The new instructional strategy that I used this week was
called Devil’s Advocate. This is the
strategy that our group tried out in class a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t really
think that it was a strategy for second graders until I tried it. The kids
loved it! Right now our reading theme is travel time. We cover the different
types of traveling, famous Americans who have changed how we travel, and fictional
stories that include travel. As an introduction to our reading lesson, we tried
out Devil’s Advocate. I split the kids into two groups. I told them who was on
my side (the devil’s) and which group was against my statement. These are the
two statements that I used: Going on an airplane is the best way to travel, and
Living in the 1920s was the best time period to be alive. They went back and
forth, and it was great! I did call on them for management purposes, but I don’t
think that I would have to do this every time. This strategy told me who knew
the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of travel, and who
understood how much has been developed since the 1920s. I will use this
strategy again.
I included a small clip of our debate. They are debating
life in the 1920s.
Nikki,
ReplyDeleteI love hearing how this strategy worked in your classroom of 2nd graders! The video was a great touch too! Such thoughtful little kiddos you have (especially Mr. "Rot your brain" :) ). When you posted each statement did you switch who were the Devil's Advocates or did they stay the same? What type of frontloading did you need to do before doing this? I could see needing to talk about "disagreements" and how it's okay not to think the same way as someone...that there's no one right answer. Thanks for sharing this and showing how well it can work with our 2nd graders!
Hi Natalie! I was surprised that it worked so well. They really enjoyed it! I did switch who was on the "devils" side each time. They did a pretty good job of remembering their roles. I didn't do a whole lot of frontloading for this activity. We talked about how someone might debate and we started with this statement, Dogs make the best pets. They all had knowledge in this area, and were able to understand where I was headed when I asked them questions that went along with our theme. I will use this strategy again some time.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be neat to see how this played out in your classroom. It sounds like it went well:) I think at their age level it would be really fun to hear them do this. I also thought the video great to see!
ReplyDeleteNikki,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your post about "Devil's Advocate" and your video! This was so much fun for me to watch because I had originally thought this strategy might not be effective with my third graders. You've proven that it can work really well! I can see this strategy being useful in many ways like peer learning and informative assessment. How much staging did you have to do to prepare students for the idea of switching from side to side? Did you have any conversations surrounding rebuttals and how to create or handle these, or did you focus on getting the content communicated to start? I could see this being motivating for my competitive students if I did decide to introduce the ideas of rebutting and challenging one another. I wouldn't want my quieter more reserved students to be left in the background however. Maybe they would take on the moderator role? I'm so excited about trying this strategy after watching your video; this made it real for me! Again, thanks for sharing!
Amber
Hi Amber! I didn't do a whole lot of frontloading for this activity. We talked about how someone might debate and we started with this statement, Dogs make the best pets. They all had knowledge in this area, and were able to understand where I was headed when I asked them questions that went along with our theme. I like your idea of having my quieter students take on the moderator role. That is great! I will try it next time. Thanks!
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