Teacher notes — Discussion & Debate
Sunday Night Scaries: Is Homework Over the Weekend Fair?
- Put the pro and con table on the board before students take sides. Students often forget the other side exists until they see it written down.
- Weaker students can just fill in the sentence frames out loud. Don't push full free speech from everyone.
- Keep the debate section to two reasons per side so it stays on time. Three reasons each turns the 15 minutes into 25.
- Watch for students turning this into "I hate homework." Redirect with "give me one reason" every time.
- For a stronger class: add a second round where each side has to argue the opposite side's position for two minutes. It stops students from just repeating the same two arguments.