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Flowing (Intermediate): Flowing with Pokémon Cards
Learning Objectives
Prioritize relevant information when flowing.
Reinforce fundamentals of flowing.
Time Needed
~15-20 min.
Resources & Materials
Paper (5-6 sheets per student)
Pens (2 colors per student)
Physical or digital Pokémon cards.
Teacher Preparation
Prepare small piles of Pokémon cards to read as “arguments”.
A database of Pokémon cards can be viewed online here.
Lesson Outline
- Introduction
- Explain to students that cards/pieces of evidence have 3 parts:
- Tags – the bolded summary sentences at the beginning of a piece of evidence.
- Cites – information about the author/source and date of a piece of evidence.
- Text – the partially underlined body of the evidence that students highlight and read.
- Tell students that they should prioritize flowing information from the tag and cite when evidence is read.
- Explain to students that cards/pieces of evidence have 3 parts:
- Flowing with Pokémon Cards (Activity)
- Tell students to prioritize writing down the name, type, and HP number of each Pokémon without getting bogged down by attack/ability descriptions.
- Give “speeches” with Pokémon cards, reading them in the following format:
Points of Improvement
Students try to write down every part of the card.
Students don’t use shorthand.
Signs of Mastery
Students use symbols for Pokémon types.
Students are able to get a name, type, and HP number for most cards.
Students abbreviate names and don’t worry about spelling.
Instructor Notes
Pokémon cards can be substituted for anything short with at least 3 elements.
Use debate evidence students don’t already know (evidence from an old season, for example) to make this activity more challenging.
Students may get frustrated by not knowing the spelling of names; remind them that spelling doesn’t matter as long as they understand it.