Tag: policy debate

  • Innovative, Powerful and Unpredictable Debate Arguments

    I am in the process of cleaning out my apartment, which honestly I have never done, or perhaps never done well. I kept a lot of junk. Not sure why I have so much, but I think that’s what happens to you through living. I have been digging around for some paper copies of materials…

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  • Evidence-Based Debate

    American policy debate fundamentalists have found a new phrase to martial in their panicked defense of their practices. I don’t know why they feel so threatened; policy debate can easily co-exist with many different debating styles. But fundamentalism ensures that there is an either/or, a very significant conflict where the stakes are the highest they…

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  • The Irish Times Debate in New York

    Irish Times clock on the new building at Townsend Street, Dublin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This is our second time hosting the Irish Times debate champions in New York. We were very pleased that the NPDA and the Times chose us as the anchor point for the start of this tour. The debate we had was…

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  • What’s Left Out?

    Giving a talk today via Skype to a policy debate team about Worlds style debating. The question that I am using to orient my comments is one that might be a bit Lacanian: What’s left out? Or, since it’s a format that was created in Britain perhaps the better lecture title might be “Mind the…

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  • On Visiting the Local High School League

    Image via Wikipedia Before the debate round starts, the student asks, “Are you going to judge on the flow, or are you more into persuasion?” What in the world could the difference be? What does it mean to be persuasive, and what does it mean to not be into it? What are we doing if…

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  • The Lost Debate Pedagogy

    Image via Wikipedia From the 1906 version of An Introductory Course in Argumentation by Francis Perry. He’s why he arranged the textbook the way he did: In the first place, the student is practiced in the processes of argumentation without the added difficulty of research. No teacher of narration begins his work by demanding that…

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  • Debaters and the Library

    Image via Wikipedia First of all, here’s an American Debate Semifinal for you to have a look at. Lots of reliance on cited sources and files in this format, you might notice. Deep research is the key to doing well in these debates. When I was a high school debate coach, I made sure to…

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  • Expert Adjudicators or Extra Adjudicators

    I was having coffee with a good friend of mine and colleague from the debating world recently, when the subject of debate theory came up. My colleague mused about how lucky American debaters were to have such a rich tradition of theory behind what they do. At the time, I disagreed. I like BP/WUDC debating…

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  • Final Round Video of East-West Tournament, Tokyo

    Click To Play Here is the final round from the East-West tournament in early June. We were invited to judge, but had some difficulty with the format. Here are some things to keep in mind as you watch the clip. 1. The clip begins with the entry of the 11 judge final round panel. Everyone…

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  • 2009 U.S. Japan Debate Exchange versus Sophia University

    Click To Play The processing of videos is slower than I thought it would be, sorry for the slowness. This is a good debate to start with though. The last debate on the final day of the tour versus Sophia University was a huge suprise. First, it was in an intimate, private setting with only…

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