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The New York Times  100 Most Popular Student Questions for Debate and Persuasive Writing:  Amazing resource for alley debates, large debates, persuasive writing topics.

Famous Trials By Professor Douglas O. Linder: This site contains complete or nearly complete testimonies, photos of evidence, court proceedings, etc. from the top 100 trials of humanity.  A great resource for mock trial AND reexamining how the justice system has changed.  My 8th graders have done these successfully: the trial of Lizzie Borden, the trial of Bruno Hauptman (Lindbergh baby kidnapping), the murder of Emmett Till, and the trial of Mary Surratt (we watched The Conspirators to kick off the debate unit).  Students who were witnesses or the accused were expected to know their character.  The "juries" for each mock trial were students. Two literacy classes were combined:  while one ran their trial, the others acted as jurors, and were given note taking guides to help them.  Thus, if they are ever called for jury duty, they have some idea for what this looks and feels like.