In the world of debate, Public Forum is a newcomer with its first national competition occurring in 2002. Public forum debate is based on a crossfire type of debate made famous by Ted Turner and CNN. With Ted Turner being on of the first sponsors.
One of the biggest obstacles public forum debate has to overcome is, the common thought of it being "the ordinary man's debate". Debate books, debate coaches and many debate professionals will tell you that it is any one's debate. "You can literally pick anyone off the street and have a well judged debate". I stand in firm negation of this quote. Public forum topics are considered "hot" and "ripped from the headlines" current and highly debated/debatable. With seasoned debaters, you are almost guaranteed an exciting and well informed debate round. I do enjoy judging public forum debate and would like to see more judges understanding this type of debate.
There are numerous things to keep in mind when judging public forum. My biggest contention is that NOT anyone can judge this debate. There is order, there are rules and there is a symmetry that must be followed. I'm not saying you must be an expert in the field, I'm not stating you have to know anything about the topic. I am saying you must know some (and I use this term loosely) debate jargon.
Public forum debate consists of 2 teams of 2 speakers. A coin flip begins with the winner of the flip deciding if they wish to speak first or second and/or take the affirmation or negative side of the debate. Seasoned debaters will chose wisely based on the topic at hand. The second speaker will also be the last speaker in the round. They can take their final focus speech and the last words the judges hear is theirs. There is something to be said for having the last word. However, topic wise, some teams will take the pro (affirmation) or the neg (negate) for their specific reasons. Some topics lend themselves to being easier to argue for or against. See, there is logic in public forum debate.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Time to start blogging again
Wow, it's been almost 1 year since my last post. While I haven't been posting, I have been gathering my thoughts, attending and judging debates and, making plenty of notes to add to my blog.
Let's start with a little bit of background. I grew up in Texas (which will later prove to be very important), I attended a small high school. I believe there were about 150 in my graduating class. I was an average student. There is no excuse for me, I really thought of school as a waste of time. I took my required classes, passed (some just barely) but was never very interested in more than leaving school and hanging out with my horses. I am a college graduate, suma cume laude in fact. I married in college and never really worked a job outside the home. I worked briefly after college in the law area but after having my first child, never went back to work again. I stay home and consider it one of the top 3 things I have been able to do in my life.
To the good stuff. Three years ago my (now) senior child decided he wanted to take a speech and debate class. I was thrilled, public speaking for me, as most people, terrifying. Four days later he came to me and told me he would need me to be a judge at their first tournament. Yikes, ok. I had no idea what I suppose to do, their coach would explain what was expected of me and I'd be fine. A few days before the tournament, coach sat me down and explained. (This is all I remember of the conversation). "This paper should explain most things. Basically, the first speaker will stand up and state his/her resolution and their contentions, each resolution will have a value and you just judge on their debate of the value." Sounds good right? Wrong.
After (literally) taking a zanax in the school parking lot, I entered the school, made my way to the judges lounge and sat by myself shaking. The other volunteer/coerced parents showed up and the tournament began. High school debate tournaments are an amazing feat of fitting as many teams into as many rooms, closets, gym locker rooms, theater prop rooms a school has. I found myself in the theatre prop room and the only positive that came from my first debate was the fact that the kids looked way more nervous than me. Of course, by now the zanax had just began to kick in. The ballots for Lincoln Douglas debate will give each person their side (pro or con, for or against) and mention who goes first. I was ready, then one side asked me if I wanted some flow paper. Flow paper, what the hell?? Sure, I took a sheet of 9x11 blank paper. Somewhere in the dark corner of my memory I remember that I have to FLOW the debate and keep time. Time, gotta get out my phone and keep track of time. Looking extremely confident I then asked the debaters to remind me how much time I would need to allow each. In a nutshell, I had no friggin idea what I was doing there or what I was even suppose to do.
Three years later I can laugh about it. I hear the way my kids rant over the judges and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when my first debaters left the room. I'd also love to see some of my first ballots I filled out and my reason for decision. Why they even let me judge again is one of the great questions of all time. It's also one of the reasons I am writing this blog. I hope some kids find this blog and read so they can understand that us "parent" judges are given a ballot and sent on our merry way, but, I REALLY want the parents to understand how to judge and, why, yes why, it is extremely important for judges to have some idea of how they should judge.
I shall ramble more tomorrow.
Let's start with a little bit of background. I grew up in Texas (which will later prove to be very important), I attended a small high school. I believe there were about 150 in my graduating class. I was an average student. There is no excuse for me, I really thought of school as a waste of time. I took my required classes, passed (some just barely) but was never very interested in more than leaving school and hanging out with my horses. I am a college graduate, suma cume laude in fact. I married in college and never really worked a job outside the home. I worked briefly after college in the law area but after having my first child, never went back to work again. I stay home and consider it one of the top 3 things I have been able to do in my life.
To the good stuff. Three years ago my (now) senior child decided he wanted to take a speech and debate class. I was thrilled, public speaking for me, as most people, terrifying. Four days later he came to me and told me he would need me to be a judge at their first tournament. Yikes, ok. I had no idea what I suppose to do, their coach would explain what was expected of me and I'd be fine. A few days before the tournament, coach sat me down and explained. (This is all I remember of the conversation). "This paper should explain most things. Basically, the first speaker will stand up and state his/her resolution and their contentions, each resolution will have a value and you just judge on their debate of the value." Sounds good right? Wrong.
After (literally) taking a zanax in the school parking lot, I entered the school, made my way to the judges lounge and sat by myself shaking. The other volunteer/coerced parents showed up and the tournament began. High school debate tournaments are an amazing feat of fitting as many teams into as many rooms, closets, gym locker rooms, theater prop rooms a school has. I found myself in the theatre prop room and the only positive that came from my first debate was the fact that the kids looked way more nervous than me. Of course, by now the zanax had just began to kick in. The ballots for Lincoln Douglas debate will give each person their side (pro or con, for or against) and mention who goes first. I was ready, then one side asked me if I wanted some flow paper. Flow paper, what the hell?? Sure, I took a sheet of 9x11 blank paper. Somewhere in the dark corner of my memory I remember that I have to FLOW the debate and keep time. Time, gotta get out my phone and keep track of time. Looking extremely confident I then asked the debaters to remind me how much time I would need to allow each. In a nutshell, I had no friggin idea what I was doing there or what I was even suppose to do.
Three years later I can laugh about it. I hear the way my kids rant over the judges and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when my first debaters left the room. I'd also love to see some of my first ballots I filled out and my reason for decision. Why they even let me judge again is one of the great questions of all time. It's also one of the reasons I am writing this blog. I hope some kids find this blog and read so they can understand that us "parent" judges are given a ballot and sent on our merry way, but, I REALLY want the parents to understand how to judge and, why, yes why, it is extremely important for judges to have some idea of how they should judge.
I shall ramble more tomorrow.
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