Intelligence Squared Debate
For our debate project out by listening to an official Intelligence Squared Debate (IQ2) We focused on the format of the debate, but also looked at how to flow. Flowing a debate is very important to debating as it organizes all of the thoughts of your debate team and your opponents team, This was very important for our final product as it allows for a professional debate. Then we moved on to creating our own debates. For this reflection I will focus on the topic that I was assigned to, and that was drones. Then topic was revolving around drone strikes in the Middle East. I was very excited about this because in a past project we learned a lot about the Middle East, I feel like this gave me an extra boost. Then we were assigned teams, there were to teams for each topic. So I had a group and and there was an opposing group. We started working with our team to come up with the strongest arguments and gain plenty of background knowledge on our topic we did this with extensive research and evidence searching, we specifically looked for evidence on our side though for example, I was pro drones, so I only looked for evidence that related to pro drones. We proceeded to finish and refine a constructive argument, the argument made before any rebuttal. Though we also did a rebuttal, this was the area where we could fire back at our opponents. When we were nearing our debate, we focused on not reading directly of our essay and speaking straight from our background knowledge, this was one thing I struggled with.
After this project I have gained plenty of new understandings. Before the project I knew very little about the Middle East, U.S policy, and terrorism. I knew that what was happening in the Middle East wasn’t very good. Though coming out of this project, the new understandings that I have gained are very significant. During the project I was focusing on the drones topic, the research portion behind it helped me gain knowledge on what drones are, and how they work. Along with how drones are helping and hurting us in the United States. While we were working to find evidence on just our side, I was able to understand the other side of the topic and gain understandings as if I myself lived in the Middle East. I feel like the biggest skill I have learned this project was being able to rely on the background knowledge that I had gained through the project. Throughout the weeks of preparation for our final debate, I tried to dive as deep into the world of drones as I possibly could. This definitely paid off, when it came to our final debate I noticed that I was able to easily answer questions for my team and I due to the extensive knowledge on the topic. There was no need to go back through my paper or evidence to find the answers as it was already crammed in my head. |