Wisconsin Forensics Daily

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 »

Thursday Thing to Read: State Tournament Trivia

It has been a long, long time since we actually had a proper Thursday Thing to Read. (And even longer since it has been written by me). While many teams will be finishing up their preparation this week for the state tournament tomorrow, we at Wisconsin Forensics Daily want to encourage teams to take a step back from the impending high-stakes competition and to relax before the storm.

To facilitate that relaxation in a positive way, we are providing some State Tournament Trivia. There are no exclusions on who can participate in this trivia game. The rules are the same as last weekend. Send results through the WFD forum and I am the sole arbiter of points. Hopefully more teams will participate than last weekend. (If you were curious, no one participated last weekend, and so I didn’t even post the results).

One last reminder: Bring your laptops to the tournament! Or if you’re a parent, stay close to your computer and away from the snow! We will be providing live updates from South Milwaukee. (South Milwaukee has an open wireless network and has allowed WFD to post round-by-round updates in the previous years that the State Tournament has been held there.)

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Posted in Columns, Thursday Thing To Read | 13 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 »

Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation | 3 Comments »

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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Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation | 3 Comments »

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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Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation | 7 Comments »

WFCA’s Master Judge Proposal

The WFCA has proposed the following to try and increase judge competence. To ensure a full discussion of that proposal, WFD wants your opinion on the matter. Here’s the text of the proposal, strait from the WFCA website:

In an attempt to identify those people who are highly qualified to judge at advanced levels thus bringing the best possible evaluation to our students, WFCA is hoping to pilot a system of Master Judge Adjudication. Below is a working document. Please evaluate yourself, your judges and others who you know would be interested in judging. See where they fall on the scale and communicate your positive feedback to committee members Lynda Luce (lluce@wsd.waupaca.k12.wi.us) or Sue Luterbach. Results from this feedback will be available at the fall WFCA coach’s meeting.

Master Judge Status will be obtained when a person submits a resume documenting the obtainment of 500 points through a combination of the following:

Journeyman Judge Status will be obtained when a person submits a resume documenting the obtainment of 250 points through a combination of the following:

Apprentice Judge Status will be obtained when a person submits a resume documenting the obtainment of 25 points through a combination of the following:

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Posted in Columns, News | 17 Comments »

West Bend East’s Doris Sexton Retiring After 32 Years of Coaching

Wisconsin is losing one of its longest tenured coaches next season and one of the most active contributors to the state’s forensic community. After 32 years as the head coach of West Bend East High School’s debate and forensics programs and after providing countless hours of service to the broader community, Doris Sexton is hanging up her timers and textbooks and sailing off into retirement.

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Posted in Columns, History, News, Thursday Thing To Read | 7 Comments »

Live from Kansas: Trivia Challenge

Since the National Forensics League is debuting its trivia challenge today, Wisconsin Forensics Daily is re-issuing our NFL Nationals trivia challenge.

Schools have until Friday to submit their answers the following questions. Points possible are listed beside each question. Partial credit is available. Schools will be evaluated by the best single response sheet they send in, not the best overall. All judgment is made by WFD Editor-in-Chief, Nick Bubb and results are final.

Oh yeah. And I deleted last year’s post with all of the answers. Enjoy!

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Posted in Columns | 5 Comments »

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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Posted in Columns, Monday Meditation | 6 Comments »