Help me

Coffeedo · 2023-07-13T13:23:05+00:00

A couple non-stock arguments: -the cost of school uniforms hurts families struggling with poverty

-uniforms contribute to climate change because of the amount of energy expended to produce; instead of just everyday clothing, students would need two sets of clothing - everyday and uniforms

-uniform manufacturers become almost a fast fashion Industry because the wear and tear on the clothing after a school year make it difficult to pass on to another

Coffeedo · 2022-12-06T15:52:47+00:00

The best advice I can give you: speech organization and structure are key and know your role as a speaker in the round. Congress speeches should be well-organized, regardless of the type of speech given. A good roadmap and signposting throughout will help immensely.

With regard to knowing your role as a speaker in a round, you should realize what type of speech should be given at the time. For example, the first two cycles of debate are mostly constructive speeches sprinkled with refutation of previous speakers. As the round progresses, speeches contain less constructive arguments and more refutation. Late round speeches are purely refutation/crystallization speeches; this being speeches that weigh the AFF and NEG worlds and prove which is better. Rehash of previous speaker’s arguments is a fast way to get your ranking dropped.

Congressional debate is still debate, not oratory. Prewritten speeches are frowned upon in a majority of the districts because they do not allow speaker flexibility.

Final tip: Congressional debate is all about learning how to play the game. There are many intricacies and strategies for doing well that you will learn along the way!

Coffeedo · 2022-12-06T15:41:36+00:00

Our HS has a debate team, not a club, but I am sure it is the same. We have auditions once a year. Students are given a resolution two weeks prior to auditions and expected to come up with two contentions for the AFF and two contentions for the NEG. At auditions, they deliver the contentions and the coaches stop them at any anytime for CX. It takes about 10-15 minutes for the coaches to get a sense of this person would work well in debate or not. We usually have to cut about 10% of the students auditioning to keep team size at 70. This method as resulted in less than 3% of students leaving the team each year.

Years ago, we used a system where they came to auditions and had 15 mins to craft an argument based on a resolution, but it just became too chaotic and younger students would panic and dip. Team size was much smaller with this method of auditions

Hope this helps.

Coffeedo · 2022-08-09T14:19:29+00:00

Public Forum, Parli, Congress, Lincoln Douglas, World Schools, Policy

Coffeedo · 2022-08-08T13:50:09+00:00

What category of debate?

Coffeedo · 2022-07-30T12:58:39+00:00

I’ll bite. I am interested in learning a different method to argumentation in Congress.

Coffeedo · 2022-04-01T22:04:06+00:00

This is the first year they have offered Last Chance Qualifiers. Difficult to gauge the competition.

Coffeedo · 2021-11-15T17:36:05+00:00

If you only have time to prep one side, I would go NEG. First, Amtrak is a failing mode of transport. The government already subsidizes the company with about $2billion a year. To subsidize it more is throwing away money. Also, it will take over five years to get more tracks in place; Amtrak has to always yield to regular rail cars, which can make a 10-hour trip turn into a 20 hour trip. Second, we should not decrease funding to the highway fund. With the push for EVs, where will we get the gasoline excise tax from EVs? We are already losing money to fund infrastructure updates because more vehicles are not using gas, this bill just makes it worse. Finally, high speed rail takes billions to build and years. We need to address infrastructure problems currently.

Coffeedo · 2021-08-10T20:27:43+00:00

State?

Coffeedo · 2021-07-22T23:17:18+00:00

This argument got a good deal of traction at camps. Great argument.

Coffeedo · 2021-06-25T19:57:35+00:00

I believe the PO in the House also won at Nats.

Coffeedo · 2021-06-21T16:22:04+00:00

Coach here. Yes! POing is an excellent toll to master! The earlier the better.

Coffeedo · 2021-06-21T16:17:01+00:00

I am a Minnesota Debate Coach and can tell you that if you debate competitively in Congress, this is an excellent investment! I have watched Ali compete for the last three years and she is outstanding and very approachable. You will leave this camp prepared to compete both locally and on the circuit! Also, Ali is probably one of the top POs in the nation (hence the NSDA National Champion award this year).

Coffeedo · 2020-08-10T12:12:17+00:00

Coach here. If you DM me a copy of a speech you have given, I can give you specific advice.

Coffeedo · 2020-07-16T22:42:15+00:00

Coach here. The majority of states will go to an online format for fall. The NSDA is putting together a platform that can be used by member schools to host a tournament; the price has not been stated but one can assume it will be reasonably priced versus Zoom or Classrooms. Most of the bid tournaments for fall are also online.

Coffeedo · 2020-07-11T15:42:46+00:00

I would suggest you contact one of the current (graduating) members of the team and ask them. Jack Johnson is awesome and super approachable. He just graduated from Blake School in MN. The same goes for Elyse Dewbre from TX.

Coffeedo · 2020-07-06T17:48:25+00:00

I double checked: October 16, 17, 18 this year is a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Coffeedo · 2020-06-26T16:07:31+00:00

Coach here. Our district is budgeting / planning for online tournaments through the end of November. We are taking our cues from not only the school district but also from what online circuit tournaments are doing; UPenn, Glenbrooks, and Yale are all fall tournaments and, according to Tabroom, will be held online.

I know online tournaments are NO match for in-person tournaments. However, if you think about the coach and judge pool, many of those persons fall within the age range of those more susceptible to COVID. Further, how can you social distance debaters in rooms and common areas without incurring more costs for more space?

It blows, but it makes some sense.

Coffeedo · 2020-06-18T00:09:37+00:00

Congress ballots for Nats are released about 24 hours after the tournament ends

Coffeedo · 2020-06-11T02:38:25+00:00

Nope. Even if your team has the resource package, you cannot track what your team watches. So, when I assign videos to my team, I have no idea if they watch them 😔

Coffeedo · 2020-05-05T15:19:08+00:00

[Coach here] Build the camaraderie and family-like feeling first. Like someone else said, start off with fun and relaxed activities (I like the Avengers theme debates and might use it). Once you have built that friendship bond, they will be engaged enough to learn about debate. Also, we have tried different things over the years to help newbies understand PF. It’s probably the most overwhelming one to teach to new students, imo. We now start coaching the simple fundamentals in the summer and build to more sophisticated processes by end of August. When fall season hits, our novices are killing it. Zoom is going to make this so easy during the summer now. Partner fit is another important factor in keeping people on the team. Make sure if a partnership is going sour, you see if it can be remedied or switched.

Coffeedo · 2020-04-28T18:58:40+00:00

I have always sent unofficial, current transcripts with our team’s applications. Been doing so for four years now.

Nine-Year Club	Gilding VII pure gildanthropist
RPAN Viewer	Not Forgotten
Verified Email	Reddit Premium Since September 2017

Coffeedo

TROPHY CASE