Bring a touch of whimsy to your classroom with the “Unicorns vs. Elves” debate activity, designed to engage students while building critical thinking and public speaking skills. Some students may be engaged with sports debates (check out my LeBron vs. Michael debate!) or monster battles (check out Werewolves vs. Zombies!), but others are gentler souls– for them– a debate about unicorns and elves may be just the thing to bring the magic of debate to life.
Begin by dividing the class into teams of four, or three if necessary. Assign half of the students to defend unicorns and the other half to advocate for elves, creating an engaging and balanced debate. There needs to be an even number of teams to debate each other, unless a team is willing to debate twice!
Students are given ten minutes to prepare their arguments, using provided templates and a “fact sheet” as their sole sources of evidence. This ensures that the focus remains on analyzing and interpreting common information, which not only facilitates a low-prep debate, it also encourages more specific rebuttals as everyone has access to all the same information.
During the debate, each student will have the opportunity to present an argument and then prepare a rebuttal. The structure is straightforward: each speaker addresses one argument from the opposing team, with each speech lasting one minute. There is no additional preparation time between rounds, which keeps the energy high and challenges students to think on their feet.
The teacher evaluates the debate based on the quality of the arguments using a clear rubric, with no winners or losers declared. This format not only enhances debating skills but also fosters creativity, teamwork, and the ability to articulate ideas clearly—all in a fun and magical context.
