The Road to Revolution
11th-graders culminate an exploration of the American colonists in the 13 years between the French & Indian War and declaring independence from Britain with a colonial independence debate.
Students demonstrate communication skills, creative and critical thinking, and a global perspective as they are assigned to either support or oppose independence in the year 1776.
“Their task is to develop evidence-based arguments as a team to support their position,” says teacher Dr. Grace Leslie-Waksman. “Each side arrives in class with a prepared opening statement and the research to argue for their side as they engage in a free-form debate.”
“The debate was so fun,” says 11th-grader Carolina. “We were given the assignment a week beforehand so we FaceTimed and set up group chats to work together in teams to prepare. Being asked to think on the spot and generate thoughts together with classmates in real time was fun.”
Carolina feels that because it was a debate format, she dove in deeper on the subject matter in order to be more prepared. The underlying reason? Simple competitiveness. “I learned a lot just because I wanted to be able to make the case better than the other team and win.”
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Drew knows and believes in teenagers. We engage each student in a process of intellectual discovery to develop an individual voice, the confidence to express it, and the empathy to understand its impact.
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