Topics are IN!

The next tournament is Wednesday, November 3, at 6:00 pm.  It's a discussion-only tournament, and we are hosting it!  We have just received the topics, so if you are interested in competing in this cool Discussion format, click here to check out the topics and sign up for a couple.

Academic Meet

Speechers looking to come with us to Calvert Hall for the first Academic Meet of the season, it's Tuesday, Oct 26th, and I've got space for three team-members to attend. Let me know ASAP. We leave at 2PM (yes, you get out of school early) and usually return to JC around 6PM.

Please respond to this post with a comment if you want to go. These meets are VERY competitive and lots of fun.

notes on tomorrow's meet

Tomorrow's meet has good participation.  Here's who we are sending, and what they will be competing in:

Oral Interpretation of Poetry

1. Sydnie Comitz

Oral Interpretation of Prose

1.  Scott Novak

Children’s Literature

1.   Martha Schick
2.   Stephanie Chervenkov

Original Oratory

1.   Megan Grieg

 Declamation

1.   Nandin Dave
2.   Adam Kuester

Reader’s Theater

1.  Adam Kuester, Martha Schick

Seven speakers, eight entries.  We will board the bus for North Harford at 4:30.  We leave from the oval.  Please stop by the TV Studio at 3 to run through your speech with your coaches and your fellow speakers, and to change clothes.  

Yes, we recommend bringing a change of clothes Wednesday.  As much as we love the JC uniform, we think it would be better to dress up for competition.  You saw how some of the other schools presented themselves at C. Milton Wright.  Looking sharp makes an excellent first impression on judges.  Then once they hear you speak, it's all over.  You can change right after school, so we get on the bus ready to rock.

Lastly, we now have a link to the official description and ballot for Declamation.  Check it out on the page where all the other event decriptions are listed.

Debate topics

If you are interested in participating in either Team Debate or Lincoln/Douglas Debate next Wednesday, these are your topics:

For Team Debate:  Resolved:  The United Stated Federal Government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following: South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey.

For Lincoln/Douglas:  States ought not possess nuclear weapons.

There is much more information at the National Forensics League site (go to http://www.nflonline.org/StudentResources/Topics ), including resources, strategies, links, etc.

Don't forget:  whatever events you decide to enter, you need to let us know by Monday, October 18.  Next meet is Wednesday, October 20.  Let's keep the momentum going!

rules you need to know

THIS IS IT.


This is the information you have been waiting for.  This post has the rules for each of the events from the Harford County Speech and Debate League.




These are known as the IE events.  IE means Individual Events, even though some, like Reader's Theater and Dramatic Interpretation, have two or more students.  Click the name of the event to go to its Critique Sheet and ballot.

• Oral Interpretation of Poetry  
• Oral Interp of Prose
• Children's Literature  
• Original Oratory
• Dramatic Interpretation  (monologue or duet)
• Extemporaneous Speaking  (entering this event precludes double entering with another event)
• Declamation (5 to 10 minute limit)
• Reader's Theatre  (two to ten people)

A word here about the Poetry category from Mrs. Burnett, who runs the Harford County tournaments: "Poetry programs can have as many pieces as the student wishes to meet the time limit.  I coach my students by the rule that if you have more than 3, you should offer a "thematic" intro at the beginning of the piece.  The intro is the speaker's own explanation of the piece(s) about to be read.  Otherwise, have one intro for each piece.  If the poem is very long, I have had students choose one cutting, paraphrase a section, and then conclude with another section of the poem.  The aim should be for a smooth establishment of mood."

On to debate (discussion).

There are two debate events.

• Team Debate
• Lincoln Douglas Debate

Here is a simplified explanation of Team and Lincoln Douglas (LD) debate. Debate ballots are produced on a national level, so they are not available online.

The biggest difference between Team and LD is the number of debaters.  Team Debate has two students from the school debating two other students from another school (although sometimes teams from the same team compete against one another if the tournament is small).  One round the team is affirmative, the next round the team is negative.  The two students must keep their partners for the tournament.  There is no rule about changing partners for each tournament.  LD is one debater from each school.  Each debater must argue affirmative one round and negative the next.  Also, team debaters debate the same topic all year.  LD debaters change topics every two months.

More info about these events can be found on the nfl.org website (National Forensics League).

Finally, a word about the Finals held at the end of the season.  A student has to compete in 1 tournament over half, which would be 5 of the total of 9.  John Carroll and Harford Tech students already have one tournament because of the lag time created in getting us our materials.  Students can compete in any event they like for finals; they do not have to go to five tournaments in the same event.

So, as of today, (October 12), all of you need to compete in four more tournaments in order to compete in Finals (except Adam, Martha, Nandin, Sydnie, and Megan, who need just three more).

October 18 is the deadline for the next tournament, which is October 20 at North Harford.  Let us know in person or by email what events you intend to enter.

Thank you, and good night!

MEETING TODAY AT 2:45 - TV STUDIO !!

Lots of things to cover in one posting, but here we go:

Congratulations to EVERYONE who entered our first tournament last week!  It takes guts to be the first ones to get out there and put it all on the line for Speech & Debate, and we commend Megan, Sydnie, Nandin, Martha and Adam for being on the forensic front lines.

We need to meet this week, since it such a short school week. Today (Monday 10/11) after school would be perfect.  2:45 in the TV Studio.

If you are considering entering the next tournament - Wed., October 20, at North Harford HS - you need to let us know.

Those of you who entered the C. Milton Wright meet - we have feedback for you, plus some necessary information before you enter the next meet.

If you are not currently subscribed to this blog, please set that up today.

We would also like you to recruit more Speech Creatures to be a part of our team.  Let's build on the success we have achieved so far!