our process & training sessions since all of my kids are novices at this event...

     First, we went over structure (see “Dialectic Structure” in Documents).

     Next, we formed three teams and each made an arguable resolution out of their preferred topic from the lists (see “Dialectic – from topics to arguable resolutions” in Documents). Here were our first picks: school schedule, mass transit, school lockers

1. Aaron and Chloe were up first.  Resolved: Schools should be fined if individual lockers are not suppled to each secondary school student.

2. Olivia and Nikita went up next. Resolved: all adults must use mass transit Monday-Friday when commuting to work in the city.  

3. Unfortunately, we ran out of time for Resolved: Students will caucus to pick their own elective.

     I let the kids choose from the pre-listed topics that might have some bearing on their lives.  The discussions got pretty animated. Those 3 resolutions became our our 3 choices.   in this way, we get to use the elimination process because no one gets to use their own topic.

The kids love this!

Coach Parker