Debate!
Valeria Gurrola-Mariscal
I sat in the classroom anticipating the new assignment that will determine our doom. Both of my hands were shaking like crazy and praying that the new assignment wouldn’t be public speaking. While my teacher was walking around in the dead silence, my best friend and I looked into each other’s dark brown eyes. You could hear my teacher’s long breathes and he finally said, “Your new assignment will be a debate about patriots against loyalists.” I knew once he said debate it would include public speaking, already knowing that I was doomed and my grade would go down.
The next part was to deal with who was in my group. Being a 4th grader, I was always being picky and wanted my friends in my group. “One step at a time,” I told myself as my teacher explained the longest instructions I have ever heard, although my teacher sounded to be having the time of his life, so I was trying to pay attention without falling asleep to his gibberish.
When he finished, he finally gave us an assignment! With the groups sorted, and I was pleased with a half-decent group, I was content to start doing research for the patriot groups.
Of course, there were troubles with the groups with unrelated things, like who was the smartest and who did what. Sometimes I still wonder why we argued about useless things when we were younger. Although we assigned research to each other, some of the “equal” parts were totally unfair. Some kids had more work than others and some were not doing anything at all. As persistent as I am, I wanted to beat the other kids at the debate, so I covered up for the work that was not completed. As I look back, I regret that choice because they didn’t learn anything that trimester because of me.
Oh well, I learned a lot about the patriots and King George the third, to be honest; it was kind of calming to get out of the present time into the magical kingdom of reading. Reading about war and other people’s opinions was somewhat amusing. Learning different perspectives and beliefs helped me better understand what they were fighting for and how I think the patriots would react, like if they were having this debate. Being in another person’s shoes and trying to act like them was a hard role for me to fill. I would either be really scared and nervous or really clumsy. “Practice makes perfect,” is a phrase I always heard but always the one that makes me so upset. How is a person supposed to be perfect when they have a whole other personality and beliefs? It didn’t really make sense when I was younger, and yet here we are, and it still doesn’t make sense.
3 Weeks Later
Finally, it was the day of the debate. It was mandatory to wear either red or blue to represent what group you were in. At the time, I only had my blue plain shirt. It was really embarrassing because everyone was wearing hoodies with characters or with popular brands. And that was only the first of my troubles that day. I have been practicing all day before with my pet dogs, just reciting the words as if they were my audience, but I was already doubting myself as I was getting to my seat. The classroom was set differently: The tables and chairs were in a position as if we were in a conference room or Congress. It was unsettling. The air was very tense and you could feel that everyone was unsettled. It felt like the teacher and the parents were the only ones excited while the kids were pressured to be there by everyone else. Everyone was finally seated and the fierce debate was about to begin.
“Welcome everyone to the Patriots vs Loyalist debate; please stay seated and clap your hands at the very end. Students remember to take notes,” my fourth-grade teacher said setting the tone for everyone.
“Thank you very much for the introduction. We will begin now. We the Loyalists want peace in a form that will protect…” said one of my classmates. As I was waiting for my turn and anticipating it. I was jotting down notes and then I realized it was my turn. I stood up as fast as possible and tried to act as confident as possible. “Objection,” I said loudly. “The British have been pushing taxes on us we reserve the right to be free,” I said with my hands shaking because of how nervous I was to not make a mistake. Once we won the debate I felt so proud of myself. Some parts are a blur now, but I remember stepping out of my bubble and saying a few lines and feeling so proud and happy of it being over.
Up to this point, I still believe it was one of my biggest accomplishments from when I was younger.
Looking back I really appreciate my teacher for giving us that assignment because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. This experience helped me understand that we will have to do it anyways and that if you calm down and breathe public speaking isn’t as bad as you think.
