Debate Teams by Class Periods and the Debate Template

This is the organization of each Debate Team per class period and the Debate Template for assigning Team Members. Refer to the previous blog posting for the overview of this module. 

Period 2:

Team US Intervention:
Shane (Team Leader)
Sianna (Asst. Tm Ldr)
Jake, Mechail, Davis S., Luis, Elijah

Team No US Intervention: 
Rene (Team Leader)
Guillermo (Asst. Tm Leader)
Angelique, Luz, Thomas, Jesus, Erby

Period 4:
Team US Intervention:
Johanna (Team Leader)
Christian (Asst. Tm Ldr)
Roshad, Josue, Trevor, Sam, Nico, Justin

Team No US Intervention:
Brendan (Team Leader)
Preet (Asst. Tm Ldr)
Jahmerikah, Helmuth, Kevin, Louis, Jennifer

Team Media Analysis: 
Sergio (Team Leader) 
Dylan (Review Team US Intervention), 
Alfred and Joseph (Review Team No US Intervention)


Period 6: 
Team US Intervention:
Nicole (Team Leader)
Michele (Asst. Tm Ldr)
Elias, Christian, Damaris, Patrick, Michael, David

Team No US Intervention:
Dillon (Team Leader)
Jennifer (Asst. Tm Ldr)
Amahd, Damian, Tyron, Brayan, Steven, Devon

Team Media Analysis: 
Joseph (Team Leader)
Natasha (Review Team US Intervention)
Arian (Review Team No US Intervention)


Period 7:  

Team US Intervention:
Thomas (Team Leader)
Mercy (Asst. Tm Leader)
James, Joseph, Robert, Peter, Anthony, Julian

Team No US Intervention:
Plinio (Team Leader)
Steven, Carlos, Christofer, Reid, Fatima, Deven

Team Media Analysis: 
Allen (Review Team US Intervention)
Tatiana (Review Team No US Intervention)

ORGANIZATION OF THE DEBATE: Used to assign tasks to individual team members and ensure all component tasks for the debate are assigned. 

OPENING STATEMENT: (2 mins) 

MAIN POINT 1: (1 min) 

MAIN POINT 2: (1 min) 

MAIN POINT 3: (1 min)

REBUTTAL FOR ADVERSARY MAIN PT 1: (1 min) 

REBUTTAL FOR ADVERSARY MAIN PT 2: (1 min)

REBUTTAL FOR ADVERSARY MAIN PT 3: (1 min)

CLOSING STATEMENT: (2 mins)

SEQUENCE OF THE DEBATE: 

1. We will flip a coin to determine which team goes first.

2. Team One will give their Opening Statement (2 mins), to then 

be followed by their Main Points One (1 min), Two (1 min), and 

Three (1 min). 

3. While Team One is providing their Main Points, 

Team Two Team Members Assigned for Rebuttals will analyze 

their adversary's respective Main Point and develop a rebuttal 

response (1 min in length) to it. 

4. Then Team Two will give their Opening Statement (2 mins), to 

then be followed by their Main Points One (1 min), Two (1 min), 

and Three (1 min). 

5. While Team Two is providing their Main Points, 

Team One Team Members Assigned for Rebuttals will analyze 

their adversary's respective Main Point and develop a rebuttal 

response (1 min in length) to it. 

6. Team One will offer their Rebuttal 1,2, and 3 statements. 

7. Team Two will offer their Rebuttal 1,2, and 3 statements. 

8. Team One Closing Statement.

9. Team Two Closing Statement.

10. If applicable, Team Media Analysis will provide feedback. 

Scoring: Students will be scored based upon their ability to meet 

their time goals and the quality of the content of their public 

speaking responses. Meeting the time goal is a function of their 

preparation and rehearsing their part of the debate. The most 

challenging time constraint will be the student's assigned the 

rebuttals which need to be developed in a shorter amount of time. I 

will modify by scoring due to the rigor of this task accordingly.  

Debate: US Re-engage Military Against ISIS versus Let Middle East Countries Deal With It

This week our public speaking assignment will be about the debate behind whether or not the United States should militarily re-engage against an Islamic extremist group, ISIS / ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria / Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). From the perspective of large conventional forces, the United States is now out of Iraq and Afghanistan with the exception of US military advisers training their military.  Some say that in order for Islamic Extremists to be successful they need Western infidels to remain in the Middle East as motivation for recruiting young Muslims to continue to fight against the West. Despite the immorality of the act, but was the beheading of the Western reporters a dramatic ploy to draw the US forces back into fighting in the Middle East? What do you think?  

Perspective on Why the US Should Not Get Directly Involved: 

ISIS is not the US's Fight

War on ISIS will backfire on West


Perspective on Why the US Should Get Directly Involved: 

Classroom Activity: The class will be divided into 2 groups assigned by the teacher. One group will debate for US intervention against ISIS and the other group will debate against US intervention. You will conduct your research today, complete your homework (see below) and you will form and prepare debating groups on Tuesday and then debate in class on Wednesday.  

Homework: Your homework tonight (Monday) is to read the two articles and watch the two videos to prepare for the debate. Tonight, you will add a comment and include your first name and the class period you are in with your homework comment. In your comment (short response) on the blog, tell me whether you agree or disagree with US's intervention in the Middle East against ISIS and why. 

ISIS...ISIL...AL QAEDA...ISLAMIC EXTREMISM or Just Countering Extremist Violent Organizations...?

ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq & Syria.   ISIL: Islamic State in the Levant.

Here is a discussion on Why Global Jihad and the Spread of Islamic Extremism will not be successful.

What is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or termed differently Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? Let us watch a short video to gain perspective:

This is a 9 minute video call Inside Isis and the Islamic Caliphate.

This is a 2 minute video about the Western world's use of social media to counter ISIS social media efforts and recruiting. 

Fighting Back Against ISIS: Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Northern Iraq. (9 min video) 

Drill with Drill Rifles

One of the suggestions for improving cadet involvement in our Navy JROTC program is to conduct more rifle drill in class. The above short 5 minute video is a Navy JROTC unit conducting a portion of an Armed Drill routine. We will be conducting platoon unarmed and armed drill as a class period this year based on the cadet suggestion. In the past we focused on the after school drill teams while conducting drill during class periods but not with as much emphasis, we will change our focus. What that means to your class period is each individual cadet needs to focus and put more effort into drill than perhaps they did in the past. Your class period's ability to conduct both unarmed and armed drill is a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound) NJROTC goal for each of you. Our goal will be to conduct the platoon drill card for the Bethel Drill Meet by the end of the first Marking Period. 

Class Activity: You will draw drill rifles and a class leader will be designated to go through the basics of individual armed drill. 

Basics: 
Fall In.
Position of Attention.
Dress Right Dress.
Right, Left, and About Face.
Parade Rest and Rest.
Port Arms.
Mark Time March.
Forward March
To The Rear March.

Overview of Manual of Arms: :

• Do's and Don'ts of carrying a Drill rifle
• Professionalism, Maturity, and Safety
• Order Arms
• Port Arms
• Right Shoulder / Left Shoulder Arms
• Present Arms

Individual Areas of Focus When Performing Armed Drill:
Rifle positioning: placement of the hands, distance of rifle from your body, elbow placement, etc.

FOCUS and MAKE an EFFORT TO IMPROVE. 

Your Feedback on Improving Cadet Involvement in our JROTC Program

EACH CLASS PERIOD WILL REVIEW THESE RECOMMENDATIONS AND PICK THE TOP THREE RECOMMENDATIONS AND DEVELOP A SPECIFIC PLAN ON HOW TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN. 

CLASS LEADER FOR PERIODS:

2:  Cadet Suarez

4:  Cadet Walsh

6:  Cadet Vacas

7:  Cadet Stevenson

READ:  BASED UPON WATCHING "REMEMBER THE TITANS" AND YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNIQUES USED TO BRING THIS TEAM TOGETHER, YOU DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS:

• COMPETITIONS BETWEEN CLASS PERIODS
• MONTHLY PFT & COMMUNITY SERVICE COMPETITIONS
• POST WINNER
• WIN A SWEATSHIRT
• PARTICIPATION BY-NAME ROSTER OF ALL CADETS 
• PROMOTIONS & AWARDS IN THE AUDITORIUM MONTHLY
• UNIT READ BOARD
• PARENT MEETING
• MONTHLY PARENT NEWS LETTER
• UPDATE OF UNIT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS TO PARENTS
• GET TO KNOW THE PLATOON COMMANDERS BETTER
• CLASS LEADER BRIEF EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
• AFTER SCHOOL EVENTS NEED TO BE BETTER ADVERTISED AND ORGANIZED BY CADET COMMAND ELEMENT.
• A TOP GUN CALENDAR NEEDS TO BE PUBLISHED
• POWER-POINT BRIEF OF OTHER JROTC ACTIVITIES
• COMMUNITY SERVICE, DRILL COMPETITION, FLAG CEREMONIES
• HOW THE UNIT WORKS: STAFF MEETINGS, ETC
• INTRODUCE THE CHAIN OF COMMAND
• REFORM THE PLATOONS
• ROTATE THEM AFTER A MARKING PERIOD
• DRILL:
• RE-INSTITUTE ARMED DRILL. 
• HAVE A DRILL EXHIBITION.
• CONDUCT RIFLE DRILL / DRILL IN CLASS.
• HOW TO PREPARE YOUR UNIFORM FOR UNIFORM DAY (MALE /FEMALE UNIFORM DAY PREP)
• SOCIAL ICE BREAKER  & COMPETITIVE GAMES AFTER SCHOOL
• ASSIGN EVERYONE TO BE AN OIC  /ASST. OIC FOR A COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT
• MORE THOROUGH BRIEFING OF HOW TO GO TO BLT OR LA/ST. ALSO, HOW YOU GET A RIBBON.
• TEACH NAVAL FLAG SIGNALING
• HAVE INVOLVED CADETS TALK TO NON-INVOLVED CADETS ONE-ON-ONE
• CLASSES ABOUT ALL OF THE ARMED FORCES AND FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
• TOP GUN: BASKETBALL 3 x 3, WIFFLEBALL. 

You Saw Coach Boone and the Titans Do It - How Can You Increase Cadet Involvement

We watched Remember The Titans from the perspective of observing two separate groups that were not committed to work together and were not involved with each others transformation. 

Link to Previous Activities: You were required to take notes as you observed the film on techniques or procedures the leaders and followers used to influence and shape the two group's transformation into one group. 

Organization: We will form into the same groups as yesterday and develop a group list to accomplish the following task:

Task: Provide a Group List of Specific Ideas on how to improve Cadet involvement in the NJROTC program. 

• Be specific: for example if a student suggests more challenging activities that is too vague. Provide some specific challenges you feel cadets would want to be involved in. 

Product turned in: Group Leaders will provide a group list of your suggestions to the NSI at the end of the class. 

Purpose for Activity: As we start the new school year, I want to harvest your ideas to incorporate into the program this year. 

Follow Up Commentary on "PEP TALK FOR SEPTEMBER" Article

THE PAST IS THE PAST

ARE YOU READY FOR A NEW OR IMPROVED YOU?

PEOPLE CAN CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IN A FEW MONTHS AND SUDDENLY GROW UP


YOU MAY BE BORED IN SCHOOL OCCASIONALLY

LEARNING IS NOT ALWAYS FUN, ... (NEITHER IS RUNNING LAPS, GOING TO WORK EVERYDAY, PAYING BILLS & TAXES, TAKING CARE OF SICK FAMILY, etc.)

YOU MAY NOT GIVE 100% EVERYDAY, BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT OUT OF SCHOOL, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO WORK HARD.

DON'T CONFUSE WORK (JUST TURNING THE PAGE...) WITH HARD WORK (TRYING TO TRULY COMPREHEND WHAT THE CLASS ACTIVITY OR HOMEWORK IS AT).

HARD WORK HURTS. ASK ANYBODY WHO WORKS HARD.

IF WORKING HARD IS NEW TO YOU, DON'T EXPECT IMMEDIATE RESULTS, BUT YOU WILL GET BETTER AT WHATEVER YOU ARE WORKING AT.

DON'T EXPECT TO EXCEL JUST BECAUSE YOU WORK HARD.

ASK FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT. IT MAY MAKE ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE.

C= ACCEPTABLE   A= OUTSTANDING  D & F = UNACCEPTABLE RESULTS
DO YOUR GRADES REFLECT YOUR WORK ETHIC?
DO YOUR GRADES REFLECT WHO YOU ARE?

DO YOUR HOMEWORK, IT MAKES YOU SMARTER.

TREAT OTHERS WITH RESPECT AND HUMAN DECENCY.

SCHOOL AND WORK SITUATIONS ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY. THERE IS A BOSS, AND YOUR BOSS HAS A BOSS.

YOU MAY OFTEN COMPLAIN THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING. HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU NEED TO LEARN IT OR NOT.

NEXT TIME YOU DON'T WANT TO LEARN SOMETHING, SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS AGREE WITH YOU NOT LEARNING.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN CHARGE SOON, HOW MUCH POWER WILL YOU HAVE

Group Read of Pep Talk for September

You will be formed into small groups and you will read Peter Berger's PEP TALK FOR SEPTEMBER. 

You will perform a group reading and then your group will provide a review of what you agree and don't agree with the article. 

Lastly, what was my motivation for giving you this assignment. 

Lets Talk About Commitment and Being Involved as a Cadet

This is a picture of Jackie Calzada who is now a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. She was a member of our NJROTC program and after graduating she committed to her country by joining the military. Other cadets who graduated committed to getting a college education, civil service, and foreign service. 

Let's talk about the words: involvement and commitment.

INVOLVEMENT:(VERB) to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence;imply; entail, to engage or employ. 

COMMITMENT: 
(NOUN) the act of pledging, engaging,obligation, and involvement. 

As you watch the film Remember The Titans, thinks about how the followers choose to commit to leave their group and get involved in the process of joining a new group. 

Think of how the leaders (coaches and team captains) get others to commit and get involved in forming a new team just like we are trying to improve our NJROTC team.   

Remember The Titans...with a Twist

We have watched Remember The Titans in the past, this year we will view it from a different symbolic viewpoint. One of the major themes in this movie is the racial divide between this community and the school. The time period of the film is when this Virginia community was participating in desegregation by merging two schools originally attended by two separate racial groups. I want you to substitute the issue of racism for the issue of commitment and involvement in the NJROTC program. Each group in the film will now symbolize cadets who are committed and involved in the program in contrast to cadets who are not committed and involved in the program. How did the coaches bring these two groups together? How can you as a cadet leader influence and lead  un-involved or committed cadets to get involved and become committed to JROTC. What can we learn from this film and the example of the leaders (coaches, team captains, etc.)?   

Let's knock the Rust off and do some drill!!!!

We have had enough talk in class, so let's get out of our desks and conduct some drill. Drill is a great mechanism for accomplishing a number of things:

• Move people from one area to another in an orderly fashion
• Allow everyone to work on self discipline, attention to detail, and bearing.
• Demonstrate technical precision while responding to commands
• Reinforce followership and leadership (Does the leader give the proper commands at the right time and do the followers execute the proper movements at the proper time?)

You will pair off into teams or small groups and start to practice: 

• Position of Attention
• Facing Movements
• Mark Time March and Halt.
• Marching and To the Rear March.
• Column Movements and Flanking Movements
• Squad Drill
• Platoon Drill.

Let us see how this goes...?

NEW SCHOOL YEAR FOR BMHS NJROTC 2014

We started the year off by reacquainting ourselves with what occurred over the summer. Then you analyzed yourself in the form of a cadet autobiography where you were asked about your goals for JROTC, school, and after school. I want you to think about how you set goals and how come sometimes people don't achieve those goals. Lets watch this short video: 

The "why" of your goals is the purpose of the goal. Using what happens if you don't achieve that goal as a good filter for better understanding your goals. 

Classroom Activity: 

• Form into small groups, and discuss what your individual goals for JROTC are this year. 
• Designate someone in the group to take notes.
• Prior to the end of class the note-takers will share group inputs with the class. 
• SMART Goals:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time Bound