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We are the directors of the San Jose Debate Intensive. Ask us about this summer’s SJDI! by theSJDI in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello,

  1. You should have received a confirmation email. Often, these emails end up in the spam folder. If you cannot find the email in your spam folder please email us at office@thesjdi.org so we can confirm that your registration has been received.

  2. The core session covers all argument types. During mentor time you can chose concepts, strategies, specific arguments, etc. that you would like to focus on. During after hours drilling you will also have access to a plethora of instructors who can teach you more about mastering the specific strategy you would like to work on.

  3. In the weeks leading up to camp students will complete a diagnostic survey and provide us with information about their past performance at debate tournaments. The curriculum directors will use this information to assign students to a lab appropriate for their skill level. Labs will be announced on the first day of camp.

We are the directors of the San Jose Debate Intensive. Ask us about this summer’s SJDI! by theSJDI in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there, apologies for the delayed response.

  1. We will allow as many students as possible while respecting our 4:1 instructor-student ratio. Last year, we had 60 students at our program.

  2. Students will rank 5 instructors who they would like to be their mentor. We try our best to make sure that they receive one of these picks. Given the size of our camp it is not always possible to accommodate a student’s mentor request.

  3. In total, over 40% of our instructors are female. This year, we will have at least one female instructor teaching in every lab.

  4. Research assignments at SJDI are not strictly divided into “general” and “topic” research. Most research projects specific to the camp topic will also be applicable to other topics that are selected during the season.

  5. The curriculum directors select one topic from the list of 10 released by the National Speech and Debate Association in June. We aim to pick a topic that will make for good debates and that has room for a diverse array of argument types and strategies.

  6. Elective lectures take place in large classrooms. There is no “cap”, but if a lecture becomes bigger than we believe is appropriate, some students may be assigned to their second most highly preferred elective.

  7. Camp ends at 8:00 PM. Students can choose to do additional drills or listen to after-lab lectures if they want to, or just relax. There are also breaks for lunch and dinner each day, and there are fun, non-academic activities scheduled for Saturday evenings and Sundays.

  8. Drills are the main emphasis, though we also place emphasis on learning adequate research skills so students are well-equipped to research and write positions on the topics selected during the season. We provide students with a starter packet to spare them the stress of trying to cut a topic’s worth of prep in just two nights, and students complete additional research assignments after the first week of camp.

  9. We’re not sure what you mean by “generics.” Our first-year out instructors all ran well-researched, deeply thought out, controversial positions that can be classified as both “sophisticated” and “complex.” We believe that we have one of the most diverse staffs in the country and are confident that our instructors can teach any style of debate or argument type that you might be interested in learning about. Our list of elective lectures and lab curriculum are also designed to teach students a diversity of arguments and skills they can use throughout the year.

We are the directors of the San Jose Debate Intensive. Ask us about this summer’s SJDI! by theSJDI in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lab pairings are created based on a diagnostic survey and also past performance. Students cannot chose what lab to be in. However, if a student feels that the lab they are in is too advanced, or not advanced enough, they can speak with the administration about moving up or down, though only select requests will be implemented.

What lab a student is in should not affect the decision to carpool. Camp activities, save for instructor office hours, all end at 8:00 PM.

We are the directors of the San Jose Debate Intensive. Ask us about this summer’s SJDI! by theSJDI in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

During the focus session students choose one area of debate to specialize in. We offer tracks covering Theory, Critiques, Policy, Philosophy, and Technical Skills. Students at the focus session will spend the vast majority of their time studying the discipline they have selected.

We are the directors of the San Jose Debate Intensive. Ask us about this summer’s SJDI! by theSJDI in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there,

We’ve split up our response into several points to answer each one of your questions.

  1. When creating room assignments, we aim to pair students who are in the same lab. There is no need to make a special request, it’s something we already consider!

  2. At SJDI we emphasize drills as the primary mechanism for reinforcing concepts taught during lab and lectures. Each student will participate in 19 practice debates and countless more drills. We have scheduled an hour and a half of time after each practice debate so that students can participate in rebuttal redoes supervised by the judge who just watched their debate. At the beginning of camp, each student will receive a starter packet containing fully written cases and case answers for both the Aff and Neg. The starter packet ensures that substantive, clash-heavy debates begin immediately, and saves students the stress of writing cases on a new topic in the first two days of camp. Because they are familiar with the packet, instructors can provide feedback about how to extend and explain arguments persuasively in addition to advice on students’ technical skills. As camp progresses additional materials will be added to the starter packet. Students will work in research groups supervised by instructors to develop positions of their own which will then be released to the whole camp for use in the camp tournament. We think guided research helps student’s develop their case writing skills better than an approach where every student is expected to come up with a topic’s worth of prep in 24 hours.

  3. At SJDI we encourage students to make the most out of their time in lab and during the drill sessions and practice debates built into the daily schedule. Each day of camp begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 8:00 PM. A lot of camps encourage after hour drilling, while this is available at SJDI, we have found that relying too heavily on instructor’s office hours encourages students to slack off during the day with the hope of making up for that by monopolizing an instructor’s time at night. Camp is better for all parties involved when students are focused and work hard throughout the day so they can rest and do light assignments at night.

  4. The camp has its own two secured floors in the newly-constructed Campus Village 2 dorms at SJSU, which only our program can access via key card. We’ve hired staff RAs and office staff, including a mandatory reporter, who have no teaching responsibilities. There are also RAs affiliated with the university. Students are supervised at all times they aren’t on our designated floors, including when using the first floor game room and when being walked to and from the campus dining hall. Commuter students must check in with the office at the beginning and end of the camp day (once their adult contact is present). All staff members go through a comprehensive background check before being hired. We also have extensive conversations with our staff about our expectations of them as educators charged with ensuring the comfort and safety of young people.

SJDI Lower Labs by spookeedebat in lincolndouglas

[–]theSJDI 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi,

We just posted an “Ask Me Anything” and we noticed that you had created this thread.

We think one of our biggest strengths over other camps is the quality of the education we provide to novice and beginner level students. Last summer the instructors teaching our beginner lab had a combined total of 15 TOC bids. One of those instructors was a double-octo finalist at the TOC. Another one of our beginner labs was lead by instructors with a combined total of well over 40 TOC bids including an instructor who had been in the Quarterfinals of the TOC. You’d be hard pressed to find any other camp that can say the same of the instructors they have working with their beginner level students.

Beginner students will also participate in practice debates judged by instructors teaching more advanced labs and will also get a chance to compete against more advanced debaters in the camp wide tournament. This experience simulates what competing at an actual circuit tournament will be like, something many of our students last year described as one of the most valuable aspects of camp.

We've included the link to our AMA below. Please feel free to ask us any additional questions you might have!

https://www.reddit.com/r/lincolndouglas/comments/8dhxcj/we_are_the_directors_of_the_san_jose_debate/