Teaching Students how to Argue

One of the sites I use to study the supreme court decisions had this article:

" For a scored discussion to work properly, students must be well prepared. This may include doing a practice discussion with students so that they understand the criteria for their grades. A practice discussion could ask students to spontaneously discuss a controversial issue within the school, such as whether the school should have a dress code. After the discussion, the teacher could tease out the positive aspects of the discussion and the negative aspects of the discussion, to come to a consensus as to what constitutes a good discussion and how the students will be marked.

For example, students might receive positive marks for demonstrating skills such as:

• stating a position
• providing evidence for a position
• challenging another student’s use of evidence
• linking the discussion to the course material
• inviting others into the discussion
• asking a question
• appearing to listen attentively
• responding to the comments of others
• building on the comments of others
• playing devil’s advocate

Students might receive negative marks for demonstrating the following:

• disruptive interrupting
• monopolizing the discussion
• personal criticism
• irrelevant or distracting statements"

I was wondering how we'd do in this kind of rubric and how well others we know might do.