A recent trip to BookCulture, and amazing bookstore I love, reminded me how terrifying a bookstore can be. And insightful. And nostalgic. And cozy. And again raised the question that haunts me these days: Why do we only think to assign books about form rather than explore the form we purport to teach through other…

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One of the strangest things about competitive debate is the inordinate pressure on the judge to get the decision “right.” Judges are struck, dismissed, sent to “bad rooms,” preferred low, or made fun of behind their back for their inability to judge the debate “the right way.” Such a judgement of judges is only possible…

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Last week, debaters from St. John’s University (where I teach and learn) and Adelphi University (in Long Island), had a public debate about Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter. As someone who started both debate programs (with help at both places) it was a surreal and happy moment for me, watching this debate in…

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Today the University Press of Colorado is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary with 50% off books. (code: 50for50).  I was led there by a composition scholar and found a number of books on composition – teaching writing – that were very complex, theoretical, very rich explorations of theory and practice.  This was exciting and I spent…

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A couple of days ago, we were asked to debate the British National Team for an event held at the English Speaking Union in Manhattan. This sort of event is often called a “public debate” by those who work in or teach debate, to mark it as different than “debate” which apparently only takes place…

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Walking across the Cornell Campus talking with a colleague of mine about teaching, our conversation turned to the question on the minds of all faculty these days – how do we get students to read more, and to read better, than they do.  I started to think that perhaps university students today are overwhelmed by…

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The wall that is always hit when teaching critical thinking is the “school assignment” wall, that limitation that says that doing these things is valuable in a classroom, but not outside of the course. Even students who master the arts of critical thinking during a course where it is a significant part of the workload…

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Lecturing again at Cornell University on Monday. The topic is an introduction to rhetorical studies; the audience is mixed undergraduates.  The central problem is how to provide a good introduction that will make these students feel confident in their exploration and study of rhetoric for the remainder of the term without creating something too solid,…

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A new semester is like a new start. Things have little to no association with the course that came before (unless you are one of those teachers who uses the same old yellowing notes for each class). There’s a bit of anxiety, and a bit of happiness, and a bit of confusion. The start of…

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Debate formats are uninteresting. The competitive distinctions are nearly indistinct.  But there are three formats or ideologies of debate that are very clearly distinct. They take place in any competitive format or organization. This is an attempt to name them, sort them, and point out some distinctions between them in order to foster discussion on…

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