Jan./Feb. Debate Topics

Lincoln-Douglas January/February Topic
Resolved: Developing countries should prioritize environmental protection over resource extraction when the two are in conflict

Public Forum January Topic
Resolved: Development assistance should be prioritized over military aid in the Sahel region of Africa

Oak Ridge Schedule...sort of

Below is the schedule for the Oak Ridge tournament on Dec. 7.  The real schedule is much more complicated but this gives you a basic idea of how things are supposed to go.  If you want the more detailed version then go here.

6:00 A.M.                  Arrive at Lanier Middle School

6:15 A.M.                  We leave Lanier

7:00   - 7:30               Registration

7:30                            Extemp Draw 

8:00  - 9:30                Section A Prelims

9:30  - 11:00              Section B Prelims

11:00 – 12:30            Section C Prelims

12:30                          Extemp Draw (Semis)

1:00 - 2:30                 Semis Section A            

2:30 – 4:00                 Semis  B and C

4:00                            Extemp Draw (Finals)

4:30 - 6:00                 Finals Section A

6:00 - 7:30                 Finals Sections B and C

8:oo                            Awards 

10:00 P.M.                We return to Lanier

More Dec. PF help

I also found this article

Happy researching!

Dec. PF topic help

Very informative FAQ related to the December PF topic:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/questions-and-answers-immigration/?_r=0

Klein Schedule

6:15 a.m.                     MEET AT LANIER

6:30 a.m.                     LEAVE LANIER

8:00-9:30	Section A Prelims
8:00	Debate Round IA - Flight B Immediately After
9:30-11:00	Section B Prelims
9:30	Debate Round IIA - Flight B Immediately After
11:00-12:30	Section C Prelims
11:00	Debate IIIA - Flight B Immediately After
12:30-2:00	Section D Prelims
12:30	Extemp Draw Extempers may not cross enter in Section D.
2:00-3:30	Section A and B Semis; Debate Quarters
3:30-5:00	Section C and D Semis
3:45	Extemp Draw Cross entered Extempers go to Section C event first and go immediately to draw.
5:00-6:30	Section A and B Finals
5:30	Debate Semis and Finals
6:30-8:00	Section C and D Finals
6:45	Extemp Draw Cross entered Extempers go to other events first and go immediately to draw.
8:45 10:15 P.M.	Awards Assembly RETURN TO LANIER

Bellaire Report

1st Place Sweepstakes - I.E.'s Public Forum	Duo Interp (Senior)
Octofinalists	Katherine Nyquist & Ally Sun - Finalist
Rukmini Kalamangalam & Lekha Sunder
Ian Matejka & Ethan Tran	Duet Acting (Senior)
	Nikki Goldin & Gabby Keene - 2nd
Congress
Devon Watson - Finalist	Prose
	Athene DelVecchio - 3rd
Extemp
Lekha Sunder - 1st	Duet Acting
Evan Finley - 2nd	Athene DelVecchi & Alisa Lu - 2nd
	Katherine Nyquist & Ally Sun - 3rd
Oratory	Kaylie O'Connell & Vega Shah - Finalists
Jeong Hyun Han - 2nd	Nicholas Abraham & Nathan Dunbar - Finalists
Impromptu Speaking	Poetry
Kaitlyn Kelly - 1st	Samantha Su - 2nd
Noah Scantlebury - 2nd	Athene DelVecchio - Finalist
Larry Zhang - Finalist
Emma Semaan - Finalist	Dramatic
	Pooja Vettical - Finalist
Speaking Awards
Lekha Sunder - Top PF Speaker	Humorous
	Larry Zhang - 1st
	Athene DelVecchio - 2nd
	Zack Mattingly - 3rd
	Lekha Sunder - Finalist
	Jordan Hinrich - Finalist

Bellaire Tournament Schedule

Friday, October 18

1:30                       Leave Lanier Middle School

2:30                        Extemp Draw

3:00                        Section A Individual Events

4:00-6:00              Student Congress Prelims

4:30                        Debate Round 1

6:30                        Debate Round 2

6:30-8:30              Student Congress Prelims (continued)
8:30                        Debate Round 3

10:00                     Pick up at Bellaire

Saturday, October 19

8:00                        Section B Individual Events

9:30                        Debate Round 4
11:30                     Individual Events Semis (Section A & B) FX, SrPR, SrPO, SrIMP, NX, NPr, NPO, NIMP; Quarterfinals DX, OO/ Rd. 2 prelims HI, DI, NDI, NOO, DA, DUO, NDA, NHI

11:30                     CPF Round 5

1:00 – 3:00           Student Congress Finals

1:00                        Double Octos CLD, NLD; Octofinals NPF, quarters CX

1:30                        CPF Round 6

3:00                        Individual Events Finals (Section A & B) FX, HI, DI, SrPR, SrPO, DA, SrIMP, DUO, NX, NPR, NDI, NPO, NOO, NIMP, NDA, NHI/ semifinals OO, DX

4:30                        Double Octos CPF; Octos CLD, NLD, quarters NPF, semis CX

5:30                        Finals in OO/DX

6:30                        Awards

Most students will be able to leave after awards

6:30                        Octos CPF; Quarters CLD, NLD; semis NPF; finals CX

7:30                        Semis CLD/NLD/CPF; finals NPF

8:00                        Quarters CPF

8:30                        Semis CPF; Finals CLD, NLD

9:30                        Finals CPF

Memorial Report

Memorial High School - TFA Qualifier
3rd Place Sweepstakes

Public Forum		Novice Extemp
Joseph Donowho & Joseph Dowdall - 1st		Lekha Sunder - 1st
Travis Craig & Ian Matejka - 2nd		Lyle Derden - 2nd
Rukmini Kalamangalam & Mina Nam - Semifinalists		Andres Schnelle - 3rd
Evan Finley & Alex Nelson - Quarters		Tommy Hayes - 6th
Zack White & Will Derden - Quarters
Lyle Derden & Lekha Sunder - Quarters		Prose
		Adele Lauzon - 3rd
Duet Acting		Stephanie Oyolu - 6th
Athene DelVecchio & Alisa Lu - 4th
Kaylie O'Connell & Vega Shah - 6th		Oratory
		Rukmini Kalamangalam - 6th
Duo Interp.
Athene DelVecchio & Alisa Lu - 6th		Impromptu Speaking
		Stephanie Oyolu - 6th
Public Forum Speaking Awards
Lyle Derden - 1st
Joseph Dowdall - 2nd
Will Derden - 3rd

Maps! Maps! Maps!

Get ready to spend about 15 minutes on this...

MAPS!

Tournament Schedule so far...

Here is what our tournament season is shaping up to be.  We'er skipping the Bellaire Novice Extravaganza this year for an actual tournament.  Still waiting to hear from UH.  Those dates for nationals are set.

EVENT                                    DATE                          LOCATION                            

Afterschool Debate Club Starts      Sept. 17                              Debate Room

Tournament                           Sept. 20/21                  Memorial High School (high school tournament)

Tournament                           Oct. 18 & 19               Bellaire High School*(high school tournament)

Tournament                           Nov. 9                         Klein High School

Tournament                           Dec. 7                          Oak Ridge High School

6^th Grade Tournament          Dec. 13/14                   Lanier Middle School

Tournament                           Jan. 24/25                   Lamar High School* (high school tournament)

Tournament                           Feb. 21/22                   Olle Middle School

Debate Banquet                     May 17                       Sheraton Galleria

Nationals camp                     June 9-16                    Lanier noon to 4:00 p.m.

Nationals                                June 17/22                  Kansas City, KS

* - No buses on Friday night or all day Saturday

Extemp analysis

Found this on speechgeek.  It's a flow and critique of the final rounds of IX and DX and NFL Nationals.  If you're looking for help with extemp. speech structure this could be useful.

International Extemp

Domestic Extemp

and the website has some very useful things for all debaters/extempers.  I usually check it out to pull material for current event quizzes.  Just saying...

www.speechgeek.com/extemp

Sept./Oct. LD topic

Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory.

September 2013 PF Topic

Resolved: Unilateral military force by the United States is justified to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Sept. PF Topic possibilities

Oh, yes.  It's already starting...

NFL has now released the list of potential topics for 2013 Sept. Public Forum.  The topic area is nuclear proliferation.  Coaches will be voting for one of the following topics:

Resolved: Unilateral military force by the United States is justified to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Resolved: Proliferation of nuclear weapons is a greater threat to the United States than proliferation of biological and chemical weapons.

Article on SCOTUS rulings

Interesting article on the week's Supreme Court rulings from the Economist.  Plus you'll learn what 'paternalism' is.

Article here!

NJFL Nationals Report

Public Forum Debate

Olivia Cardenas & Erin Sheena - Octofinalists

Alex Hoyal & Vishnu Narayana - Octofinalists

Consolation PF Debate

Travis Craig & Lyle Derden - 2nd

Michael Hoyal & Maddie Muhlherr - Semifinalists

Declamation

Abby Eastman - Quarterfinalist

Impromptu Speaking

Lekha Sunder - 1st

Andrew Hollenberg - Semifinalist

Congress

Erin Sheena - Finalist (8th)

Miguel Covarrubias - Finalist (9th)

Andrew Hollenberg - Finalist (18th)

Marcos Coronado - Finalist - (24th)

Extemporaneous Speaking

Lekha Sunder - 2nd

Olivia Cardenas - Semifinalist

Bowen Song - Quarterfinalist

Will Acheampong - Quarterfinalist

Prose

Dikla Taylor - Quartefinalist

Storytelling

Ally Sun - Semifinalist

Nikki Goldin - Quarterfinalist

Stephanie Sonik - Quarterfinalist

Public Forum Speaker Awards

Olivia Cardenas - 1st

Maddie Muhlherr - 2nd

Lyle Derden - 5th

Erin Sheena - 9th

Congratulations to the team on a strong showing at an incredibly tough and rigorous tournament!

Extemp and Impromptu Areas for Nationals

Extemporaneous Speaking Topics –
Round 1: American Health: Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act
Round 2: Asian Powers: China, India, Japan, and the Koreas
Round 3: Science, Technology, and the Environment
First Elim. Round: The Middle East
Second Elim. Round: President Obama’s Second Term
Third Elim. (if needed): The U.S. Budget

Impromptu Prompt Types –
Round 1: Quotations
Round 2: African Proverbs
Round 3: Physical Activities and Exercise
Quarterfinals: Weather and Seasons
Semifinals: Quotations
Finals: Famous Civil Rights Figures

LD Nationals Topic

Resolved: Oppressive government is more desirable than no government.

Good topic...

PF Nationals Topic

Resolved: The benefits of American drone strikes against foreign targets outweigh the harms.

Read this - Skim it

Read this

and read this

Debate 2013-2014

All students wishing to be in 7th or 8th grade debate for 2013-2014 need to answer these questions on a sheet of paper (typed or hand-written).

1. What have you learned/gained from debate this year?
2. What are your goals for next year?
3. What do you have to offer our team? (leadership, character qualities, talents, brag about yourself!)
4. Would you rather be in a debate class or interp. class?

UH-Spring reports

1st Place Sweepstakes

Extemp	Senior Prose	Religious Text
Olivia Cardenas - 1st	Maddie Muehlherr - 1st	Stephanie Oyolu - 3rd
Bowen Song - 2nd	Adele Lauzon - 5th
Lekha Sunder - 3rd	Maggie Hill - 6th
Larry Zhang - 4th
Alex Hoyal - 5th
Junior Prose	TV Commercial - English	TV Commercial Spanish
Maddie Fertak - 6th	Zibi Gugala - 1st	Mariel Alquisira-Morales - 2nd
	Athene DelVecchio - 4th	Miguel Covarrubias - 4th
	Nikki Goldin - 6th
Oratory	Duet Improv	Senior Impromptu Speaking
Lekha Sunder - 2nd	Tran & Hyun Han - 2nd	Sam Frank - 2nd
Rukmini Kalamangalam - 3rd	Lu & Oyolu - 3rd	Lekha Sunder - 4th
Abby Eastman - 5th	Tabibzadegan & Ho - 6th	Olivia Cardenas - 5th
Vega Shah - 6th		Robert Brown - 6th
Jeong Hyun Han - 7th
Junior Impromptu Speaking	Senior Poetry	Junior Poetry
Zuhayr Ali - 1st	Maddie Muehlherr - 1st	Sara Frank - 3rd
Georgy Thayill - 3rd
Joseph Dowdall - 4th
Joseph Donowho - 6th
Dramatic	Humorous	Declamation
Amy Yao - 3rd	Armon Tabibzadegan - 1st	Lekha Sunder - 2nd
Katherine Powers - 6th	Nikki Goldin - 2nd	Rukmini Kalamangalam - 3rd
	Larry Zhang - 5th	Abby Eastman - 4th
	Athene DelVecchio - 6th	Amy Yao - 6th
	Jeong Woo Han - 7th
Storytelling	Duet Acting	Congressional Debate
Alisa Lu - 1st	Nyquist & Sun - 1st	Olivia Cardenas - 1st
Stephanie Sonik - 3rd	Buks & Mattingly - 5th	Will Acheampong - 2nd
Athene DelVecchio - 5th		Miguel Covarrubias - 3rd
		Lekha Sunder - 4th
Group Improv		Curtis Yao - 5th
Nyquist, Sun & Goldin - 1st		Erin Sheena - 6th
Morris, Lauzon & Cardenas - 2nd		Marcos Coronado - Finalist
Shah, Oyolu, Lu, DelVecchio - 6th		Devon Watson - Finalist
Group Lip-Sync
Shah, Collymore, Dunn, Lu & Goldin - 6th
Lincoln-Douglas
Stephanie Oyolu - Quarterfinalist
Public Forum
Maddie Muehllher & Vishnu Narayana - Semifinalist Individual Sweepstakes Maddie Muehlherr - 3rd place

Oak Ridge report

Extemp	Declamation	Humorous
Lekha Sunder - 1st	Rukmini Kalamangalam - 1st	Max Nathan - 2nd
Will Acheampong - 2nd	Lekha Sunder - 2nd	Larry Zhang - 3rd
Martin Logan - 3rd	Will Acheampong - 3rd	Jordan Hinrichs - 6th
Maddie Spence - 4th	Abby Eastman - 4th	Gabby Keene - 8th
Abby Eastman - 5th	Nikki Goldin - 5th
Megan Dickson - 6th	Zibi Gugala - 6th
Poetry	Original Oratory	Prose
Kaitlyn Kelly - 1st	Abby Eastman - 1st	Maddie Muehlherr - 1st
Dikla Taylor - 3rd	Maddie Spence - 2nd	Natalie Festa - 6th
Maddie Muehlherr - 4th	Ali Potthast - 3rd	Adele Lauzon - 7th
Ally Sun - 5th	Martin Logan - 4th
	Noah Scantlebury - 8th
Duet Improvisation	Pantomime	Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Zibi Gugala & Everett Lowen-	Nathan Dunbar - 4th	Joseph Donowho - Octofinalist
stein - 4th	Larry Zhang - 7th
Storytelling	Solo Improv	Dramatic
Nikki Goldin - 2nd	Athene DelVecchio - 3rd	Amy Yao - 2nd
Athene DelVecchio - 3rd	Maddie Muehlherr - 4th	Ruth Ling - 3rd
Alisa Lu - 6th	Sara Tin-U - 6th	Nikki Goldin - 5th
Ally Sun - 7th
Alice Qui - 8th
Duet Acting		Public Forum Debate
Shelby Griffin & Maddie Muehlherr - 1st		Olivia Cardenas & Erin Sheena - 1st
Annika Bohmann & Kaylie O'Connell - 2nd		Jeong Woo Han & Bowen Song - 2nd
Ally Sun & Katherine Nyquist - 3rd		Joseph Dowdall & Sam Frank - Semifinalists
Sophie Cardenas & Adele Lauzon - 4th		Travis Craig & Lyle Derden - Semifinalists
Megan Dickson & Julia Dietrich - 5th
Congressional Debate	Extemp.	Poetry
Miguel Covarrubias - 1st	Erin Sheena - 1st	Rob Laucius - 1st
Andrew Hollenberg - 2nd	Olivia Cardenas - 2nd	Sam Liu - 4th
Curtis Yao - 3rd	Sam Frank - 4th
Marcos Coronado - 5th	Bowen Song - 5th	Prose
Vishnu Narayana - 6th	Evan Finley - 6th	Sam Liu - 3rd
Armon Tabibzadegan - 8th	Gan Liu - 8th
		Oratory
Public Forum Debate Top Speakers		Sam Frank - 2nd
Lyle Derden - 1st		Lyle Derden - 3rd
Bowen Song - 2nd

TFA State

You can also check see how some of our former debaters fared at the High School State tournament this past weekend.  These students sacrificed the first part of their spring break to compete in South Grand Prairie.  You can find Lanier alums at Lamar, Bellaire, Strake Jesuit, St.Thomas High School, Friendswood and Debakey.

If I've left any school out please let me know.

2013 State Results

Spring Break Reading

This month's print issue of National Geographic has two articles related to debate topics: Energy and drone use.  There are articles about fracking and the burgeoning drone industry.  These are two areas where science and technology bleed into debate, so if you need something to read I highly recommend checking these articles out.

(With homage to Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow) But don't take my word for it!

March PF - CON

Here's an article explaining how the health care mandate is:
1. Constitutional - The Supreme Court ruled that the penalty amounts to a tax and falls within the government's taxing powers.

2. Handles the "adverse selection process" - By requiring everyone to have health insurance it broadens the consumer base.

March PF Topic

Here's an article describing the penalties the government can level against individuals who don't have health insurance.

This piece is from the Cato Institute in 2007, but offers help for the PRO side.

These items showed up when I searched for "health care mandate."

Extemp topics

I've never done this but I thought it would help those of you who are committed to extemp.  I've created some current practice topics:

1.       What will come of “Biden Group” gun control proposals?

2.       With the discovery of dozens of dead bodies, is there genocide occurring in Syria?

3.       Will the Benghazi embassy attack ruin Hillary Clinton’s chances at a 2016 Presidency?

4.       What is the legacy of former President George W. Bush?

5.       How will the Texas Supreme Court rule in the case of the school districts v. the state?

6.       What can the U.S. do to improve on handling soldiers with PTSD?

7.       What does the assassination of Chokri Belaid mean for Tunisia?

8.       Will the U.S. Justice Department move against the marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington?

9.       Should the U.S. fully support the Keystone Pipeline?

         Is Afghanistan ready for a U.S. troop withdrawal?

1 .   What does the future hold for Venezuela’s Presidency?

1 .   Was the “Arab Spring” of 2011 a success?

 These will also be up in the classroom and we'll use these for practice rounds.  Some are domestic - some are foreign.  Some are current - some are evaluating older issues.

Those of you who do extemp probably don't need to be reminded of this, but I'll do it anyway: Extemp requires commitment.  It is not an event you can do once and then conclude that it's not your thing.  Success at the event relies on your commitment to creating a working knowledge of current events.  It demands that you build on previous knowledge and that you follow certain stories and issues as they develop.  Last year at Nationals was the first time in a LONG time that we did not win extemp., and while not experiencing the overall success at Nationals that we're used to was not fun, not winning extemp was the equivalent of a kick to the gut.  It hurt.  It's more competitive than it used to be and like every other event we as a team have to push ourselves to find ways to improve what we're doing.  We can't get away with merely being confident, citing some made up sources and doing the "Munson Shuffle."  I know we're up to the task, and if you do extemp and know nothing about these practice topics, then you NEED to do a little web-searching to acquaint yourselves with these issues because these questions deal with pretty basic stories.

That said, good luck!

Oak Ridge (Apr. 6) Is Using the March PF Topic!

Huzzah!  Here's the topic:

Resolved: The U.S. government should not require its citizens to have health insurance.

March/April 2013 LD Topic

Resolved: The United States is justified in intervening in the internal political processes of other countries to attempt to stop human rights abuses.

While I like the PF topic I'm not nearly as excited this one because variations of it have been used before in LD and PF.  U.S. intervention in troubled nations is nothing new.  The annoying thing is that THIS topic gets specific to impose the limitation that U.S. intervention is limited to the internal political processes.    

March 2013 PF Topic

Resolved: The U.S. government should not require its citizens to have health insurance.

I like this topic.  Unfortunately there aren't any tournaments for us to go during March.  High Schools take a break from hosting tournaments for us because March is busy for them.  Between the state tournament, spring break and NFL qualifiers, there really isn't a free weekend for high school debate programs to devote to a middle school tournament.

I'm hoping that I can convince Oak Ridge (April 6) to use the March topic and will keep you posted.

FYI - the other PF topic that could've been used for March was this: Resolved: That benefits of increasing involuntary commitment for individuals with serious mental illness outweighs the harms.

Olle Schedule

Friday, February 15, 2013

3:00 p.m.               Meet in the debate room

3:15 p.m.               We leave Lanier

4:30-5:30	Debate Round One
5:30-6:30	Debate Round Two
7:00-8:00	Debate Round Three

9:00 p.m.             Return to Lanier 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

6:00 a.m.             Arrive at Lanier – Load up on buses

6:15 a.m.             We leave Lanier

7:00	Registration/Changes
7:30	Extemp Draw—Prelims
8:00-9:00	Section A Prelims
9:15-10:15	Section B Prelims
10:30-11:45	Section C Prelims
12:00-1:00	Section D Prelims Lincoln-Douglas Debate Octofinals Public Forum Debate Quarterfinals
1:00	Extemp Draw—Semifinals
1:30-3:00	Section A/B Semifinals
3:00-4:30	Section C/D Semifinals Lincoln-Douglas Debate Quarterfinals (3:00-3:45) Public Forum Debate Semifinals (3:45-4:30)
4:30	Extemp Draw—Finals
5:00-6:30	Section A/B Finals
6:30-8:00	Section C/D Finals Lincoln-Douglas Debate Semifinals (6:30-7:15) Public Forum Debate Final (7:15-8:00) Lincoln-Douglas Debate Final (ASAP)
9:00	Awards Ceremony (will be sooner if possible)

10:00 p.m.             We return to Lanier