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National Speech and Debate Education Day

February 6, 2019

March 1 is National Speech and Debate Education Day. This is a great opportunity to plan something special at your school to raise awareness about speech and debate. Think about a speech competition or a non-competitive event where kids can show off their skills for an audience.

There are tons of resources online for finding famous speeches. It might also be a nice way to wrap up Black History/ Black Futures month or set off Women’s History month. If there is enough interest, we will open up the online debate room for students to share.

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Round Two Underway

January 3, 2019

The Round Two Topic has been announced, and the match-ups are now posted in the schedule tab above. This time we are debating whether or not all schools should have metal detectors. As always, there are pros and cons to both sides, and the teams are just warming up. Let’s go!

Ready… Set… Debate!

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Round One Wrap.. Stay tuned for the next one!

December 21, 2018

Thank you to all of the teams, coaches, and supporters for setting the debate season off correctly! Round two is on the way, beginning the week of January 28… Stay tuned for details and match-ups to be posted after the winter break. Happy Holidays to debaters everywhere!

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Yankees have Nothing on these Guys!

December 11, 2018

The 17X Warriors debate team knows how to pull in a crowd! They had twenty supporters rooting for their team during the first round of debate.

17X Warriors Supporters

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Debate Tips #17: Using Vimeo during a Debate

December 4, 2018

Here is a tip for teams that want to include a short video clip as part of their presentation. You will need to “rate” your video so that it can be viewed on the school network. After you upload your video to www.vimeo.com, under SETTINGS, go to DISTRIBUTION, scroll down to CONTENT RATING and set rating to “ALL AUDIENCES.”

Then simply share the vimeo link when you send your presentation to debates@learningtimes.com.

Remember that the time of the video counts against your presentation time.

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Round One is Underway

December 3, 2018

Great job and a big thank you to the 176’ers from the Bronx and the Rat Pack from 993Q for getting the season off on the right foot. The teams brought some really original and insightful arguments to the table this morning, and we can’t wait to hear what the rest of the teams will do. The momentum is building… here we go!

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The News Literacy Project

October 25, 2018

The News Literacy Project is an organization that helps students learn to tell media fact from fiction.

Among other resources, they have a crop of videos that may be very useful for your student debaters. I watched the one entitled Double Check Your Facts and got most of the quiz questions wrong! Hah!

Watch the video and see how well you do.

 

 

For more information on The News Literacy Project and what they offer:

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Ready… Set… Debate!

October 17, 2018

Round One preparations have begun. The new topic and team match-ups are now posted in the schedule tab above.

Let the games begin!

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Art Debate

October 12, 2018

Did anyone else see the Banksy painting self-destruct in a built-in shredder just moments after it was sold for over a million dollars? Should the buyer of the painting still pay for it? Is the painting actually worth more now? There’s a lot to debate! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…

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Final Words…

July 2, 2018

One teacher we spoke with had this to say about the debate program in their school:

Having never been a part of a team like this before, the children were able to experience things outside of their immediate world. I believe it was a great opportunity for them

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Rewards of Debate

July 2, 2018

We also asked debate teachers what were some of the rewards of being in the debate program. Here are some reponses:

  • Making it to the finals and my students being able to lose without having any behaviors!
  • Being a group and participating virtually;
  • Feeding them (lol);
  • Collaboration;
  • Working as a team;
  • Public speaking;
  • Learning about a specific topic;
  • Winning, pizza parties and learning about current/relevant social topics and events;
  • Debating;
  • Speaking and interacting with the other team.

Did you find that same rewards with your students?

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Challenges of Debate

July 2, 2018

We asked debate teachers what were some of the challenges their teams faced during the year. Here are some responses:

  • Making the information relevent for students in an alternate assess programing;
  • Winning the comprehension portion vs students who are stardard assess cognitively several grades above;
  • Not wining to go on to round three;
  • Arguing points that they didn’t believe in;
  • Open ended debating with no notes;
  • Relating to most of the debate topics;
  • Answering other teams questions;
  • Answering rebuttal questions;
  • Reading aloud during the debates;
  • Reading as well as the ability to speak in an emotionally charged fashion;
  • Arguing for a side they didn’t personally agree with was challenging for many students;
  • The researching and organizing.

What do you think? Did you also experience these challenges with your team?

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373K Debaters

June 14, 2018

In-class photos of debaters from 373K.

More photographs from the 2018 live championships.

(Contact us if you do not have the page’s password.)

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Student Reflections 2018

June 12, 2018

Thanks to Laura Mayer, from 721M, for these student reflections, and congratulations again on your second place win.

From Alexis:

OMG! I was so scared, I was shaking when I got up there. I felt like there was something on my face but there wasn’t. I was getting stage fright.

Continue Reading →

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The Champs are Here

June 4, 2018

Congratulations to this year’s Debate Champions! They are…

2018 High School Finals

The 751 MSCD Eagles
The 721M Cityhawks Revolutionaries
The 373K Fire Debaters
368K Brooklyn’s Finest Debate Team

1st Place: The 751 MSCD Eagles
2nd Place: The 721M Cityhawks Revolutionaries
3rd Place: The 373K Fire Debaters
Honorable Mention: 368K Brooklyn’s Finest Debate Team

2018 Middle School Finals

352X Bx Debates All Day
The 226M Debate Crew
The 169M Rising Scholars
The 25R Panthers

1st Place: 352X Bx Debates All Day
2nd Place: The 226M Debate Crew
3rd Place: The 169M Rising Scholars
Honorable Mention: The 25R Panthers

 

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