Debate Reflection

What did you learn about how to persuade others from participating in your debate?

- By participating in my debate, I learned that you have to cater your argument to the audience
that you are presenting to in order to have them gain your opinion. Since we go to a Catholic
high school, it was more conniving to base our responses to the oppositions side’s questions in
correlation with morality and faith. Also, since I was the rebuttal, I learned how you have to
listen fully to the opposition’s argument in order to make your view stronger. Only by looking at
the argument from both sides beforehand and paying attention to their opening statement will
you be able to make a solid argument.

What did you learn by observing others’ debates?

- What I learned from other people’s debates was the power that self-confidence has. A lot of
trying to convince someone of your argument comes from your presentation of your argument.
In Maddie’s debate, I observed how confident she was in her answers and facts which made her
argument more convincing. She made clear and logical sentence and refrained from stuttering
which added a sense of professionalism to her performance. I also observed from Gillian’s
debate how having multiple different facts and statistics can make your argument seem more
convincing.