🎤 Hot-Seat Defense Round

Students deliver a timed practice version of their persuasive speech to a small group, then answer live audience questions that challenge their evidence, reasoning, and rhetorical choices. Peers use a listening guide to track claim clarity, source quality, rebuttal strength, and whether responses avoid manipulation or fallacious logic. Students end by revising speaker notes for the final forum and submitting the marked listening guide with one concrete next-step change.