2021 April/May Rostrum

A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL SPEECH & DEBATE ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 95 ISSUE 4 A P R . / M AY 2 0 2 1

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MIDDLE The State of Middle School Speech and Debate

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Letter from the Publisher

Board of Directors

One of my favorite parts of the in-person National Tournament is when we bring out our middle school students to start off the high school awards ceremony and they’re met with roaring applause. Nearly every year, I introduce them as the future of speech and debate. While that’s undoubtedly true, forensics at the middle school level has incredible standalone value, and there’s critical work being done by and on behalf of young students in the present. Middle school members build their confidence in a time rife with uncertainty and self-doubt, and they find a place to belong as part of a team.

For high school teams without a local middle school program, that moment on stage may be the most they see of middle school competition during the year. For those folks, I hope this issue inspires you to think about ways you or your students could collaborate with a middle school in your area. For middle school programs, I trust you will find camaraderie and useful tools from our community in these pages.

In this issue, we cover the trials and successes of middle school programs across the country, learn how they got started, and share their strategies for incorporating speech and debate in the classroom and after school (page 28). Plus, we hear directly from sixth, seventh, and eighth graders on how speech and debate has challenged and changed them (page 52). High school programs wanting to connect with middle schools can borrow tips from Iowa senior Hannah Pautz, who started a middle school team at a local school (page 50), and Shawna Christenson, 2020 Middle School Coach of the Year (page 46).

I hope you’ll join me at the National Tournament Opening Ceremony on Sunday, June 13 as we celebrate middle school programs and the 2021 Middle School Speech Challenge! If you haven’t registered yet and want to learn more, visit www.speechanddebate.org/nationals.

We’d love to have you!

ELECTED MEMBERS Pam Cady Wycoff President Minnesota Dr. Tommie Lindsey, Jr. Vice President California Byron R. Arthur Louisiana David Huston Texas Adam J. Jacobi Wisconsin Jennifer M. Jerome Nebraska Renee C. Motter Colorado James W. Rye III Alabama

Sincerely,

APPOINTED MEMBERS Alan H. Coverstone Washington, D.C.

J. Scott Wunn Executive Director

Rostrum

A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL SPEECH & DEBATE ASSOCIATION

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Rostrum (ISSN 1073-5526), Copyright © 2021 by the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA), is published five times per year (Sept., Nov., Feb., Apr., and Aug.) by the NSDA, 401 Railroad Pl., West Des Moines, IA 50265-4730.

Business and Editorial Offices: NSDA, 401 Railroad Pl., West Des Moines, IA, 50265-4730. Accounting and Circulation Offices: NSDA, 401 Railroad Pl., West Des Moines, IA 50265-4730. Call (920) 748-6206 to subscribe. Periodicals postage is paid at Des Moines, IA 50318, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Rostrum, c/o NSDA, 401 Railroad Pl., West Des Moines, IA 50265-4730.

Rostrum provides a forum for the speech and debate community. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily the opinions of the NSDA, its officers, or its members. The National Speech & Debate Association does not guarantee advertised products and services unless sold directly by the NSDA.

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Dr. Mike Edmonds Colorado Sara Gibson Washington, D.C. Thomas M. Rollins Virginia Robert W. Runcie Administrative Representative Florida

To learn more about the Board, visit www.speechanddebate.org/ meet-the-team. You may also contact the Board by emailing board@speechanddebate.org.

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Public Speaking Events

NOVEMBER 12-14, 2021 ORLANDO, FL Join us for this unique triathlon style event that offers competitors the chance to demonstrate the diversity and breadth of their skills and knowledge.

Learn more at Speechwire.com and FloridaEducationFoundation.org/FCDI

In this Issue : V O LU M E 95 : I S SU E 4 : A P R I L / M AY 2021

From the Cover

Inside

28

2

Letter from the Publisher

6

2020-2021 Topics

16

Membership Minute

18

News + Notes

20

Tabroom.com Tip

Community

22

Resource Roundup

12

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources

56

26

National Speech and Debate Education Day: A Day Celebrating You! by Juliette Reyes

38

Opening Digital Doors to New Guests

40

Big Questions Offers Big Transformation

44

District in Detail: West Los Angeles

46

Coach Profile: Shawna Christenson

48

USA Debate – Coaching Middle School Students in World Schools Debate by Liana Schmitter-Emerson

50

Student Spotlight: Hannah Pautz

52

Middle School Student Spotlights

55

Opinion – A Path to Financial Equity in Our Activity

Meet Us in the Middle: The State of Middle School Speech and Debate

Governance and Leadership 8

From Your Board President

by Amir Estejab and Chase Keskinyan

National Tournament 24

2021 Online National Tournament Overview

by Elena Cecil

Advocacy Letter

by Dr. Tammy Ferguson

View this issue online! www.speechanddebate.org/rostrum

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ speechanddebate Share with us on Instagram @speechanddebate Follow us on Twitter @speechanddebate Follow us on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/nationalspeech-and-debate-association

OUR MISSION Rostrum shares best practices, resources, and opportunities that connect, support, and inspire a diverse community of educators committed to empowering students through speech and debate.

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2020–2021

Topics

Current topics, voting links, and resources available at:

www.speechanddebate.org/topics Member students and one chapter advisor per school are eligible to vote!

These and more National Tournament and Middle School Speech Challenge topics will be available online at www.speechanddebate.org/topics. Watch our website for details!

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Public Forum Debate Resolution will be released May 1, 2021.

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Lincoln-Douglas Debate Resolution will be released May 1, 2021.

2020-2021

Policy Debate Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.

2020–2021

Big Questions Debate Resolved: Mathematics was discovered, not invented.

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

World Schools Debate Prepared motions will be released May 1, 2021.

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2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Congressional Debate Legislation The legislation docket will be released May 1 with finals legislation by May 10, 2021.

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

International Extemp and United States Extemp Topic areas will be released May 1, 2021.

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Prepared Commentary and Prepared Prompt Speaking Topics will be released May 1, 2021.

2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Storytelling – Any theme 2021 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Pro Con Challenge Students select the National Tournament topic for CX, LD, or PF or a piece of legislation in the Congressional Debate Docket.

Send us your suggestions for PF topic areas and LD resolutions! Access the online submission forms by visiting our website: www.speechanddebate.org/topics

The American Legion’s National Oratorical Contest

LOOKING FOR COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS?  LOOK NO FURTHER. The first place finisher of The American Legion’s National Oratorical Contest is awarded a $25,000 scholarship, second place $22,500, and third place $20,000.

As part of the National Speech & Debate Association’s ongoing alliance with The American Legion, those top three finishers may also earn the right to compete in Original Oratory or United States Extemporaneous Speaking at the National Speech & Debate Tournament!



Want to get involved? Follow these simple steps!

• Visit www.legion.org/oratorical to learn more.

• Click on “State Contests” to contact The American Legion Department Headquarters located in your state to learn when the first contest in your area will be.

• Also click on “Assigned Topics” to learn the extemporaneous topic areas.

• Prepare your original oration on some aspect of the Constitution with emphasis on the duties and obligations of a citizen to our government.

Patrick Junker of Iowa placed first at the 2019 American Legion National Oratorical Contest

Watch examples of past winning orations online at www.legion.org/oratorical/videos.

GOVERNANCE

From Your Board President E D I TO R’S

N OT E

According to their website, “The Barkley Forum is the intercollegiate debate and forensics organization at Emory University. It is named after Emory alumnus and former United States Vice-President Alben W.

Barkley. In 1964, the Barkley Forum, under the direction of Glenn Pelham, began to invite successful high school coaches into an honor society known as the Key Society. The most prestigious presentation made by the Barkley Forum is the presentation of the Gold Key. Each year the members of the self-perpetuating Key Society invite a select number of debate teachers from schools across the nation into membership.” These coaches are known as Key Coaches. One Key Coach is invited to present the keynote address at their annual ceremony held during the Barkley Forum for High Schools Tournament. In 2021, Pam Cady Wycoff was invited to be the keynote speaker. The following excerpts have been adapted from her address delivered January 29, 2021. Although originally delivered to the Key Coaches of the Barkley Forum, this message translates to all coaches. In President Wycoff’s words, “All coaches are key to fostering these Courageous Conversations.”

LET’S TALK.

I

n our activity we often say, “Words Matter.” I would like to take that idea a bit further and say, our conversations matter. That’s why I have chosen to talk with you about the necessity of conversations—specifically, Courageous Conversations.

Now, I do not pretend to think I know more about this topic than others in this room. In fact, I often feel woefully inadequate and vulnerable when dealing with equity. However, my hope is that by telling you about my personal experience with conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion over the past 16 months, perhaps it will encourage more of these conversations in our community.

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I would like to begin with a story about myself that I first shared in the summer of 2019 as part of a Courageous Conversation. I am the daughter of a farmer and elementary school teacher.

I grew up in Lake Crystal, Minnesota—a small rural community. In my high school, there were no students of color, except for one foreign exchange student whom I got to know because he was staying at my aunt and uncle’s home for the year. Growing up, I don’t remember any disparaging words about race in my family. As a matter of fact, I don’t really remember any words. It was not really discussed.

After high school, I attended Southwest State

University in Marshall, Minnesota, which was also predominantly white.

Although I was not Catholic, I went on to teach in a small Catholic school that was predominately white. When I moved to Apple Valley High School in 1989-1990, it was a white, upper middle class suburban high school outside the Twin Cities. Out of the 2,200 students, about eight were Black. Two of those students were on my team: Scott, a senior, and his younger brother, Rob. It was Scott, who on a personal level, opened my eyes to race.

Scott came to me one day, upset because Martin Luther King Jr. Day was coming up and there were no plans to recognize or honor King

at school. To put this in context, this was early on in the commemoration of this day, and school would be in session. To Scott, this situation was completely unacceptable and wrong.

After our conversation, I suggested he talk with our Fine Arts Principal about some options, and after that conversation, she agreed to Scott writing a public statement commemorating the day and delivering part of King’s I Have a Dream speech over the intercom for the school.

That conversation with Scott was a realization for me, because as a white person, it never occurred to me that something was wrong with the way that day was being

handled. However, to Scott, because of who he was, it was obvious. It took my student, via a conversation, to teach me that our school needed to make a change.

I first shared that story as part of my introduction to my “table partner,” who then introduced herself and shared her story of race, at the 2019 NSDA Inclusion Workshop led by Glenn Singleton, the architect and author of Courageous Conversations about Race. I personally believe that event was the most transformative workshop I’ve ever attended.

And teachers, we attend a lot of workshops!

I credit Key Coach Tommie Lindsey, whose friendship with Glenn brought him to the NSDA. And, with the support of three Key Coaches, Mike Edmonds, Ed Lee, and James Roland, the workshop was held in partnership with Colorado College, and presented by the Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue.

Together, they ensured that our community would begin this conversation. In other words, Key Coaches make things happen!

It was at this workshop that I experienced my first of many Courageous Conversations with the five other people at my table, as well as others in the room.

However, the repeated conversations among the six of us at our table were such

lived experiences, that they forged real connections that, to me, felt like family. At the end of that workshop, I made a personal commitment to continue having Courageous Conversations with members of our community.

Since that time, I have had 14 conversations. Yes, I’m keeping track, because those conversations were important—and I’m not done.

Although these conversations generally began by each sharing our story of race, because of each individual’s personal experience, the conversations often extended into other discussions about their experiences with gender, cultural or religious discrimination, sexism, ageism, or ableism. And, when their concern related specifically to our speech and debate community, which it often did, they pointed it out and generally offered suggestions for change. Everyone was “all in” for a conversation.

I’ve found my role has been to share, but mainly to listen and learn. And I love that! After all, as I once heard Rabbi Steve Leder say, “I never learned anything new when I was the one talking.”

I have selected two specific stories from my conversations to share. I have removed names and have each person’s permission to share their stories as written.

In a conversation with a female coach, I learned she

was often the only woman in the tab room, and, in her words, felt like a “token member” of the committee.

She noticed her ideas were often ignored or dismissed— until she decided to put together quantitative data to make her point. Admittedly, offering data can be a good practice, but that had not been necessary for her male counterparts to be heard. As a consequence, she did not feel that she had the respect of her peers. Why? It was because she was present, but did not really have a “seat at the table.” The desire to feel respected, listened to, and welcomed to the table was consistently voiced by others across my conversations.

Second, I learned from a former Black female speech competitor, now an adult and coach, how the speech team was a welcomed escape from her world, her peer group. She loved being on the team and was good at it, but at the same time, she was bullied by her Black peers

for competing in speech. She was repeatedly told by them that participating in academic activities was “selling out to whiteness,” and that’s not how she should present herself.

They told her she could be physical and play sports or be involved in dance, or she could be creative—and express herself through fashion and music, but not speech. She was called “white girl.” She was told that to “sound intelligent” was to “sound white.” Fighting with words was soft, and she almost got into a physical fight with them about that!

She was on my team. We often talked about her life outside of speech. I would say we had a strong relationship.

I have been to her wedding, baby showers, and in her life for 16 years. I never heard that story about race, nor knew that she was dealing with that in high school until we had our Courageous Conversation.

Looking back on that situation now, she said that she wished her peers had felt invited into the activity with her, and that

My hope is that by telling you about my personal experience with conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion over the past 16 months, perhaps it will encourage more of these conversations in our community.”

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9

we could have better figured out how to reach them.

Through other conversations, I also learned first-hand accounts about...

• The physical and emotional toll of dealing with a revolving door of microaggressions in daily life.

• The frustration of reading insensitive comments on ballots like, “This is just another Black piece. Is this topic being overplayed?

How many times can I see this? I just can’t relate.”

• The necessity of cultural competence to provide a common language of concepts and terms so that we can better communicate with one another and find common ground.

• What it felt like growing up in a school where they wore Confederate band uniforms and flew the Confederate flag on game day.

• The exhaustion of codeswitching in order to “fit in.”

• The stress of navigating tournaments with a disability, a disability which may or may not be obvious to others and needing “reasonable accommodations” to be viewed as, just that, “reasonable.”

None of the conversations were contentious. All of them

were enlightening, and each of them, I believe, has taken our relationship to a deeper, more meaningful level. And, in turn, they have set the stage for meaningful change.

I remember, on my way to my first Courageous Conversation, thinking, why haven’t the two of us ever had this conversation before? We talk, but we don’t really talk about this as a lived experience. And then, with some anticipation, I walked into the room. When I left that conversation, I decided it had not happened before, simply because neither of us had taken the first step to invite the conversation, and once we set aside the time and space, the conditions allowed it to happen.

During this annual event, as Key Coaches, we are often challenged to reconsider a way of thinking or a course of action. So, I wanted to make my challenge graspable, especially this year when everyone is carrying such a heavy load. I was recently inspired by a television interview I watched with Suzy Amis Cameron, author of the book, The OMD Plan.

Now, just go with me for a minute. She explained that OMD, which stands for One Meal a Day of a plant-based meal, will not only transform your health but transform our environment. She found that just committing to

one meal a day, rather than changing your whole diet, made the plan graspable and attainable, yet transformative.

The findings are amazing.

Now, rest assured I’m not going to ask you to have “One Courageous Conversation a Day,” but I am challenging you to commit to one, somewhere, at some time, soon. And then, perhaps consider another one. Seek out someone in our speech and debate community you know, or someone you don’t really know but would like to know better. If you have already been having Courageous Conversations, I encourage you to extend your reach. If you would like to have one with me, consider this my invitation!

Recently, Reverend Raphael Warnock told a story about a morning ritual he experienced as a child.

He said, “Growing up, every morning come 6:00 a.m., my father would come to my door, tell me to put on my shoes, and say, ‘Get ready— there’s something for you to do.’” That sense of directed determination resonated with me. In that spirit, fellow Key Coaches, there’s something for us to do.

If you could have one Courageous Conversation, whom would you invite?

If each of us makes the commitment to invite that conversation, times the number gathered here

tonight, it will have a ripple effect. If, afterward, you encourage that person to invite someone to a conversation, each of those conversations will be multiplied time and time again. In the words of anthropologist Margaret Meade, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Key Coaches, for our community, we can be that group of thoughtful, committed people. After all, Key Coaches make things happen!

Last year, on the day I learned my sister had colon cancer, I made a promise to her that I would not miss one more day of her life without talking with her. So, for the final 10 months of her life, usually around 7:00 p.m., we talked. Every day. She lived in Texas and I lived in Minnesota, and those daily conversations were our lifeline. Although the conversations I’m asking you to consider will be different, your conversations will also be lifelines that foster mutual respect, empathy, and understanding. I look forward to those conversations...in 2021 and beyond.

Let’s talk...

Pam Cady Wycoff NSDA Board President

If you would like to connect with Pam for more information, please email pam.wycoff@speechanddebate.org.

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COMMUNITY

DIVERSITY • EQUITY • INCLUSION

RESOURCES

to assist with their pronunciation during awards ceremonies?

by Nicole Wanzer-Serrano As you start to think about goals for next school year, you may be looking for more ways to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into your speech and debate program. Here are a few NSDA resources designed to make it easier for you to create a safer and more equitable speech and debate experience for your students.

The NSDA has Congressional legislation, Extemp questions, and Impromptu prompts on a variety of often underrepresented topics! These are freely available at www. speechanddebate.org/ inclusion.

1

Do you feel prepared to foster a critical classroom conversation on issues concerning social justice?

Check out a page of resources with lesson plans and readings to help you online at www. speechanddebate.org/ critical-classroomconversations.

2

Wanting to diversify the types of books your students can draw material from for Interp pieces? Check out our literature collections on Amazon to make it easy for you to order as needed. We have books connected with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, and International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

You can find these on each month’s celebration page on the NSDA website! Get started at www.speechanddebate. org/inclusion.

3

Have you added pronunciation for each of your students’ names on Tabroom.com

4

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As you think about hosting a tournament next year, check out our Inclusive Tournament Checklist at www.speechanddebate. org/inclusion for questions you may want to consider before creating your invitation. The list guides you through considerations in the planning and running of your tournament to make it a better experience for all.

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If you are preparing returning students to become judges next year, consider sharing the free NSDA judge training available at www. speechanddebate.org/ judge-training. In partnership with the NFHS, this page includes an introduction to cultural competency and speech and debate. There are also materials for becoming a great volunteer judge for adults looking to give back to your team.

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Are you concerned about having the necessary funding for your

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team? Ask for help by filling out a Needs Request Form online at www. speechanddebate.org/ program-grants. This form is also the best way to request assistance with NSDA membership dues for the 2021-2022 school year. You can earn other funding for your program by applying to host a Big Questions scrimmage or tournament at www. speechanddebate.org/ big-questions.

If you have time for professional development, consider our three free NSDA Learn courses that can be taken at your own pace.

“Engaging and Mentoring Black/African American Students,” “Engaging and Mentoring LGBT+ Students,” and “Engaging and Mentoring Students with Disabilities” are all available online whenever it is convenient for you.

Get started at www. speechanddebate.org/ learn.

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Nicole Wanzer-Serrano serves as Director of Development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the NSDA.

The online 2021 National Speech & Debate Conference will include caucuses, keynotes, town halls, and professional development sessions.

Any interested adult is welcome to attend!

NSDA coaches and district leaders—please encourage your local administrators, teachers, parents, alumni, and other community stakeholders to join the conversation.

www.speechanddebate.org/conferences

2021 National Debate Champions P I K A P PA D E LTA T E A M P O I N T S

To learn more about speech and debate at Simpson College, and earn some of your own hardware, email spencer.waugh@simpson.edu.

EXPLORE: Simpson.edu/SpeechAndDebate

MEMBERSHIP MINUTE

EARNING POINTS FOR SERVICE ACTIVITIES

To enter service points and more, log in to your NSDA Account: www.speechanddebate.org/account

by Annie Reisener Are your students maximizing their memberships? In addition to earning points for competition, NSDA members earn merit points for service activities. Last year we made entering service points easier than ever and added a new incentive for students of all ages!

WHY CHOOSE SERVICE? When students take the pledge to uphold our Code of Honor, they promise to be prepared to work constructively to improve the lives of others. By celebrating that work, we aim to create servant leaders in communities across the country. Plus, service points offer recognition avenues for students who may have full plates outside speech and debate to keep them engaged.

Service to me means hard work. It means persistence, passion, determination, for not only your team, but your school, family, and community.

It’s about utilizing your own talents for your team and the greater good.”

— Trinity Vuyyuri Eighth grade student, Jackson Creek Middle School, Indiana 16

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ENTERING SERVICE POINTS

RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE

Students can earn points when they use their talents to serve their peers, community, and the activity. That could mean peer coaching activities, organizing a fundraiser to improve your school, advocating for a local animal shelter, babysitting during PTA meetings, organizing a school supply drive, or registering voters. The possibilities are endless, but if an advisor or coach with designated points deems an activity is eligible for service points, they may enter them as they would

In addition to contributing to Honor Society degrees, students also make progress toward a new NSDA award as they earn service points!

The Speaking and Service Award annually recognizes students who go above and beyond in their service to their teams, schools, and communities. To earn the award for the 2020-2021 school year, students must earn 200 service points (the maximum number possible in a given school year in our Honor Society) between August 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021.

No application process is required. Current member students of all ages are eligible.

points for competition.

Each approximate hour of activity should be treated as two points, with a limit of 20 points per day. Point values may be submitted by students through their NSDA account for coach approval or determined by coaches based on the nature of the project.

Annie Reisener serves as Membership Manager for the NSDA.

SUMMER DIVERSITY CONFERENCE ENTITLED: BE INTENTIONAL, BUILD UP OUR CHILDREN.

Owner Kristy Thomas and Thomas DEI Consulting LLC are excited to offer a Summer Diversity Conference entitled: Be Intentional, Build Up Our Children. The collective and creative professional minds that have been gathered are true advocates in the areas of:

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE WORLD OF EDUCATION.

JULY 27, 28, 29 (ALL VIRTUAL)

Kristy Thomas Owner/ Educator/ Consultant

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.THOMASDEICONSULTING.COM

COMMUNITY

NEWS + NOTES Review Guidance on Returning to Face-to-Face Events The NSDA has partnered with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to produce a guide to returning to face-to-face practice, events, and competition. We believe it is essential to the physical, social, emotional, and mental well-being of K-12 students across the nation that students return to face-to-face speech and debate activities as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. This guide provides mitigation strategies for face-to-face competition based on a scientific study to determine how COVID-19 may spread in the course of speaking activities, discusses implications for program budgets and recruitment, and offers considerations for online instruction and competition where applicable.

Visit www.speechanddebate.org/2021guidance to read the complete guide.

Build an Equitable and Inclusive Team Access three free, self-paced NSDA Learn courses to learn strategies and considerations for intentionally recruiting students from different backgrounds. Get started online today at www.speechanddebate.org/learn.

The minutes from the Board of Directors’ March meeting are available online at www.speechanddebate.org/2021-marchboard-minutes.

Try Out the Resource Package We are offering the 2021-2022 Resource Package, normally $199, for just $99 to any school renewing membership between August 1 and September 30. If you pre-pay for the $99 Resource Package, please ensure you renew and take advantage of your prepaid credits prior to September 30, 2021, to avoid being charged full price. To prepay, visit the “School Purchases” tab of your NSDA profile.

Help Us Commemorate National Native American Heritage Month We plan to add to our series of posters and other resources in honor of National Native American Heritage Month this November. We encourage any coach or student identifying with that group to contact Membership Assistant Eli Woody at eli.woody@speechanddebate.org to participate in the planning process or to be featured.

Engaging and Mentoring Students with Disabilities: Learn legal requirements and terminology, recruitment and peer mentoring strategies, tools for building confidence, and progress plans.

Read the March Board Minutes

Engaging and Mentoring LGBTQ+ Students: Understand how to create a safe space for students, recruit and welcome new voices, overcome barriers, and be proactive about advocating for student needs. This is a great course to take during Pride Month in June!

Engaging and Mentoring Black/African American Students: Take away strategies for showcasing Black Excellence in recruitment, avoiding pigeonholing, creating mentor relationships, and building an anti-racist team.

Check Out the New Favorite Button You now can mark frequently referenced pages, forms, and resources as favorites on the NSDA website—or use the feature as a way to save things to review or use at practice later! To favorite something, scroll to the bottom of a page and click the star button.

You must be logged in to use the favorite feature. Navigate to www.speechanddebate.org/favorites to view your favorites, or visit the “Favorites” section under “Quick Links” in the left menu of your NSDA Account.

Questions? We’re here to help! Email info@speechanddebate.org or call (920) 748-6206.

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GDS WILL BE FULLY ONLINE SUMMER 2021 www.gdsdebate.com

The Global Debate Symposium has one of the most experienced staffs of any workshop in the country with some of the best teachers and coaches in the activity. The senior staff

SUMMER 2021 SESSIONS TWO WEEK PROGRAMS

. . . . . June 27 - July 10

THREE WEEK PROGRAMS

. . . . June 27 - July 17

utilizes this expertise to construct a rigorous

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

curriculum that respects the diverse learning

Kritik and Traditional Labs

styles of teenagers as they mentor younger staff to transition from outstanding debaters to instructors.

World Schools Debate Interpretation of Literature – Individual Events

AT GDS WE PRACTICE: X Superior Curriculum and Instruction X Argument Engagement, Not Evasion X Diversity, Inclusion, and Cultural Competence 2020 NSDA WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Visit our website for more information:

www.gdsdebate.com

COMPETITION

TABROOM.COM TIP:

Learn More! To read about Tabroom.com features and support, visit http://docs.tabroom.com.

Stay Connected During the

National Tournament

by Kevon Haughton

You can see any students with a linked Tabroom.com account in the “Account” column. If the “Account” column does not show an email, that means they do not have a linked account.

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Log in to Tabroom.com and click the “Competitors” tab to see a roster of your students.

Coaches can prepare for the National Tournament by using Tabroom.com features to ensure their students have linked accounts, judges receive notifications about round assignments, and parents and coaches can follow along from home!

Linking Student Accounts

After the student finds their name and clicks “Link,” the coach will need to log in to Tabroom.com and approve that link by navigating to the “Competitors” tab and clicking the green checkmark next to the student’s account linking request.

Click on the name of any student in the list to edit. At the top of the edit screen, you will either see a linked Tabroom.com account or a search box to find them by email address. Search for the student’s email address associated with their Tabroom.com account and click “Search.”

Students who do not already have Tabroom.com accounts should click the “Sign Up” link in the upper right-hand corner and complete registration using an email address they can readily access. If they’re already added to their school’s competitor roster in Tabroom, they can click “Link your account” once they log in.

This is how they will look when their account has been linked!

2 Alternatively, a coach can link a student’s account for them instead of having the student link themselves by following these steps:

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Receiving Email and Text Notifications

Tournaments hosted on Tabroom.com have the option to send notifications to judges and students via text and/or email alerts. These notifications help tournament

participants stay updated on all tournament progress, know when pairings have been released, and notify judges of any swaps.

After logging in, click the “Profile” button at the top of the page.

Be sure that the “No Emails or Texts” button has NOT been checked. To stop receiving notifications, you can check this box, and it will prevent you from receiving any tournament or circuit emails.

Go to the tournament in question and select the “Live Updates” tab. If you are not yet following anyone, your list will be blank.

Select an event/division of entries, a list of judges, or an entire school, then click a result to add it to your list. After selecting one, you’ll see a list of possible entries/judges/schools to follow. Click an entry to follow them.

Make sure you have filled out your phone number and cell phone provider, then click “Save Changes.” Your cell phone provider must be correct in order for you to receive updates.

To add people to your live updates list:

To set up your Tabroom.com account to receive notifications, follow these steps:

student/judge missing from rounds, and important tournament updates.

Once you are following an entry/judge, they will move to the “You are following” section of the page.

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Receiving Updates About an Entry at a Tournament

Tabroom.com has a feature called “Live Updates” that allows you to receive notifications about entries and judges on a per-tournament basis. If you sign up to receive live updates about an entry or judge, you will be copied on the notifications that are sent to them, including pairing releases, notifications about that

You will receive a confirmation email whenever you start following someone. To stop following them, simply click them once more or click “Stop Your Live Updates” to stop following everyone.

Kevon Haughton serves as Tournament Services Coordinator for the National Speech & Debate Association.

Learn more about National Tournament procedures:

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RESOURCE ROUNDUP

NEW!

MIDDLE SCHOOL RESOURCES HELP YOUR STUDENTS EXCEL

by Elena Cecil

Explore new resources for helping middle school students in the development of two major areas of competitive speech and debate: how to build characters for Interp events and getting started on writing a speech. These materials are great for beginners or for practice with students who already understand the skills but want to hone them as much as possible! Check out overviews below and head online to find the complete resources.

Combing the Text for Clues This activity comes from the NSDA Learn course “Intro to Coaching: Dramatic and Humorous Interp” by Meg Howell-Haymaker and Deborah Simon.

Enroll for free today to access these activities and

more at www.speechanddebate.org/learn.

• What does the author say about the character?

• What does the character say about themselves? (Be leery of liars.)

• What do others say about the character? (Be leery of liars.)

• What do others think about the character?

• How do others treat the character?

• What does the character do for a living, a hobby, to unwind, to psych up?

Once you have answered these questions, organize the information so it is usable: • Group the clues into identifiable characteristics.

• Find major and minor character traits.

• Note if, how, and when characters undergo change.

Upon completion of this activity, students will have a better understanding of who their character is and how to bring them to life.

Starting Off On the Right Sentence Visit www.speechanddebate.org/intro-to-introductions.

When working with a student to create truthful characters, the first step is to remind them it is essential when they are performing to “live truthfully under the imaginary circumstances of their text.”

Having the student understand the character they are portraying is the key to developing them physically and vocally. Before they decide what their voice sounds like, how they move, how they gesture, or where their focal point is, they must know who the character is.

Once the student has selected a piece of literature, the first place to start characterization is by combing the TEXT for Character Clues. We use the term “combing the text” to refer to the in-depth character analysis an interper must undertake to truly understand their character(s). The answers should be from the text, not made up in the interper’s imagination. What does the text say?

• What does the character own in terms of clothing, accessories, auto, dwelling furniture, etc.?

• What does the character dream about—goals, acquisitions?

• What does the character associate with and avoid?

• How does the character deal with conflict, confrontation, criticism?

• How does the character relate to people?

• How does the character feel in new situations?

• How was the character raised—upbringing, environment?

• What typical and/or unusual experiences did the character go through?

• How did the character emerge from these experiences?

• What specific words does the character choose to use?

In this set of three activities, students will learn the different components of an introduction and be able to construct one on their own. The first activity begins by breaking down an example introduction step-bystep into its different components: the attention getting device, issue statement, thesis, and roadmap. Next, students will spend time with the deconstructed introductions to organize and analyze how they all fit together. They will manipulate the different parts to construct an introduction from prewritten pieces before moving on to writing the introduction on their own. Finally, students will write their own introduction for the topic of their choosing.

Elena Cecil serves as an Intern for the NSDA.

LEARN MORE! Visit www.speechanddebate.org/resources.

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SUMMIT debate www.summitdebate.com

RESERVE YOUR SPOT! 2021 Debate And Speech Online Camp Registration Is Now Open.

We are a national award-winning industry leader with twodecades of expertise training the nation’s top competitive debaters and speakers. Summit Debate offers online summer debate and speech camps, PLUS year-round personalized

REGISTER ONLINE TODAY!

coaching services.

www.summitdebate.com

Prominent & Accomplished Faculty

Specialized & Personalized Curriculum FOLLOW US AT:

Championship Strategies & Students

COMPETITION

JOIN US THIS JUNE! $100,000 Participation Support Grants

Registration Deadlines May 15 – All registration items due for high school and middle school, including entries, judges, and payment.

June 1 – All recordings due, including main event speech backup recordings, split-screen Duo recordings, supplemental speech recordings, and Middle School Speech Challenge recordings.

With the decision to move to the online National Tournament, the Tate Fund is a way to provide financial assistance so students can have a more equitable experience at the National Tournament.

This year, the William Woods Tate, Jr., Memorial Fund will provide qualified students and schools with a range of support from $50 to $500. These funds are intended for high school students competing at the National Tournament to purchase technology, pay for internet access, rent appropriate space to compete, or acquire other resources that will allow them a more equitable experience. We are proud to award a total of $100,000 this year. Learn more and complete the application online at www.speechanddebate.org/tate-fund.

Creating Quality Competition Space

Background Graphic: Raw Pixel

Coaches of national qualifiers should consider completing the Competitor Resource Assessment with their students at www.speechanddebate. org/competitor-resource-assessment.

This assessment helps coaches evaluate potential challenges students may have in competing in the online National Tournament. If your students’ responses

Additional tournament information is available at www.speechanddebate.org/nationals.

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High School Tournament Hosted Online June 13-19, 2021 indicate they would benefit from resources that the Tate Fund provides, please consider applying on their behalf! We know that access to technology is not the only barrier to online competition, and students may not have access to a physical space they feel comfortable competing or recording in. Several coaches have shared ways that their team has worked to gain access to dedicated competition space outside of the home for students on their team this year: • The Colleyville Heritage team in Texas has worked with a local hotel to gain access to guest rooms for dedicated competition space and a conference room for team meetings at a Friends & Family discounted rate if needed.

They also worked with their school administration to gain access to internet hotspots that allow them to bypass school restrictions on the use of Zoom.

• A high school program in Louisiana worked with friends of the team to utilize unoccupied office space for competitors during competition this year.

• The Cherry Creek team in Colorado is working with their school administration to make the school building available for some schools in their district to practice and perform in during Nationals.

The national office is committed to working with coaches to help every student who qualifies find a pathway to an incredible National Tournament experience. If you have any questions

or concerns about how to make this possible for your students, please reach out to us at info@ speechanddebate.org.

Supplemental Events for Non-Qualifiers Every school that participates in the district tournament series can enter two students in supplemental events at the National Tournament! This applies to all schools that participated, regardless of whether they had qualifiers. To be eligible, students: • Must have attended the district tournament • Must not have qualified in any event Check out the National Tournament Procedures online by visiting www.speechanddebate.org/nationals for a link to the form that will allow you to register non-qualifying students in supplemental events!

Original Spoken Word Poetry and Pro Con Challenge Resources Are your students competing in the two new National Tournament supplemental speech events, Original Spoken Word Poetry or Pro Con Challenge? If so, share our new resources on competing in these events! Using these how-to resources, students will learn about the event rules, how they will be judged, and watch sample performances. Learn more at www.speechanddebate.org/ competition-events.

New Registration Notices This Year Entry Release Forms To ease the burden of scanning and uploading materials in a digital world, no signed forms must be uploaded to Tabroom.com. It is the fundamental responsibility of the coach to acquire a signed Entry Release Form for each competitor before the first day of National Tournament competition.

These signed forms must be retained by the coach through December 31, 2021, and tournament officials may request this signed form at any point during and immediately following the competition. Failure to produce these forms may result in disqualification from competition. Coaches do NOT need to upload a copy of this form to their online registration in Tabroom.com like previous years, although they are welcome to upload them to Tabroom. com for records keeping. Coaches will agree to a disclaimer certifying they will acquire and retain these forms before they are permitted to begin the online registration process.

Students Competing in the Same Physical Room Any school with entries in Live Duo or partner and team debate events who will compete in the same physical room must make their school administration aware that students will be competing in the same physical room and receive approval from their school administration that students will be compliant with school safety requirements while competing in the same room. The coach must certify they have taken these steps before beginning the online Nationals registration process through Tabroom.com by agreeing to the Tabroom.com disclaimer.

Additional tournament information is available at www.speechanddebate.org/nationals.

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COMMUNITY

NATI ONAL

SPEECH

AND

DEBATE

EDUCATION DAY

W

hile we couldn’t celebrate in person this year, students, coaches, and teams took celebrating National Speech and Debate Education Day to a new level! The speech and debate community stepped up to find new and creative ways to honor the day, even if they were far apart.

Students, coaches, and alumni shared memories of their time in speech and debate on social media with photos of both in person and virtual competitions.

We loved learning about the ways teams continue to bond, even without being in person! Some teams also held virtual celebration events, like Coral Springs Middle School and Falcon Cove Middle School in Florida.

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West Fargo Public Schools, ND

A DAY CELEBRATING YOU!

by Juliette Reyes

Jennifer Dailey, coach at Falcon Cove Middle School, used their NSDE Day celebration as a recruiting opportunity.

“National Speech and Debate Education Day means a lot to my students,” Dailey said. “They are so proud of the work they do in this class, whether it’s creating amazing speeches or debating current events, so they want to show it off to others. My students have been virtually visiting other classrooms to spread the word about how great speech and debate is, and all the skills that are acquired by taking the course since they will last a lifetime. The speech and debate program at my middle school has grown so much!”

“​This is a day where what they do daily in speech and debate class and at competitions is pushed to the forefront and celebrated,” said Lisa Farris, coach at Coral Springs Middle School. “Speech and debate changed my classroom by helping my students find their voices in ways that I never could just by teaching Language Arts.”

Teams also celebrated with a special message from our 2021 national spokesperson, KOA! As an actor, singer, writer, activist, and 1994 national champion in Dramatic Interpretation,

KOA, the artist formerly known as Daniel Beaty, has a long history of standing up and speaking out for what he believes in. We were so excited that this year, he used his voice to support speech and debate as the official spokesperson for National Speech and Debate Education Day! “I love the bravery and brilliance and diligence and joy of the young people who engage with speech and debate,” KOA said.

“It feels truly full circle at this moment, when my wildest dreams are coming true, that I get to use my

CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

NATIO NAL SPEEC H & DEBAT E ASSO CIATIO N

NAT ION AL

SPE ECH AND DEB ATE

EDU CAT ION DAY speec handd ebate

Save the Date!

MARCH 4,

2022

SEN ATE RES OLU day.o rg • March 2, 2018 TIO N 92— DES IGN ATI NG MA RCH 5, AS ‘‘NATIO NA L 202 1, SPE ECH AN D DEB ATE EDU CAT ION Mr. GRASSLEY (for himse DAY ” Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DURBI lf, Mr. COONS, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. BRAUN N,

Ms. ERNST, Mrs. HYDE, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. submitted the follow CARPER, Mr. CRAM SMITH, Mr. KING, ing resolution; which ER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR , was considered and and Ms. WARREN) S. RES. 92 agreed to: Whereas it is essent ial for youth to learn and practice the art Whereas speech and of communicating debate education with and without techno offers students myriad may develop talent logy; and exercise unique forms of public speaki voice and character; ng through which Whereas speech and students debate education gives students the creativity, and collabo 21st-century skills of ration; communication, critical Whereas critical analysi thinking, s and effective comm opportunity to flouris unication allow import h; ant ideas, texts, and philosophies the Whereas personal, professional, and civic interactions are enhanc interactions to listen, concur, question, and ed by the ability of the dissent partici with pants reason and compa in those Whereas students ssion; who participate in speech and debate practice, dedication, have chosen a challen and hard work; ging activity that require Whereas teachers s regular and coaches of speech and debate devote students with lifecha in-school, afterschool, nging skills and oppor and tunitie weeke s; nd hours to equip Whereas National Speech and Debate Education Day empha United States with sizes the lifelong impact the confidence and preparation to both of provid ing people of the Whereas National discern and share views; Speech and Debate Education Day acknow commemorations, ledges that most achiev and pivotal mome nts in modern history Whereas National begin, end, or are crystal ements, celebrations, Speech and Debate lized with public addres Education Day recogn an argument is integra s; izes that learning to l to personal advoca researc cy, social movements, h, construct, and presen Whereas the Nation and the making of t al Speech & Debate public policy; Association, in conjun celebrates the import ction with national ance of speech and and local partners, debate through Nation honors and Whereas National al Speech and Debate Speech and Debate Education Day; and Education Day empha and the integration sizes the importance of speech and debate of speech and debate education across grade education levels and disciplines: Resolved, That the Now, therefore, be Senate— it (1) designates March 5, 2021, as ‘‘National Speech and Debate (2) strongly affirms Education Day’’; the purposes of Nation al Speech and Debate (3) encourages educat Education Day; and ional institutions, busine sses, community and States to celebrate and promote Nation civic associations, and all people of the al Speech and Debate United Education Day.

Marian High School, NE platform to shine light on this beautiful, life changing, humanity evolving organization that is the National Speech & Debate Association.”

For the sixth year, the United States Senate also celebrated the day by passing Senate Resolution 92! The resolution was co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 14 senators from across the country, including 2019 spokesperson and NSDA alum Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for educators and pressed questions about the future of learning environments, National Speech and Debate Education Day gives a unique opportunity for schools and educational institutions to celebrate all that speech and debate means to them. We’re thankful for everyone who took the day to celebrate with us—and make sure you mark your calendar for March 4, 2022!

Hebron High School, TX

Ladue Horton Watkins High School, MO Juliette Reyes serves as an Intern for the NSDA.

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27

COVER STORY

Meet us in the

MIDDLE The State of Middle School Speech and Debate Insights from a survey of NSDA middle school program advisors, as well as experienced coaches who are igniting young minds at the elementary and middle school levels.

by Amy Seidelman

W

hile many students aren’t introduced to speech and debate until ninth grade, in school districts across the United States the initiation is sooner. The goals for districts offering speech and debate to younger students echo those of their high school programs—instilling confidence, cultivating skills, and giving students a healthy way to fine tune and share their thoughts and opinions. Younger students also show interest in the activity for reasons similar to their high school counterparts—a sense of belonging, meeting new people, having fun, and—with a tournament or two under their belt—the dazzling buzz of capability.

The National Speech & Debate Association, then the National Forensic League, expanded membership to middle schools in 1995 with the creation of the National Junior Forensic League. Over the quarter-century since, middle schools have come to represent 12% of overall membership. Elementary and middle school speech and debate participation builds a foundation for high school programs, but it’s not just a prologue. Students exposed to speech and debate at an earlier age retain the value of the experience even if they don’t continue in the activity, and elementary and middle schools stand much to gain by offering students the opportunity.

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Paul Deards, head of middle school at Speyer Legacy School in New York City, where debate is part of the established curriculum starting in kindergarten, advocated for this early introduction in Education Week in 2014.1† “[R]esearch also tells us that middle school is a period of considerable brain growth with the shift from concrete to abstract processing and growing capabilities in problem solving, planning, and critical thinking,” Deards writes.

“Debate can support and enhance brain development as an activity requiring and honing these skills.”

† https://www.edweek.org /leadership/ opinion-making-the-case-for-teachingstudents-to-debate/2014/08 Above: A middle school competitor poses at the 2019 National Speech & Debate Tournament

A Brief Orientation to Middle School Speech and Debate In the spring of 2021, NSDA middle school advisors representing 14 states responded to a survey regarding their program function, traditionally and in the age of COVID-19. All were head coaches, with 15% of the sample also serving as a high school coach.

Half reported teaching speech and debate in the classroom, and half reported teaching another subject, many teaching both. A smaller percentage reported working outside the school, including a physician and a university professor.

Half of the programs responding to the survey participate in four to seven tournaments in a typical year. Another 35% reported attending eight or more, with smaller numbers attending fewer or no tournaments.

Due to the longevity of high school speech and debate programming in the U.S., many middle schools get their start thanks to experienced high school coaches.

Yoshi Makishima, advisor at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, credits that program to Debbie

Simon, “a teacher and artist who has been such a positive force for many in the NSDA.” In 2002, after decades of coaching and teaching, Gay Brasher was spending her afternoons with her program at Leland High School in California, which left her mornings free. “I didn’t want to burn out from a lack of variety because I enjoyed teaching and coaching a lot at Leland, so I looked around for other challenges,” Brasher says.

“Dr. Robert Perez, principal at Burnett Middle (now Ohlone Middle)...saw the benefits of middle school speech before it really became a national thing.”

Brasher began visiting Burnett twice a week and spent time in middle school classes. Eventually, a middle school tournament and speech class were added. Brasher also started a free after school program, held at Leland, that prepares students from another local middle school, Bret Harte, for competition.

Bret Harte Middle has six weeks of speech as part of a general elective grouping that is offered in sixth grade.

Chris Wardner, also a coach at Leland High School, serves as program advisor at nearby middle

school Almaden Country Day School (ACDS), which mostly prepares students to attend one of Leland High School’s rivals.

“For me, the appeal is always the life skill that our activity brings to students,” Wardner

my only question was why they no longer had a debate class.”

Wood Weas was hired to teach English, but was quickly given a middle school speech and debate elective. Mountain Brook Junior High now offers

“I love working with middle school speakers and performers because I get to see them at the beginning of their journey of discovering their voices and owning their identities in the world.” says.”The intellectual challenge and the competition are a fantastic combination for getting students to invest in debate.”

Wardner’s team at ACDS, which began competing 15 years ago, has a first trimester elective and then functions as an after-school program for the rest of the year.

Alums who become teachers are also the source of middle school programs. Liz Wood Weas, who serves as program advisor at both Mountain Brook Junior High and Mountain Brook High School in Alabama, says, “I was first introduced to debate in middle school. During my first job interview to be an English teacher, the panel asked if I had any questions for them, and

three speech and debate classes. Wood Weas teaches at the junior high in the mornings and heads to the high school for afternoon debate classes.

Makishima, who took over the Milton program started by Simon, is also a speech and debate alum. “I actually started coaching middle school speech when I was a member of my high school’s speech team,” she says. “Those experiences pulled me into teaching, and eventually into teaching speech. I love working with middle school speakers and performers because I get to see them at the beginning of their journey of discovering their voices and owning their identities in the world.”

Like Wood Weas, Sherri Bublitz at Los Alamos

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Middle School in New Mexico also started off as an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher 11 years ago. Early in her tenure, a more senior teacher was given Bublitz’s ELA role, and Bublitz received three elective classes in exchange. One was a semester-long speech and debate class.

“In desperation, I called Margo Batha, our high school’s speech and debate coach, asking for help and curriculum,” Bublitz says. “I was in way over my head, but I wanted this to be a success.” Today, a semester-long speech class is a prerequisite to either a semester- or yearlong competitive debate class for Bublitz’s eighth graders, who typically compete in eight to ten tournaments a year.

Broward County Schools in Florida initiated middle school programming at the district level in 2013, then branched out to elementary schools in 2017. Broward County now offers some form of speech and debate at all 35 middle schools and at 105 elementary schools.

“Our goal is to have all 135 elementary schools by 2022,” says Megan West, Curriculum Supervisor for Civic Engagement in Broward County.

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Middle School is Different— Which is Good!

Coaching students at the middle and junior high level presents some challenges, including being more selective about content, a steeper learning curve for some current events, and a lower starting point for skills like research, writing, and critical thinking.

These challenges, however, are part of why introducing speech and debate at this age is powerful, and they come with many perks.

“I believe it’s important for all kids to experience being on a team during their middle and high school years; it teaches them to compromise and to collaborate,” says Wood Weas. “What’s extra special about working with the middle school students is they tend to be more flexible about trying new events and new partnerships.

They work hard to impress each other and the varsity debaters, and they often mature quickly to meet the demands of the activity.”

Showing agreement, Bublitz says, “The appeal in coaching middle school debate is that the students are SO excited!

MIDDLE SCHOOL EVENTS OFFERED EVENT

% OF SCHOOLS OFFERING

85%

Original Oratory Interpretation (Dramatic, Humorous, or Duo)

80%

Declamation

60%

Impromptu

60%

Poetry

55%

Public Forum Debate

55%

Extemporaneous Speaking

50%

Prose

50%

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

45%

Congressional Debate

40%

Informative Speaking

25%

Big Questions Debate

25%

Storytelling

20%

Program Oral Interpretation

20%

Policy Debate

5%

World Schools Debate

5%

Parliamentary Debate

5%

Source, NSDA Middle School Survey, 2021

They don’t have to be sold on the activity—they want to do the activity!”

Events that motivate middle level students are similar to those offered at the high school level, although time limits and other rules may differ slightly. Original Oratory, Interpretation (Dramatic,

Humorous, or Duo) events, Declamation, Impromptu, Poetry, Public Forum Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, and Prose were all offered by 50% or more of middle school survey respondents. See the full chart above.

For comparison, debate events represent four of

the top five NSDA pointearning events for high schoolers.

At Los Alamos Middle School, where the speech course is a prerequisite to debate, Bublitz starts students off with public address—their choice of Original Oratory or Informative Speaking.

Students then try an Interpretation event, before finishing the semester with Program Oral Interp (POI), which also serves as the final.

“By the end of the semester, seventh graders are putting together beautiful and effective POIs—it’s wonderful to see and hear!” says Bublitz.

“POI is one the ELA teachers all enjoy hearing the students perform in their classes, too.”

In the subsequent debate class at Los Alamos, students begin with a unit called “So You Want to Debate...” that covers the similarities between all debates: vocabulary, structure, resolutional analysis, research, and case writing. Then, students choose between LincolnDouglas and Public Forum as competition events, and they get more granular. Bublitz says, “They either want to work alone and choose LD, or they really, really don’t want to work alone and

choose PF. Focusing on just two types of debate makes for an overall stronger team—and a more fluent coach.”

Wood Weas also tries to collaborate with teachers of other grade levels or content areas, in her case to incorporate Public Forum Debate activities into their lessons. “This not only introduces the kids who aren’t in [a speech and debate] class to the fun we have in debate, but it also creates engaging lessons for the teachers who are often unsure of how best to structure a debate in their classroom,” she says.

In the 2019-2020 school year, more NSDA students earned points in Impromptu speaking than any other speech event but Extemporaneous Speaking, and Impromptu is popular at the middle school level as well.

excellent opportunity for students to develop flexible thinking, logical organization skills, and a more urgent awareness of world events. I find it’s also a huge confidencebooster for students. If a student knows they can compose and share their thoughts in a meaningful way while under pressure, they know they are prepared for many

different challenges in the classroom and beyond.”

Broward County Schools also encourages Impromptu Speaking, and uses the same rules for middle school as high school. Likewise, participation in Congressional Debate at Broward follows high school standards.

Curriculum Supervisor Megan West notes that

A NOTE ON BURNOUT

When asked if starting speech and debate earlier results in burnout, none of our contributing coaches found that to be the case. Most countered that it simply allows students to decide earlier if speech and debate is right for them. Coaches can help ensure that briefer periods of stress don’t jeopardize participation by showing students how their hard work makes a difference in their lives. “[Speech and debate] students are used as leaders,” Bublitz says, “which helps them to see that speech and debate is a life skill, not just an academic class or skill.”

“Every student in our middle school, even those who do not participate in the speech team, are required to take a public speaking course,” Makishima says of Milton Academy. “Impromptu is a major focus of one of our units… It’s an Right: Middle school competitors at the 2019 National Speech & Debate Tournament

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Broward has made one fairly significant adjustment to high school events: Interpretation is offered as a solo or duo event with more flexible rules in terms of genre of piece selection and a shortened time of five minutes.

At Almaden Country Day School, Wardner particularly loves Storytelling and Informative Speaking for creating middle school specific content.

“These students are in a different place socially and emotionally and should not be treated as though they were seniors in high school,” he says. “I like the shorter time limit events, and I’d like to see events like Informative and Original Oratory have middle school specific adaptations.”

Benefits of DistrictWide Collaboration In our middle school survey, 60% of respondents reported that students would have the ability to compete in a high school program equal to or better than their middle level program. Another 20% said it’s a mixed bag, and 15% reported no high school level programming available for their students. In districts where both levels of programs exist, collaboration is often rated as good or excellent (see chart below).

When programs do collaborate, there are many factors at play, including the location of the schools, the number of coaches, and the culture of the community.

At Milton, Makishima says, “Our partnership with our upper school students is a really valuable part of our speech team. Every week, our middle school students meet with a high school mentor who practices with them and shares advice. Having this opportunity to bond with an older student and having a role model for best practices and good sportsmanship is a big incentive… Many of our middle school students follow their high school mentors on to the high school team.”

At Mountain Brook, where Wood Weas coaches both the middle and high school teams, collaboration comes naturally. “I consider us all ONE team,” she says.

“It’s a huge appeal for the

MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM COLLABORATION AS REPORTED BY MIDDLE SCHOOL ADVISORS

No collaboration at all – 28%

Excellent collaboration – 39%

Poor collaboration – 5% Fair collaboration – 11%

Good collaboration – 17%

Source, NSDA Middle School Survey, 2021

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middle school kids that we practice at the high school, and (pre-COVID) they can work directly with their high school mentor pretty regularly.”

In New Mexico, most tournaments require at least an hour or two of travel. Eighth graders in the state can compete with and against high schoolers when there is not a middle school league for them in which to participate—and at Los Alamos, the eighth graders accompany the high schoolers on the bus to those events.

“By the end of each season, we see two teams become one large team,” Bublitz says. “The high schoolers also act as role models and mentors, which makes the middle schoolers feel as if they already have friends, peers, and teammates when they go to high school.”

The middle school team shows encouragement, in return, by making a banner for the high school team each year before they go to the national qualifying tournament.

The relationship that middle and high school teams can form extends beyond the students.

Margo Batha, the high school advisor at Los Alamos, says, “For me, the best part of the

Right: Middle school students at Los Alamos Middle School (NM) create a banner for their high school team members.

Above: Elisha Roberts, Chief Academic Officer, Strive Prep Schools (CO)

partnership with Sherri and me has been gaining a lifelong friend… The hardest part of this year is not meeting with Sherri at Starbucks and not chatting on our long bus rides.” Like students who start out sharing evidence, coaches who start out sharing resources can develop deep friendships.

Strive Prep Schools in Denver, Colorado, is in the process of expanding speech and debate from their two high schools to eight middle schools and an elementary. On the district’s intent, Chief Academic Officer Elisha Roberts says, “We have seen our high schoolers have success in the program at the competitive level, and wanted our middle schoolers to have the same opportunities. We appreciate that speech and debate opens doors for scholars to become curious learners in charge of their learning experience.”

Strive Prep’s two high school coaches, Anna Steed and Grant Thomas, are motivated to share

the learning. They’ve offered to meet with teachers considering taking on speech and debate, given principals in the network a preview of their own materials, and will spend two weeks this summer creating scope and sequences that align with their own ninth through 12th grade curriculums. “Anna and Grant will lead ongoing professional development throughout the school year with our new middle school teachers,” Roberts says. “We plan to have our middle school teachers judge at least two high school competitions to better familiarize themselves with the level of rigor this program can provide to our scholars.”

The Expansion to Elementary It’s not surprising that, in places where middle and high schools collaborate, elementary schools have also been invited to the party!

Brasher, who began taking her training to middle schools near Leland High in 2002, thought it might be interesting to

try it at the elementary level as well. In 2010, she approached elementary school principals about coming to their schools once a week, and she developed a long-term relationship with Horace Mann Elementary helping fifth graders prepare mandatory presentations for their baccalaureate presentations. She works with students down to third grade, which is her favorite. Horace Mann held elementary tournaments in 2019 and 2020, with events like Poetry and Prose Reading, Young Activist (an original speech about an issue of their choosing), Choral Reading, and Congress.

Elementary competitions are commonplace now in Broward County, including opportunities for elementary students to compete directly against middle and high school students, and win!

“It’s really fun to watch and a great testament to the benefits of high expectations,” says West.

The 100+ elementary schools offering speech and debate in Broward County do it via one of three models: embedded, extracurricular, or a combination of the two.

The embedded programs, which represent about 30% of schools, teach

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33

and/or practice debate during the school day as part of a class, including ELA or reading blocks.

Another 60% of Broward elementary schools offer debate just as an extracurricular activity.

The remaining 10% have some combination thereof.

All participating schools attend elementary level competitions every other month, while intradistrict middle and high competitions are held separately once per month.

Elementary and middle school events in Broward County model what’s done in high school.

While teachers can dictate that some topics are off limits, the same concepts are taught.

“I think what we do handle differently is the teachers,” West says.

“Elementary school coaches like for things

EXPECTATIONS FOR 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR Other – 10%

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Combination of online and in person for practice, competition entirely online – 5%

Will not compete – 5%

Entirely in person – 5% Combination of online and in person for practice and competition – 65%

Source, NSDA Middle School Survey, 2021

The Impacts of COVID-19 This year has been different, in many ways, and not all bad. Our contributing coaches all expressed one thing in common—admiration for the tenacity and spirit of the coaches and students who managed to keep

Our contributing coaches all expressed one thing in common—admiration for the tenacity and spirit of the coaches and students who managed to keep excitement for speech and debate alive this year. to be spelled out, they like to know all of the rules, and perhaps most importantly, they want more feedback.”

Entirely online – 5%

excitement for speech and debate alive this year.

In the coaches’ survey, half of middle school advisors reported practicing and competing

entirely online in 20202021. About 30% were able to accommodate some in-person practice but competed entirely online, and 15% attended some in-person competition.

Another 5% were not able to compete at all.

Nearly two-thirds of our respondents competed the same amount or more this year. Advisors expect some level of online participation next year, but the majority plan for a return to more in-person activities (see chart above).

“The beginning of this year was especially challenging for everyone,” says Wood Weas. “I even met with my principal because I was so worried about what would become of our activity.”

When asked to rate specific challenges faced this school year, coaches said recruiting new speech and debate participants and creating a sense of community or belonging on the team suffered most (see full chart on following page).

Going online changed the ability to host events.

While putting on an online tournament was still possible through services like NSDA Campus and Classrooms.Cloud, it wasn’t always desirable.

“This year the middle school didn’t want to encourage more screen time, so we didn’t start their after-school program until second semester,” Brasher says. “We also haven’t been able to host our usual tournaments for middle schools and

SPEECH AND DEBATE PROGRAM CHALLENGES IN 2020-2021 CHALLENGE

RATING

Creating a sense of community or belonging on the speech and debate team.

Recruiting new speech and debate participants.

Engaging and retaining prior speech and debate participants.

Recruiting, engaging, and/or effectively supporting students who accurately reflect the demographic diversity of our school.

Teaching speech and debate events to students.

Enabling students to compete given their space, technology, and/or resource constraints.

Extremely challenging

Very challenging

Somewhat challenging

Not challenging

N/A

Source, NSDA Middle School Survey, 2021

our newest elementary tournament.” Overall, this resulted in lower participation numbers in Brasher’s district.

When practice and competition were possible, social distancing forced changes in how the activity was taught, and how students were able to perform, as well. New skills have been mastered both by participants and those trying to facilitate the activity.

“We transitioned all of our content to virtual, interactive content, we worked tirelessly to transition our tournament schedule to SpeechWire and Zoom, and we triaged problems as they surfaced,” says West at Broward. “We’ve provided cameras and tech support,

we’ve jumped into virtual classrooms to model lessons or coach teams, and we’ve mastered breakout rooms, naming conventions, and the virtual judges’ lounge.”

Wardner saw an opportunity to use the online environment for some technical education at his California schools.

“I’ve adapted by adding TV/film concepts to my repertoire. Things like lighting, background, and framing for the viewer are all considerations that wouldn’t be considered for an in-person performance.”

Speech events have been especially impacted, with Duo being perhaps the hardest hit. Because speeches for tournaments were often pre-recorded

and then judged asynchronously this school year, learning through observation suffered.

events. “Lincoln-Douglas thrives, whereas our Public Forum teams are struggling a bit more.”

“In previous years, students would walk away from tournaments having seen their peers perform; they understood more what makes an HI funny or a Duo tight,” Bublitz says. The team at Los Alamos has adapted by spending more time with the high school program, whose Duo teams have also helped demonstrate how to create split screen performances.

As for Wood Weas, her beginning of the year worries subsided. “My course roster for next year is larger than it’s ever been, and I attribute that entirely to my middle school team’s excitement,” she says.

“I’m letting them tell me how many tournaments they want to compete in, and how often they can handle online afterschool practices. They are pursuing debate just as fervently as they did before, with an increased excitement as we plan for the anticipated return to in-person competitions.”

Partner events, in general, faced more challenges.

Elizabeth Craig at Stratford Sunnyvale Raynor Middle School in California believes the socially isolated season hurt their partner debate

Makishima also expresses gratitude that the year

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35

was not lost. “I think the experience of performing in front of a live audience is extremely valuable and irreplaceable,” she says.

“But we’ve been able to continue to give students the opportunity to think critically, engage in creative empathy, and share their voices with a community beyond their school.”

piece here, and we’ve really increased access in a new and important way. For example, we’ve removed barriers for our deaf or hard of hearing and autism spectrum disorder students. We will need to explore how the virtual and inperson competitions ‘fit’ together.”

Adaptations with Staying Power

Wardner, too, sees benefits in some level of online competition.

“We’ve competed in more tournaments and with more diverse competition—Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Southern California,” he says. “Our local tournaments have also drawn students literally from Hawaii to New York.” This benefit extends to getting judged by people around the country, as well.

Speech and debate coaches and administrators have gained valuable knowledge from the drastic changes the last year required. Some changes seem here to stay.

“Virtual professional development!” says West. “We’ve tapped into resources around the country for workshops for our coaches and students. Beyond

Speech and debate is more than skill building and competing. It’s being part of a team.

Creating space for student friendships to blossom is key, and coaches’ anticipation for a return to the team-building and social aspects of their programs is high.

that, I am sure we will have some level of virtual competition opportunities. I think there is a huge equity

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“There is a certain leveling of the playing field,” says Elizabeth Craig.

“Students don’t have to travel to tournaments.

BRIGHT SPOTS

Necessity is the mother of invention: transitioning online opened minds about what’s possible for the future of coaching and teaching speech and debate.

Woody Zorn

HEBRON MIDDLE SCHOOL, KY

“This [year] has given me an idea of how to coach online so I can start teams at the high schools with my current eighth graders serving as a base.”

Emma Coates

ALBION MIDDLE SCHOOL, UT

“I used to give [students] a paper menu of skills to prepare for tournaments. However, now that everything had to be on Canvas, I’ve been able to more easily guide students step by step and keep them accountable. It’s led to my team winning more this year than in the past eight years.”

David Eric Weatherly

HENRY COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL, TN

“The virtual asynchronous nature of the year has enabled some current kids to get over their fear of performing in front of a group and improve. It has also enabled some new students to enter the team because they are able to ease into performance with lower stress levels.”

Top: Socially distanced students at Eighth Grade Night at Almaden Country Day School (CA) Bottom: Los Alamos Middle School (NM) students pose on Zoom before the East Mountain Tournament

We can compete with students from all over the country, and the NSDA Springboard Series saved us money, which we could put back into our program.”

BRIGHT SPOTS (CONTINUED)

Rick Ramnath

HOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL , FL

“All of our practice sessions and meetings were virtual, which added tremendous flexibility in terms of scheduling. Also, meetings could be recorded and made available to students who couldn’t attend. Next year, we will likely use virtual meetings to supplement in-person meetings.”

Leslie Williamson

JOSE M. LOPEZ MIDDLE SCHOOL , TX

“Recorded Zoom lessons that they can replay on their own, the ability for the high school debaters to mentor us and watch our debates via Zoom, the ability for students to work together and not be dependent upon them being physically with each other—all of this will/should continue in subsequent years.”

In other cases, online tournaments revealed existing but under-utilized features. “[I’d keep] use of Tabroom.com for pretty much everything!”

Bublitz says. “It has been wonderful to not have one single lost ballot this year because they are all turned in electronically.

They are also all legible!

Having the electronic ballots has made it so easy for students to always get that feedback.”

Margo Batha, Bublitz’s high school counterpart, says online tools will make the middle-to-high school collaboration even easier.

“In future years, we will probably continue to make use of Google Meets for coaching and mentoring between the high school and the middle school.

Although we are in the same town, [schedules] are different, and it can be hard to coordinate visits between the school sites.”

The list of benefits also includes no snowed out

events and students trying out and competing in more event categories.

However, it doesn’t trump one truth: speech and debate is more than skill building and competing.

It’s being part of a team.

Creating space for student friendships to blossom is key, and coaches’ anticipation for a return to the team-building and social aspects of their programs is high.

“Our program is 21 years old, and we have been NSDA members since 2003,” George Tennison at E. A. Olle Middle in Texas says. “Most students join our program because they are looking for a place to belong, not because they are in love with speech and debate.

If we provide them with a safe space to naturally develop, they will fall in love with the art of verbal communication later.

More importantly, they will leave our program with friendships that will last a lifetime.”

Amy Seidelman serves as Assistant Executive Director for the NSDA.

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37

COMMUNITY

OPENING DIGITAL DOORS TO NEW GUESTS

O

nline competition has been a hot topic this year, and some level of online competition may be a fixture for new and existing tournaments for the foreseeable future.

But what happens before the tournament—student recruitment, team building, and coaching—could benefit from supplemental online activities in any type of world.

Student Recruitment Without hallways, classrooms, and activity fairs, recruiting students can be a huge challenge. Even when physical spaces and gatherings become commonplace again, incorporating some online techniques may still be useful.

Millard West Coach and NSDA Board Member Jennifer Jerome was asked to be a mystery guest for the team at Wildwood Middle School in Missouri earlier this year. On a Zoom call with the video off, Jerome was asked yes or no questions by students about her job, where she lived, and more. When finished, she joined the video and talked with the students about speech and debate.

That experience prompted Jerome to work with nearby middle schools, “visiting” them as an online guest along with her high school student captains. Jerome and students met with the High

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Ability Learner programs at two schools right before class registration for the following year, hoping for forensics sign ups. After the mystery unfolded, the students shared more details about speech and debate via an online Google Slides presentation (see photo above).

At Mountain Brook Middle School in Alabama, middle schoolers are giving elementary school students a taste of speech and debate through online demonstrations. “When COVID hit, my middle school kids were the ones who reached out to me and asked if they could do virtual debates for their former elementary teachers on topics they believed would be more applicable and appropriate for the younger ages,” says Liz Wood Weas, advisor at Mountain Brook. “It was a huge success and something I hope we continue to do, as we create our new normal.”

The NSDA’s Online Recruitment Guide offers more strategies, including asking current students and alumni to create short videos about what they like about the activity, shareable via social media, or video presentations.

Also, consider hosting an informational meeting online, even when meetings in person become the norm

Most of society has mastered the video call. What does that mean for your speech and debate program?

again. Hosting an online version of that meeting might accommodate more students, as well as ease student apprehensions about starting the activity.

Holding online office hours, likewise, might generate more interest from students who are on the fence and want a one-on-one conversation about the activity.

Check out the complete online recruitment guide at www.speechanddebate.org/ online-team-recruitmentstrategies.

Team Building Online guests, mystery or not, can serve another important purpose—sharing team history, connecting students to alumni, and motivating students to stay involved. George Tennison at E. A. Olle Middle in Texas capitalized on being able to feature guest speakers from anywhere this past school year.

“Through the magic of Zoom, they can speak to my classes, no matter where they are in the world,” Tennison says. “This has given my current students a better sense of our team’s history and the impact that speech and debate can have on a person’s life. They have also seen how our alumni are impacting the world in a variety of ways.”

Online meeting technology expands the universe of people available for ten minutes of inspiration and connection exponentially.

Coaching Online practices may become a useful supplement to in-person activities. Next year, member schools will continue to have access to NSDA Campus practice rooms, and anyone on the roster can hop online at any time to run a speech or conduct a small group session.

Maintain collaboration between your middle and high school programs on different schedules and in different buildings using Google Meet or Zoom, both for large group events and one-on-one mentoring.

Invite special guests with expertise in competitive events to run a session or practice with your team or a portion thereof! It’s never been easier to request help from a mentor elsewhere in the country (or world) and not have to wrestle with multiple technology challenges.

See the cover story, especially pages 36-37, for more ideas.

Amy Seidelman serves as Assistant Executive Director for the NSDA.

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MERIT • 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio AND TEAM SCHOLARSHIPS • Dedicated faculty with extensive teaching experience AVAILABLE!

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UIU.EDU/NewAtUIU Jordan Compton | comptonj80@uiu.edu

COMMUNITY

BIG QUESTIONS OFFERS BIG TRANSFORMATION

by LeAnne Schmidt

B

efore lunch on November 13, 2020, a total of 77 eighth grade students at Michigan's Notre Dame Middle School participated in four rounds of face-toface debate on the 20202021 Big Questions Debate topic, Mathematics was discovered, not invented.

Other students would continue with up to four more rounds by 2:30 p.m. that Friday. How do we get an entire grade level to write two cases and compete?

Here’s my story.

As a U.S. History teacher and debate coach of 20 years, I believe all students should experience debate first-hand, in order to understand the value of seeing both sides of an issue, of choosing the words that will captivate a listener, and weighing the value of each point to make an informed decision. When I first heard about the Big

Questions Debate grants at the NSDA National Conference in Denver, I saw a curriculum fit that offered a schoolwide opportunity.

GETTING STARTED I started with eighth graders because I teach them all at my school, and sometimes the topics can be challenging for younger middle schoolers. As part of our leadership unit between the Confederation and the Constitution, they learn the principles of debate before moving into mini Congressional debates on the formation of the Constitution itself (a Brown University curriculum program). To be honest, we already debated whether to declare independence, so they have a little experience.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE? • One day to explain the debate style and go through the framework of a case and the topic analysis document provided by the NSDA; • One day to write the affirmative case in class; • One day to write the negative case in class; and

class days. In 2020, we held our first one-day gradelevel debate tournament.

We encourage this recipe for successful classroom debates: • A series of schematics creating space for students to complete 3 rounds of debate, in addition to fulfilling judging roles (round 4 can catch any missing pieces or create a quarterfinals debate);

• One day to listen to two constructives and take notes, as a judge would, then talk about what to include in a ballot and how to make a decision.

• Paper ballots if necessary (or a little Google know-how with Sheets and Autocrat to create customized, shareable ballots with students which are accessible for tabbing);

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

• An assortment of eight high school debaters to judge octafinals;

During our first two years of eighth grade debates, the debates happened over four consecutive in-

• Four willing teachers, staff members, or parent volunteers for quarterfinals judges;

Big Questions is presented by the NSDA through a generous grant provided by the John Templeton Foundation.

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• A principal and assistant principal for semis judging; and • A special guest (alumnus, local official, superintendent) to crown the winner.

My special ingredient for time management, especially in the one-day event is a video recording of a time clock which includes the speech times running consecutively and a reminder of the goal of each speech. A full round of Big Questions (including prep time) takes 42 minutes from start to finish, so allowing 45 minutes per round can fit nicely into most school schedules. When you’re on a block, you can usually get two rounds in as novice debaters don’t tend to use all their speech time.

The one-day event was a whirlwind, but saved four more in-class days and four skipped lunches to coordinate out-rounds.

My favorite aspect was being able to invite high school debaters to judge octafinals because it was a double blessing: 1) they were elevated by the role of judge, which they don’t get to do at local tournaments; and 2) the eighth graders were inspired that high schoolers took time to work with them. The Director of

Admissions, Head of School, IB Coordinator, and Media Specialist served as quarterfinals judges, which helped them to understand more about the debate programs at both the middle school and the high school, so the reach of our program awareness increased. The sheer intensity of the undertaking caused the finalists to feel a terrific sense of achievement after debating eight rounds in one day. Even students who weren’t thrilled with the expectation of debating and judging through four rounds kept going because they got out of their other classes to do it.

HOW ABOUT AN ENCORE? Two months later, I work on a persuasive writing unit with the seventh grade. We begin with some introductory online material from NoRedInk. com on persuasive writing, claims/evidence/reasoning, and in-text citations. Just like the eighth graders, I walk them through the topic, the debate structure, case-writing, and notetaking as a judge. With seventh graders, however, we work with teams when one writes the affirmative case and one the negative case. All other

routines are the same, but we keep the debates on sequential classroom days with some debriefing time after each session.

With some planning, round 4 can be a quarterfinal round. It’s tidy when four classes compete because each class can advance a winner to semifinals, held during lunch or homeroom period with staff volunteers judging and the principal handling finals. This year, I recruited eighth grade finalists as quarterfinals judges, which had the same effect as the high schoolers visiting to judge eighth grade. Older students are rock stars to younger ones, but I don’t run the risk of friends voting for friends to win. With students judging one another, that is a risk, so I review the basis for decision carefully and make inquiries where I have concerns.

WHY DO THIS WHEN IT TAKES A LOT OF CLASS TIME? With so many debaters, the NSDA Big Questions grants, generously supported by the John Templeton Foundation, bring us a fair amount of money and make our program viable. The first

debate completely funds memberships for all new middle schoolers (sixth grade and new students in seventh and eighth).

We believe in NSDA membership and tracking not just the competition points but classroom speaking for middle school and school service as well.

This commitment has made us the largest middle school program in the country. The second debate brings extra funding for event entry fees, judge fees, and offsets Nationals participation.

In three years, this approach has transformed our middle school program, our high school program, and hundreds of students.

With all seventh and eighth graders debating at least once, they experience the skills that transfer to other competitive events, so many join the high school team to continue participating. We have quadrupled participation at the high school level in this short time, which is even more interesting when our middle schoolers make up only one-third of the incoming high school class.

Photos courtesy of Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy

ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

41

This month, after their last debate, I asked my seventh graders to reflect on their experience of debating and what skills they felt they learned from it. I heard how they thought the topic was impossible at the beginning, but how it got easier as they put their mind to it and started to understand it better (checkmark:

grant goal achieved). They mentioned how they had to learn to listen carefully and take good notes both for rebuttals and for judging (checkmark: major high school prep skill achieved). They talked about writing weak cases at the beginning and quickly recognizing the need for more evidence and better reasoning

when it was attacked (checkmark: quintessential persuasive writing goal nailed). Students also spoke of learning to work with a partner, learning to research, and seeing both sides of an issue, which are certainly great life skills—all in the process of debate.

Oh, did I mention that we got paid to do this program, got all the

materials at no cost, and had a great team public relations opportunity because the whole school was looking at the debate program?

Just asking—what’s stopping you?

LeAnne Schmidt is a one-diamond coach from Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy in Michigan.

J O I N T H E D E BAT E

National Speech & Debate Association

OPEN MINDS .

EARN FUNDS .

APPLY NOW TO HOST YOUR OWN BIG QUESTIONS DEBATE!

WWW.SPEECHANDDEBATE.ORG/BIG-QUESTIONS 42

ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

SAME QUALITY INSTRUCTION. SAME QUALITY RESULTS.

Let's go!

GEORGE MASON INSTITUTE OF FORENSICS HTTP://GMIF.GMUFORENSICS.ORG/ JULY 11-24, 2021

DISTRICT IN DETAIL

WEST LOS ANGELES:

CONNECTING IN THE AGE OF COVID

We have been able to re-invent our practices.

Slack and Zoom have dramatically increased our efficiency.”

— Victor Jih

compiled by Lauren McCool

D

uring the COVID-19 pandemic, the West Los Angeles District has faced a variety of challenges to their typical way of participating in speech and debate. But, through creativity, innovative thinking, and plenty of empathy, they are finding ways to connect in and out of the competitive space.

What are some ways “going virtual” has been positive for you and your team?

Leilani McHugh: Travel is so expensive, but because so many tournaments were virtual this year, our team “traveled” to Utah and made multiple “trips” to Northern California. Even though our budget was cut, we were able to compete in more tournaments this year than in many previous years because we had no travel costs. Plus, most of our alums attend universities far

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ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

from us, so we never asked them for help. This year, we asked alums to judge for our team and their responses were heartwarming. They can log in to Tabroom.com and judge from their dorm rooms and homes across the United States.

Victor Jih: We have been able to re-invent our practices. Slack and Zoom have dramatically increased our efficiency.

We ask students to record speeches, post them on Slack for all to see, and provide feedback in Slack.

A team work ethic has developed as students see others work. Students put in more effort to avoid embarrassment. (Students have reported re-recording an assignment 10 times before posting.) Coaches can spend less time for more students. No one really needs to listen to an entire speech to provide feedback. Now, a coach can comment on rebuttals from 10 debaters in as little as 30 minutes. We can focus on quality over quantity of feedback and avoid coach burnout. Comments are also less likely to be wasted, since students can revisit their comments in Slack. Students can also read the comments provided to teammates.

Yes, Slack and Zoom predated the pandemic.

But going “virtual” forced us to actually use them more effectively.

Bobby Lebeda: In some ways, it’s been helpful for growing our team. First, public speaking can seem a little less scary over a screen. Online, you’re not standing in front of a group of people where you’re as vulnerable as you might be in person.

Second, students may be more willing to try speech and debate, since many other activities are very different online or do not exist online.

While some components are definitely lost online, most [speech and debate] activities have transitioned well.

Also, from a logistics standpoint, being virtual has made it easier for some kids to compete but still maintain family or other obligations that may have prevented them from competing on a particular day.

What tips for virtual competition would you share with other coaches?

Eleanor Nishioka: Make sure students are familiar with getting into the platform. All of the tech, linking to Tabroom.com, finding postings, etc., should be set up a few days before they need to actually use it for competition. Encourage them to turn on their mics.

Let them chat with each other and catch up on their lives outside of the events they need to practice.

Leilani McHugh: Students often need to be reminded to eat and drink during tournaments, since many schedules for virtual tournaments do not accommodate lunches or breaks.

Bobby Lebeda: Try to give yourself downtime during online competition. At a tournament, there really is no true downtime—we’ve all gone to tournaments expecting to grade papers, or for students to get homework done, and it very rarely happens. I think it’s even more vital [during a virtual tournament].

It is easy to want to go above and beyond for your students, especially while they are struggling through this, but we have to remember we are struggling through this, too, and we can only give

what we can give. Whether that means going to a tournament or two less or canceling a practice here or there, it’s important to take those moments.

How are you building relationships with students during COVID-19?

Scott Wheeler: I’ve actually been pleased by the way they’ve bonded despite being remote.

Personalities still come out in the moments after they come back from their rounds before pairings go out. It was great to finally see some of them in person after only seeing small two-dimensional squares. Some of their heights were surprising.

Victor Jih: We have intentionally invested in the silly. To make “virtual” fun, we’ve purchased special emojis, tried different platforms for fun socials, and created debate playlists.

The Slack channels often devolve and end up off topic. But we’ve embraced it to give students a chance to have fun while virtual.

Eleanor Nishioka: Going digital has been positive this year. Despite the distance, the team was still able to get together, see faces, and interact. We could work together on putting speeches together, we

could still have our weekly meetings, and with the closing down of sports, this also gave students an opportunity to join a group that normally would not have the chance.

Bobby Lebeda: Students see where I live; they see my cat causing mayhem in the background. I see their families, their pets, their spaces. During the pandemic, it’s been important to find more moments for joy or laughter.

I’ve tried to create more assignments that fall in the “fun” category. We need to laugh during this time.

While debate can be very serious, I believe being with our students and team should be a moment where we can let go and relax.

Flexibility is so important.

I’ve tried to give students more grace for turning in things late or not being ready for a tournament or needing a break… At the end of the day, we are all human beings, and we cannot forget that.

Lauren McCool serves as Manager of District and Tournament Services for the NSDA.

MEET THE DISTRICT COMMITTEE Bobby Lebeda, Chair De Toledo High School West Hills, CA

Victor Jih Brentwood School Los Angeles, CA

Leilani McHugh Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy Los Angeles, CA

Eleanor Nishioka William S. Hart High School Santa Clarita, CA

Scott Wheeler Palos Verdes Peninsula High School Rolling Hills Estates, CA

ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

45

COACH PROFILE

SHAWNA CHRISTENSON

Shawna is the 2020 NSDA Middle School Coach of the Year from The Weiss School in Florida. compiled by Lauren McCool What led you to become a middle school speech and debate coach?

The biggest challenge

both gifted and twice-

overall is to figure out

exceptional, so finding the

how to step outside our

perfect event for students

comfort zones (both the

really comes down to

students’ and my own) in

exploring their personal

order to continue growing

interests. My varsity

as speakers during these

students mentor my novice

weird times and to trust

students, editing speeches

things will work out

and offering feedback prior

even when you cannot

to each tournament. This

directly control them.

leadership opportunity helps the varsity students improve, too.

I had been teaching

Up until last year, Public

high school debate and

Speaking was required

English when I learned

grade K-8, but, of course,

that The Weiss School

COVID changed everything.

was looking to start a

While we no longer have

schoolwide Public Speaking

a separate public speaking

Program for students K-8.

class, we still offer debate.

I was excited to work at

Our school has always

I am sure COVID is

a school that valued oral

valued the importance of

everyone’s biggest

communications enough

oral communication, and the

educational challenge

to make it a “required

administration is particularly

at this point, but with

elective” for all students.

supportive of opportunities

challenge also comes

for students to speak both

opportunity. We have been

at school and outside in

able to pivot in ways that

our community. We have

still allow our students

participated each year in

to present in public

National Speech and Debate

venues—albeit online.

I was hired to create the curriculum, which included a debate component.

In the past six years, we went from four students who competed regularly, to four classes (two novice and two varsity).

46

Describe your team.

How does your school view speech and debate?

most of our students are

Education Day, and students as young as kindergarten have enjoyed speaking.

What are the greatest challenges you've faced as a teacher and a coach?

What advice would you give to high school coaches who wish to connect with middle school competitors?

Some of my former middle school students are my best mentors. They come back and work one-onone, judge, and even teach lessons. I would suggest high school coaches reach out to middle school debate teams, particularly if those schools are feeders, and institute a mentoring program.

In addition to debate

Most new coaches are

tournaments in both

looking for judges and

a synchronous and

guidance, and high school

At first, I was concerned

My team in general has

asynchronous environment,

students who can earn

I would have a hard time

grown exponentially. We

our students regularly

community service hours

adjusting my high school

have two classes of Intro

present at technical

for assisting during a

knowledge to younger

to Debate and two varsity

conferences including

tournament are in high

debaters, but my students

elective classes, and we

the Co-Spar Scientific

demand. Letting middle

rose to the occasion, and

meet once a week after

Assembly, the International

school students enter your

it has been a rewarding

school for competition

Space Development

local novice tournaments

experience all the way.

prep. We are diverse in that

Conference, and more.

would also help.

ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

Do you have a “team win” beyond competitive success that you would like to highlight?

We are fortunate to be able to participate in many unique opportunities that are neither debate nor competition related. One of my proudest moments was organizing and hosting a TEDx at our school (TEDxTheWeissSchool).

to demonstrate how

to form companies and

One of the best pieces of

the legislative process

create proposals. Since

advice I received was not

truly works. After

they had to present their

related to debate in general

several iterations, HR

proposals orally, debate

but to teaching overall. My

109, The WeissSat-1, was

skills come in handy.

current mentor teacher

introduced in 2018, and was

Additionally, our debaters

and friend recommended

reintroduced in 2019 as HR

participate in the National

I start a business on the

85 Wolverine CubeSats

Space Society’s SpUN

side, particularly in relation

in Education. Nothing

Debates on universalization.

to some of the outside

was more rewarding

Students from India, China,

aerospace work we were

than being in the gallery

the U.S., and Romania join

doing. Doing so allowed me

with my students as our

teams and debate over

to liaise with industry leaders,

Congressman introduced

the course of a weekend.

which in turn, provided

the legislation to the House.

Former and current students as well as teachers and outside community members discussed our theme, “Full STEAM Ahead: Dream, Drive, Discover.”

Finally, our students participate in legislative

How has speech and debate prepared your students for other activities?

Our debaters combine

unique opportunities for experiential learning.

blitzes each year, where we talk with legislators on behalf of the space industry in our state.

These are more casual conversations, but students

What else would you like to share with our readers?

I recently began working

Perhaps the event I am most

debate and science often,

proud of is related to our

not just with the legislation

team’s policy work. Since

or conferences, but also

my debaters are heavily

with regard to space

involved in aerospace at

settlement competitions.

our school, they participate

For the past three years, our

in real-world STEM by

debaters have taken part in

building and launching

international competitions

CubeSats (small satellites

that require them to design

for research purposes). We

future settlements or to

wanted these opportunities

defend resolutions related

to be available to other

to universalization in space.

What suggestions would you give other middle school coaches?

Prior to COVID, our

Specific to debate, I would

students were disqualified

students were national

encourage all coaches to

for not having a binder,

champions in the Future

find a mentor with whom

for example! So seek help

Space Scholars Meet

you can vent, learn, and

when needed, or even if you

competition, and we

collaborate. Collaborating is

don’t think you need it.

flew to Beijing. There, we

a great way to build teams

represented our nation in a

but also to expand your

From there, his aides

competition that blended

own knowledge base and

worked with my students

U.S. and Chinese students

camaraderie in your league.

students, too, so the debate students wrote a Congressstyle resolution to increase awareness of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and presented it to our Congressman, Brian Mast.

who have been exposed to debate are naturally more confident speakers and are able to extemporize in different settings.

with the NSDA standards committee to help create documents and lessons for educators. I would encourage new coaches and even those with experience to check out NSDA Learn. My first year of debate, I at least had a friend who was the former coach, but even then, it did not stop me from making mistakes.

My Oral Interpretation

Lauren McCool serves as Manager of District and Tournament Services for the NSDA.

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47

COMMUNITY

DEBATE

Coaching Middle School Students in World Schools Debate

by Liana Schmitter-Emerson

Tips for Engaging Younger Students

U

SA Debate is enjoying a busy spring filled with our favorite events, albeit in their virtual versions.

This past January, we competed at the International Debate Weekend (IDW) hosted online by our friends from Team Singapore. Usually, the IDW is a favorite team event that includes visits to botanical gardens, time exploring the city with Team Singapore, and lots of sampling of delicious international cuisine at outdoor food markets.

This year, since the tournament was hosted on Singaporean time, between 13 and 16 hours ahead of America depending on location, we had to develop stamina and debate during the night. At the IDW, the

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focus is on getting quality feedback from some of the best adjudicators internationally, so no wins and losses are awarded.

Instead, we received extensive feedback from a panel of judges, which were usually coaches and assistant trainers of other national teams (Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and more).

In February, the team of Ashley Shan (’22), Rodrigo Trujillo (’21), Miles Wang (’22), and Abbey Xu (’22) championed the World Schools division of the Stanford tournament.

Presently, we’re gearing up for the Harvard College World Schools Invitational, another team favorite with some of the most difficult competition of our regular season.

Many of the most successful high school debaters actually start their careers in middle school. While it can be overwhelming to develop so many new skills at a young age, the foundation created in middle school debate can put students at a significant advantage in high school debate. More importantly, it can give them the critical thinking and argumentation skills necessary to be successful in other arenas of life.

The following is a list of ideas to help engage middle school students in the World Schools Debate community.

Start with the basics.

Before teaching students the format, it’s usually helpful to ensure they understand the elements of a formal argument and how to keep proper notes.

Before being introduced to the structure of World

Schools, they should be familiar with terms like claim, warrant, and impact (or their equivalents), know how to flow arguments (it can be helpful to give them a template in the beginning), and be aware of how style, content, and strategy work together to make an effective speech.

Use simple topics.

Start with less serious/ dense topics (e.g., which is the better pet, cats vs. dogs) and work your way up to more challenging and current topics.

Encourage shorter speech times.

In the beginning, assure students that it is okay not to speak for eight minutes.

Usually, middle schoolers will find the speech times in World Schools daunting, so aiming for around four to six minutes is a little more accessible for them.

Utilize logical examples as evidence.

Explaining the concept of evidence well is particularly important. It is crucial that students understand evidence simply as proof that something is true, and not just a third-party’s verification of what they’ve just asserted.

One of the faults of using exclusively “cards” in middle school debate is that students learn to rely on sources, and not logical examples, to supplement their arguments. While students should certainly be instructed in how to research and find relevant statistics and quotes, in World Schools, they should learn to use these types of evidence somewhat sparingly.

Instead, they should learn to use and explain examples as evidence.

Introduce global news sources.

For many students, the requirement that World Schools debaters consider topics in an international context might be new and daunting. One way to both teach students to use global examples and to familiarize them with the basics of international geopolitics, culture, etc., is to introduce students

to reputable global news sources that cover current events from a variety of lenses. Some of our favorites are the BBC, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Foreign Policy. Having students scan headlines in each region of the world and pick one or two articles a week to read will help get debaters thinking from a global perspective.

Be flexible about prep time early on.

Students probably will find prepared topics easier than impromptu ones, but it’s important they learn to debate World Schools topics without much prior preparation.

For coaches, in the beginning, it might be useful to give debaters the full hour just to come up with the outline (including claim/warrant/ impact structure) and then guide them when they hit a wall in terms of argument generation.

Later, they can be asked to anticipate what the other side might say, come up with weighing, and so on.

Help students frame the motion.

Since younger students might find framing the motion properly difficult in the beginning, it might

be helpful to guide them with defining terms and understanding what their burdens are in the debate.

Help identify what the comparative (or true difference between sides) is, and understanding exactly how much or how little they need to defend on each side.

Be supportive!

Keep criticism gentle and constructive and provide lots of encouragement. Since debate can be overwhelming especially for new and younger students, general, easily-actionable feedback is often the best way to help them improve.

Drills for Beginners Flowing » Flow a round together. After each argument, pause the round and compare notes (peer to peer or coach to students) to ensure all students have properly identified definitions and the structure of each argument. It’s probably best to go slowly and stop after the second constructive, so students can focus on flowing arguments and responses.

Add an Argument » Start with more basic topics (e.g., pasta vs. pizza) and ask each student to state an argument in favor of their side that someone else hasn’t already mentioned. This will teach them how to think on their feet in a lower-pressure situation as well as to generate new content, which will help them fill their speech time.

Weighing » Eventually, students should be introduced to the concept of weighing—or, in simple terms, why their arguments are more important than their opponents’ arguments. (There are more nuanced definitions, but this is a good starting point.) Give debaters scenarios that force them to compare two arguments (e.g., one that’s short-term focused and one that’s long-term focused) and ask them to do a bit of basic weighing.

Try to stick to arguments that obviously align with a simple weighing mechanism in the beginning.

Liana Schmitter-Emerson is a senior from Campbell Hall in California..

Learn more at www.speechanddebate.org/usa-debate.

ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

49

COMMUNITY

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:

Hannah Pautz

Hannah’s Tips for Starting a Team Recruitment – Reach out to middle school English or Business teachers and ask them to play a video for their class. Make sure to include

“If you’re thinking about starting a middle school team, go for it.

There aren’t as many drawbacks as you think.”

fun memes or other material for younger students.

Show Examples – Hannah originally hoped to hold a speech and debate exhibition with high school students, but instead used videos of

by Grace Rogers

performances to introduce

S

students to the activity

tarting a middle school team can be tough, but as Muscatine High School senior Hannah Pautz knows, it can also be extremely fun and fulfilling. With the help of her high school coaches and other community members, Hannah started a team at Susan Clark Junior High School in Iowa as part of a project for a scholarship application.

“I wanted my project to be something I was actually passionate about in my community, not just a money grab,” Hannah says.

“I love working with the middle school age group.

I’ve taught cello lessons to some students that age, and I really enjoy their creativity and willingness to just jump into anything. At first, I thought I would just

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do a summer camp, but my coaches and a lot of people in my community convinced me to go bigger. Now, with their help, we have a weekly practice instead of just one week during the summer.”

After initially offering most events, Hannah scaled the options down to either Extemp, Congress, or Informative so students could focus on issues and topics in which they are already interested. She believes focusing on each student’s interests will build a lifelong interest for speech and debate.

“I liked the idea of starting a middle school team because getting a high school sophomore or junior to join a speech and debate team is hard. They already have their activities that they are committed to,

so getting middle school students interested is great. And they have the confidence to jump in and do whatever they want.”

Even with the struggles of starting a team, Hannah says she would definitely encourage others to give it a shot.

“If you’re thinking about starting a middle school team, go for it. There aren’t as many drawbacks as you think, and it’s just so fun and rewarding for both the students and the coach,” she explains. “To see them grow in their confidence is extraordinary. And to learn what they’re interested in is so fun!”

virtually.

Warm Up Games – Start each practice with a fun game or activity to get students excited. One example Hannah provided is the “Um Game,” where students are challenged to speak about whatever they want for as long as they can without saying “um.”

Build Comfort – “Public speaking, even for people who are good at it, can still be scary,” Hannah says. “I told them in the first week about how I, one of the weird people who enjoys public speaking, still get a little nervous and scared whenever

Grace Rogers serves as Marketing Communications Specialist for the NSDA.

I get ready to perform. And that’s completely normal!”

I decided to include the NSDA in my estate plans because speech and debate is an activity that teaches everything from argumentation and speaking skills to humility and gracefully losing. This activity made me a different and better person, and I want to make sure that students well into the future are afforded the opportunities I was.”

Aarzu Maknojia N S DA AL U M

The National Speech & Debate Association is grateful to acknowledge the following 1925 Society members for pledging a generous planned gift contribution.

Byron Arthur

Albert Odom, Jr.

Phyllis Flory Barton

J. W. Patterson

Jane Boyd

Capt. Joseph L. and Jan Pizzo

James Copeland

Dr. Polly and Bruce Reikowski

Don and Ann Crabtree

Donus and Lovila Roberts

Dr. Mike Edmonds A. C. Eley Vickie and Joe Fellers Bill and Charlotte Hicks David and Judy Huston Jennifer Jerome Harold Keller Kandi King

James Rye, III Steve and Anna Schappaugh David Seikel Michael Shapiro

THE

1925 SOC I ET Y Leaving your legacy with the NSDA can be done in three easy steps: 1. Add a simple paragraph to your will stating the NSDA as a beneficiary.

Sandra Silvers

You can revise your gift at any time.

Richard Sodikow

2. Notify Nicole Wanzer-Serrano that the

William Woods Tate, Jr.

Cherian and Betsy Koshy

Scott and Chan Waldrop

Dr. Tommie Lindsey, Jr.

Nicole and Darrel Wanzer-Serrano

Aarzu Maknojia

Cheryl Watkins

Pam and Ray McComas

J. Scott and Megan Wunn

H. B. Mitchell

Joe and Pam Wycoff

Lanny and B. J. Naegelin

David and Tatiana Yastremski

NSDA has been added to your will.

nicole@speechanddebate.org

3. Celebrate knowing that you will impact future generations by joining The 1925 Society!

COMMUNITY

Middle School Student Spotlights compiled by Annie Reisener

7TH

Alba Gilabert-Reid Milton Academy Middle School, MA

What do you like best about speech and debate? I love attending tournaments because it gives me an opportunity to perform and get feedback on my piece. I also love being able to watch other performers and laughing and reacting to their pieces. It is inspiring to see so many kids like me that enjoy doing speech.

What have you learned since joining the team? It has given me a lot more confidence in my ability to communicate with bigger groups of people. I learned that giving the slightest movement of your body or smallest facial expression can trigger a laugh or big emotion from the audience.

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

Speech may seem like some scary competition where you have to be your absolute best self but in reality, it is just a place where you can express yourself and have fun while others who enjoy performing as much as you help you grow out of your comfort zone to reach out and try new things.

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ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

8TH

8TH

Ryan Farokhzad

Anna Huston

Milton Academy Middle School, MA

Joseph Welty Middle School, OH

What do you like best about speech and debate? The thing I like the most

What do you like best about speech and debate? How you can be creative with

about speech and debate is the ability to express yourself through your words and actions.

how you compose your arguments. I also enjoy meeting new people, that can help you strengthen your skills as you compete.

What have you learned since joining the team? I have learned that putting in hard work pays off. I have learned to put that same hard work into everything I do.

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

I would instantly tell them to join the team because the sense of community with one another and the feeling of accomplishment after doing well is definitely worth it.

What have you learned since joining the team? I’ve learned how to work with others to put together arguments, and I’ve learned how to speak to a crowd. It has become easier for me to share my opinions, it’s helped me become more educated on many topics, and I’ve become more mature because of it.

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

I believe speech and debate is helpful in learning how to put together statistical arguments, and in learning to give your opinion to multiple people. It’s also a great way to meet new people with some of the same interests as you, and form new friendships.

Six middle school students share their experience with speech and debate so far.

8TH

8

TH

6TH

Christopher Rhodes II

Hikari Dao

Jeriz Gumapal

Joseph Welty Middle School, OH

Nicolas Junior High, CA

Nicolas Junior High, CA

What do you like best about speech and debate? Speech and debate allow me a

What do you like best about speech and debate? I have discovered so many new

way to test my ideas in a competitive arena. Debate also exposes me to new ideas and concepts and forces me to think critically about them.

What have you learned since joining the team? I have learned that you need your team. When they cheer you on, nothing can stop you, however without them you can only go so far.

I have learned how to listen without getting mad and without trying to talk over other people. I have also learned that organized arguments are better than loud arguments.

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

Speech and debate is the only way to argue with people without getting in trouble or losing friends, and you earn awards if you do it well. Plus, you meet other people who understand you.

Really, there is no reason not to join.

things that I never would have learned that add to my personality over the years. Through speech, I have learned more about myself and my culture making me more passionate about it than I ever would have been.

What have you learned since joining the team? Since joining the team,

I have improved and developed my communication, writing, and presentational skills. I have also learned how to be more confident and positive during coaching which leads to personal growth at tournaments.

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

Although at times it will be challenging, the experience can be very rewarding.

You may not get a speech that you like or you may not place as high as you want. On the days you do not perform to your potential, you can learn from your mistakes and improve for next time. You will always remember the thrill of performing and the friends that you make through the program.

What do you like best about speech and debate? If I hadn’t experienced this amazing opportunity, I would still be shy talking around other people. This experience improved my communication and helped me be myself.

What have you learned since joining the team? I was shy all the time, either presenting my project, or even talking to someone, but after speech and debate, I am able to communicate more and present projects like a speaker would do. I may be 12, but at least I can be myself!

What would you say to another student thinking about joining the team?

I would say go for it!! I was once that person who was afraid to be themselves in front of many people, but after giving it a try, I have found many new things about myself.

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NATIONAL SPEECH & DEBATE ASSOCIATION

CODE OF HONOR

The Honor Code in Their Words

“As a student or coach member of the National Speech & Debate Association, I pledge to uphold the highest standards of humility, equity, integrity, respect, leadership, and service in pursuit of excellence.”

HUMILITY: A member does not regard oneself more highly than others. Regardless of a person’s level of success, an individual always looks beyond oneself to appreciate the inherent value of others.

EQUITY: A member respects individuals and their individual differences as well as fosters equity, diversity, and inclusion. A member promotes empowerment for people from all backgrounds, including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ability.

INTEGRITY: A member is honest, ethical, and adheres to the competition and conduct rules of the organization. A member follows the NSDA discrimination and harassment policy and abides by the rules of their

Humility “Humility is something that can be quite hard to achieve. When competing, it is important to maintain that humbleness so that you can grow as a competitor and possibly a future mentor or judge.”

Equity

— Alba Gilabert-Reid

“Equity to me means that everyone is given the same opportunities and treated the same no matter their identifiers. If I were to explain this to another student I would say that it is treating everyone equally and not acting different to one another because of social identifiers.”

Integrity

— Ryan Farokhzad

“Integrity is to do the responsible thing even when no one is watching. Integrity is being accountable and respectful or behaving properly with your teammates. It can be something as simple as showing up to rounds even though no one is checking on you.”

— Hikari Dao

Respect

“Respect to me means being kind and helpful to those around you.

This is important because it can help benefit others by being kind to them and possibly being friends. It can also make people happy or cheer them up.”

— Jeriz Gumapal

schools, tournaments, and localities.

Leadership

RESPECT: A member demonstrates civil

“Leadership means that you are ready to serve your team. You are a model on how to work, perform, act, talk, interact, behave, lead others, and many more impacts. You know where you and others have to grow, and you can put the correct practice in to improve both you and your team. This is important because this is what keeps a strong team from becoming a disorganized mess.”

discourse in their interactions with others. A member maintains and contributes to a safe space and welcoming environment for all.

LEADERSHIP: A member is aware their words and actions influence others. A member commits to thoughtful and meaningful words and actions that reflect NSDA core values.

SERVICE: A member exercises their talents

Service

— Christopher Rhodes II

“Service means using your skills to help others build up their own skill set. It means being prepared to help others whenever they need it.”

— Anna Huston

to provide service to peers, community, and the activity. At all times a member is prepared to work constructively to improve the lives of others.

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Annie Reisener serves as Membership Manager for the NSDA.

OPINION

COMMUNITY

A Path to Financial Equity in our Activity

by Amir Estejab and Chase Keskinyan

A

s two high school debaters, we have always found national circuit tournaments to be a fun but taxing endeavor. Although we had the inner drive to improve ourselves, we did not have the means to travel to many tournaments—often only traveling to two or three per year.

However, in these trying times, we have found new opportunities for attending large tournaments all across the country made possible by the new online format.

Previously, the financial aspect of attending tournaments was a daunting one—not only for us but our entire team. Transportation, housing, and food expenses compounded to make each

weekend cost upward of $500­—a cost insurmountable for many.

Furthermore, the time constraint on our personal and academic responsibilities of leaving class early and spending hours traveling made it difficult to attend tournaments consistently.

With the online format, the most costly fees have been eliminated, lessening the financial burden on our families. Now we can attend nearly any tournament in the nation from the comfort of our homes, not only allowing us to debate more often, but also to be exposed to other styles of debate and new circuits with which we were not familiar before.

Because of these advantages, moving forward, we propose that some if not all of the temporary implementations for online speech and debate become permanent ones. Many of the necessary pieces of infrastructure are already in place,

such as the NSDA Campus platform.

Tournaments could still host an in-person option for teams wishing to travel while retaining the online format for those who cannot. The hybrid format allows tournament hosts to raise money, as all teams could be charged tournament entry fees, while external travel costs are eliminated for many. Tournament structure, such as how rounds are judged, would remain the one true variable up for discussion.

Ultimately, we argue that permanently implementing a hybrid format will serve to benefit all teams, allowing more students critical access to speech and debate.

Amir Estejab and Chase Keskinyan attend Half Hollow Hills High School East in Long Island, New York. They are the creators of Debate Forward, an organization dedicated to increasing financial equity in high school speech and debate. For more information, email debateforward@gmail.com.

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COMMUNITY

Dear Colleagues, Countless lessons have been reinforced during this challenging period. On the world stage, we have witnessed debates and speeches that have had multi-generational impact: challenging our values, unsettling our institutions, and saving and endangering lives.

This recent past reveals that both an exponential rate of change and an unprecedented need for leadership are future certainties. Speech and debate activities promote countless attributes in service of that future, including teamwork, factual and impactful communication skills, respect, purpose, research, and the ability to generate a peak performance under pressure.

Our students learn the most vital leadership quality through the loving devotion of our coaches. Thank you to all speech and debate coaches for inspiring future leaders who are equipped and compassionate.

Yours in education,

Tammy Ferguson Dr. Tammy Ferguson Head of School, The Weiss School, Florida

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ROSTRUM | APRIL/MAY 2021

FOR MORE RESOURCES, VISIT US ONLINE

www.speechanddebate.org/advocacy

A new online platform from the NSDA

Are you exploring how to provide online speech and debate in a socially distanced environment?

NSDA Campus is an online platform offering team practice space and tournament hosting space at a low cost.

Host tournaments using either Tabroom.com or SpeechWire.com

“We were going to have to raise our prices substantially to use a different platform, but we were actually able to lower our prices and make the tournament more accessible to students because of the affordability of NSDA Campus. .. We were so lucky, and NSDA Campus was SPECTACULAR the whole weekend for us.”

To date, NSDA Campus has provided more than 75,000 rooms!

OUR PRIORITIES:

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IN A WORLD WHERE WOMEN ARE TOLD TO BE SILENT, SPEECH AND DEBATE TAUGHT ME TO BE UNAFRAID OF SPEAKING UP.

JACQUELINE WEI Plano West Sr. High School, TX – Class of 2019 2018 and 2019 United States Extemp national champion

WE ARE SPEECH & DEBATE www.speechanddebate.org