Wisconsin Forensics Daily

Monday Meditation: The Importance of Coaches

Late last year, Steve Sparks - an assistant forensics coach to Eau Claire North High School, died suddenly of a a pulmonary embolism. At the first Steve Sparks Memorial Tournament at Eau Claire North earlier this year, head coach Bonni Knight delivered a moving speech on the impact that coaches and forensics have on student’s lives. I have asked Bonni to share the text of her speech with Wisconsin Forensics Daily and it follows below the break.

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Monday Meditation: Wisconsin Forensics Tournament of Champions

The Monday Meditation Column is designed to reflect on ideas that we all have after a tournament, reflecting on the events that occurred during the the past weekend. Today’s Monday Meditation comes from a real post-tournament reflection that the James Madison Memorial coaches had after Appleton East’s Tournament.

The suggestion was that we (the Wisconsin Forensics Community) create our own Tournament of Champions and offer this as an additional competition to the Wisconsin Forensics Season. Read more below for more details on this idea. Wisconsin Forensics Daily would like your input as to whether or not this is a good idea.

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Monday Meditation: WI Debate Persona of the Year

For the last five years a Wisconsin State tournament reflection post shows up either on cross-x.com or right here on WFD. That reflection post, entitled “Wisconsin Debate Persona of the Year” asks the community a series of questions to nominate who they felt has done the best this year. WFD encourages everyone to participate in the reflection of the year that was in Wisconsin Debate.

The questionnaire is included in the full article.

1> Best Debater Overall
a) Best Senior Debater…
b) Best Junior Debater…
c) Best Sophomore Debater…
d) Best Fresh(wo)man Debater…
e) Most Improved Debater…
f) Debater With Most Potential…
h) Best Team/Pair…

2> Best Round Overall
a) Best Round You Watched…
b) Best Round You Debated In…

3> Best Program Overall
a) Best Program For Novices…
b) Best New Program…
c) Most Improved Program…
d) Program You’d Most Like To Debate For (Other Than Yours)…

4> Best Argument
a) Best Affirmative Case…
b) Best Counterplan…
c) Best Disadvantage…
d) Best Kritik…
e) Best T/Theory Argument…

5> Best Specific Skills
a) Best 1NC…
b) Best 2AC…
c) Best 2NC…
d) Best 1NR…
d.5) Best 1AR…
e) Best 2NR…
f) Best 2AR…
g) Fastest Debater…
h) Funniest Debater…

6> Other Stuff
a) Favorite Tournament (in-state)…
b) Favorite Tournament (out-of-state)…
c) Favorite Judge/Critic…
d) Weirdest Round You Saw/Debated In…
e) Best Non-Debate Experience at a Debate Tournament…
f) Funniest Thing You Stumbled Upon While Researching…
g) ?

Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation | 31 Comments »

Monday Meditation: WSDT Casebook

The State Tournament is fast-approaching; as in years past, I’ll be encouraging qualified teams to contribute to the WSDT Casebook 2k7. This year, I’ll be compiling Affirmative and Negative versions of the casebook; teams may contribute whatever information they feel comfortable disclosing. Teams will only receive the casebooks to which they contribute. More information is available below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monday Meditation: Time to Give Thanks

I had an internal debate about the subject of this article and approach to delivering this Monday Meditation and, well, I won, but that’s beside the point.

I wanted to write this meditation about eliminating policy debate in the state in favor of public forum. My justification was as follows (please don’t take this personally or seriously, this was the debate that went on inside my head where I don’t pull punches):

a) Public Forum is growing and the quality is improving while policy is shrinking and the quality is declining.
b) The best Public Forum teams stay in the state most weekends while the best policy teams either take in-state tournaments off or go out of state most weekends.
c) Coaches in the WDCA seem to leave PF alone to let the students develop the event as they see fit, whereas coaches pass arcane rules to limit the development of Policy and make students dislike debating in the state.
d) Public Forum resolutions change over time keeping it fresh, while Policy is the same, tired resolution for an entire year.
e) The WDCA Policy schedule is condensed into a dozen tournaments in 3 months, whereas PF extends a little into the Forensics season reducing the need to go to almost every tournament.
…but my biggest concern with Policy over PF is….

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Monday Meditation: Assistant Coaches

I love my assistants. Frankly, I wouldn’t do this without them. The problem is that it is quite difficult in this state to find coaches that meet all of the following requirements:

a) Know and can coach debate
b) Love and are effective at working with students
c) Are old enough to drive rentals
d) Are close enough to the school to make a practice
e) Do not have schedule conflicts

Ok, I’ve basically eliminated 90% of the pool. Now, how do we match the remaining 10% up with schools in the state? Incidentally, if you are an assistant and don’t quite match up on the above list, don’t worry about it. We can’t all be perfect like Jon Voss.

I would propose that the New Coaches Committee (Dan Hansen) and PR Committee (Nick Bubb), with assistance and guidance from the President, work together on this problem to begin a campaign of finding and matching assistants (and head coaches for that matter) with programs that need them. Here are a few ideas that come to mind:

a) Work with Americorp through colleges and universities (Tim Scheffler’s idea) and Learn and Serve America to communicate the need and identify candidates. This could also be used for Judges.

b) Take a trip to local colleges and universities to post help wanted signs and establish a program for communicating the need.

c) Send press releases to newspapers around the state discussing the problem of finding coaches and announcing the new program.

d) Build a form for submission of applications to be distributed to WDCA members via e-mail like the Judge Listserv.

e) Establish new coach orientation training (i.e., legal issues of managing students, basics of coaching debate, etc.).

I wish to close this week’s Monday Meditation by saying thank you! Thank you to all the coaches and assistant coaches who are taken for granted and work for peanuts with little or no thanks from Districts, Parents or Students. You people really are amazing! Except for you Neil Young (the hardest working “pseudo-coach” in debate).

Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation, News | 9 Comments »

Monday Meditation: The Power of the Judge

It’s not until one becomes a coach that we realize the power the judge can possess. My first 5 years of involvement in debate included four years as a debater and one year as the exclusive coach of a varsity team. Now, as I’ve taken on the responsibilities and joys linked to teaching younger debaters, I’ve simultaneously come to realize the importance that many debaters place on a judge’s decision and opinion.

What does it mean to be a judge? Is there a “correct” or “incorrect” way to adjudicate? What can be done to address flaws in the current system? WFD would love to hear your answers to these essential questions. Sheboygan North coach Jon Voss begins the discussion in today’s Monday Meditation.

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Monday Meditation: More Extemp Questions

Below the break are the extemp questions used at last weekend’s Sandy Theobald Memorial Forensics Invitational at James Madison Memorial High School. During preliminary rounds extempers were given the choice to chose from a Domestic or Foreign envelope from which to draw their questions. During the final round, this was not the case. Enjoy.

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Monday Meditation: Congress “Urban Legends”

The following article appeared in the January 2007 issue of the NFL Rostrum magazine, submitted by Rufus King coach Adam Jacobi. With the “forensics” season underway, it is appropriate to share this retrospective on an event that bridges the art and techniques of debate and public speaking. While the approach to Congress in Wisconsin has often been less than formal, this column attempts to advocate for a cleaner style on the part of students to maximize their purpose for participating: to speak.

Student Congress “Urban Legends”
Let’s Strive for Ethical and Meaningful Debate

Forensics celebrates our democratic society by encouraging dissent, which can often persuade people’s views enough to sway their position on an issue. What distinguishes Student Congress among other debate events is that it uses a practicable framework for discourse through parliamentary procedure. “Parli Pro,” as it’s abbreviated, is a useful tool for allowing for fair discussion of issues, and most importantly, protecting the free speech rights of the minority before a “majority rules” vote is taken. The key word in the previous sentence is “tool,” which is what gives procedure the potential to help build effective debate in a chamber, or be the proverbial wrench that slows debate to a halt.
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Monday Meditation: Practice Extemp Questions

Today’s Monday Meditation comes to us from Appleton East coach Mike Traas. Many people often wonder how extemporaneous speakers do their job - that is - come up with a response to a sometimes difficult question and practice it, in thirty minutes. The answer that a lot of coaches give is simple: practice.

To facilitate that practice, Wisconsin Forensic Daily loves to post practice extemp questions. In what has developed as a tradition, Mr. Traas has made his extemp question from the Appleton East tournament from two Saturday’s ago available for consumption here on WFD (and prior to WFD’s existence, on cross-x.com). However, according to Mr. Traas, “Please temper these with the fact that they are not necessarily up to my standard that I like to make for them.”

Questions are below the break. Read the rest of this entry »

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