Discussion, Evaluating & Presenting
Aligned to SL.11-12.1 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
What this lesson teaches
In rigorous discussions you both lead and contribute, and you evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, evidence, and rhetoric. When presenting, you convey a clear, distinct perspective of your own.
Worked examples
Example 1
Watching a televised debate, you evaluate a candidate's reasoning: a strong statistic supports one claim, but an emotional appeal hides a missing fact in another, which you can name.
Example 2
In a moderated panel, one participant answers a question about cost by describing the program's benefits. Naming the move without hostility — I want to return to the cost question, because the benefits are not in dispute — keeps the discussion productive and makes the evasion visible to everyone without accusing anyone.
Example 3
Common mistake: evaluating a speaker on delivery. Hesitation, an accent, a flat affect and a nervous laugh are all unrelated to whether the reasoning holds, and a smooth delivery is unrelated too. Write the argument down in bare propositions and evaluate the propositions. Anything in your assessment that would change if the same words were read by someone else is not an assessment of the argument.
Practice questions
- Evaluate a speaker's reasoning, evidence, and rhetoric.
- Lead a discussion and weigh competing perspectives.
- Present findings that convey your own distinct perspective.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Discusión, evaluación y presentación
En discusiones rigurosas, tanto diriges como participas, y evalúas el punto de vista, el razonamiento, las evidencias y la retórica de quien habla. Al presentar, transmites una perspectiva propia clara y definida.
Ejemplo 1: Al ver un debate televisado, evalúas el razonamiento de un candidato: una estadística sólida respalda un argumento, pero un llamado emocional oculta un dato que falta en otro, algo que tú eres capaz de identificar.
Ejemplo 2: En un panel moderado, un participante responde a una pregunta sobre costos describiendo los beneficios del programa. Nombrar la maniobra sin hostilidad — Quiero volver a la pregunta del costo, porque los beneficios no están en disputa — mantiene productiva la discusión y hace visible la evasión para todos sin acusar a nadie.
Ejemplo 3: Error común: evaluar a quien habla por su desempeño. La vacilación, un acento, un tono plano o una risa nerviosa no tienen nada que ver con si el razonamiento se sostiene, y una exposición fluida tampoco. Escribe el argumento en proposiciones desnudas y evalúa las proposiciones. Todo lo que en tu juicio cambiaría si esas mismas palabras las leyera otra persona no es un juicio sobre el argumento.
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