Debating Handbook 2011 8

DEBATING HANDBOOK 2016 Welcome to the 2016 Debating Season 2 Responsibilities and Commitment for all debaters 4 What is a Debate? Basic rules of debating 7 The ISDA Competition 9 The Archdale Competition 13 Advanced Debating websites 16 University Training and Competitions 17 List of Teams 18 Coach Contact Details 20 Frequently Asked Questions 20 Application for 2017 season 21 Contact 21 1 Congratulations on making a team! This booklet will help you prepare for the 2016 season. There are important dates and details printed in this booklet that you should write in your Handbook or mobile calendar now. Please note that it is possible that there will be late changes, but you will be notified at the Wednesday Debating meetings. You should always check the Debating notice board outside the Senior Staffroom for notices, results and announcements as well as the electronic notice boards. I am responsible for all debating matters within the Senior School but am assisted by the Assistant Debating Coordinator, Elizabeth Pearson. Elizabeth brings expertise in her career as a journalist and is currently undertaking a degree in law. Either Elizabeth or myself (often both of us) are present at every debate, both home and away, and we should be your first point of contact for any issues arising at the debates. Our Debating Captain, Nicole Sung from Year 12 also assist me. Nicole is an exemplary debater as well as international public speaker. Nicole works with her fellow senior debaters in leading and helping to train and mentor the junior debaters. Our philosophy is that there is one big debating family at PLC, made up of a number of teams and then all the individual students, coaches and teachers – in that order. This means that there is a strong practice of the older students helping the younger, the younger students actively seeking their mentorship and all of us working together to help develop skills, support each other and enjoy being part of a successful team. Every team is provided with a coach who is an experienced debater and usually completing their university studies. Most coaches continue to be involved with debating through their University’s debating societies and some are also adjudicators. Your coach is your main point of contact for all day to day issues relating to your team. Contact details for your coach are on page 20. The debating season begins on Friday 19 February 2016 with Round 1 of the ISDA competition, taking place at school. All home debates are on Level 3 of the PLC Macindoe Research Centre. Every debater, whether they are debating or not, must attend all home debates. Debating is a real team effort. Encourage your family and friends to come along and support us. 2 Remember debaters, it is not all about who wins but how much we learn about ourselves and the bigger world, while you develop some key skills. Well it seems that PLC girls are also very interested in winning too! This competitiveness, backed with dedication and effort saw us have a fantastic 2015 season. The majority of our teams across all year groups made it to the final series and three teams were runners up in the ISDA Grand Finals. So let’s do our best this year and try to snaffle a Grand Final. I hope you will have an enjoyable and fulfilling year as you participate in our debating program for 2016. Ms Cathy Sidoti Head of Debating [email protected] T (+612) 9704 5666 F (+612) 9744 0519 2015 Debaters accept their awards from Dr Paul Burgis. PLC Sydney from left to right: Karl Mussara, Annabelle Mentzines, Sherie Pan, Lauren McGrath-Wild and Rebekah Kang. 3 Debaters, by joining a PLC Debating team you make this commitment: To attend debating meetings every Wednesday lunchtime in Room 32, unless you have prior permission. Archdale debaters are not required to attend first term meetings until notified. To attend all training sessions arranged by your coach and to be on time. To attend all home debates, even if you are not speaking. Four of the team are to attend away debates. To wait after the debate for feedback from your adjudicator and coach. Debaters are required after school at 3.30pm to assist with hosting duties, including, setting up rooms and making sure they are returned to their original configuration for classes, putting up signs, greeting visitors or providing support in other ways. For home debates, the fifth speaker needs to be available to chair, time keep and assist with errands during the evening. To regularly check your email for correspondence from your team members, coach or the Head of Debating. To be well informed about current affairs, both domestic and international issues. Year 7 to 9 students are encouraged to stay after they finish and watch the Year 10 or Senior debates as much as possible. All year 7 students must attend at least one senior debate early in the season. 4 A team captain is appointed to each team. These captains are selected on the basis of their demonstrated excellent attitude, involvement and leadership in debating (or potential in the case of year 7s). Captains play a special role in supporting their team and coach: They communicate with all team members to make sure that they are aware of training and debating times and that arrangements are in place for transport. They ensure that all team members have saved contact details for their coach and other team members. They encourage all team members to do preparation for topic areas and assist by forwarding on relevant information and helping other team members to do the same. It is a good idea to set up an email group or a Google Doc for this purpose. They work with their team to promote harmony and unity. If there are any concerns in this regard they seek guidance from their team’s coach to resolve concerns before problems develop. As noted above, every team is provided with a coach who is an experienced debater and debating coach. Guidance is given to debaters about preparing debates, critical thinking, researching current topic areas and public speaking and presentation skills. Coaches organise training sessions with the team twice a week, once before or after school and usually prior to the debate commencing. Attendance at all training sessions is compulsory. Records are kept and failure to attend training regularly may result in your place being offered to another student. You need to email your coach at least 24 hours before a training session if you cannot attend. Coaches also communicate with their teams via email in discussion forums and by text. It is important that you give your coach and team members your email and mobile phone details. Your coach is your main point of contact for all day to day issues relating to your team. Coaches always support the adjudicator’s decision. 5 In most cases there are more than four members of a team (three speakers and one advisor). Every team member should attend training and the coach will decide who speaks and in what position. The coach will rotate students so that everyone has a chance to debate. If a student misses training or is significantly and/or consistently late, they may not be given a speaking position at the next debate. Debating is competitive so coaches will, particularly in playoffs, semi-finals and finals, choose a team which gets the best results. Often the coaches will consult with the Head of Debating about such matters. The coach’s decision about speaking positions is final and students and parents are asked to respect this at all times. Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend debates (see draw in following pages). Even though some students might say they prefer their family not to watch them, it is important to overcome this obstacle in order to develop confidence as a public speaker. It is a good idea to network with other parents so that the driving can be shared. Both debating competitions have strict codes of conduct for coaches and audience members to ensure that the debates are conducted in a fair manner that supports the overall objective of school debating- to teach young people to have different viewpoints, and even to disagree strongly, but in an intelligent and respectful way. Even when our debaters are not happy with the conduct of their opponents or a decision of the adjudicator, PLC knows that our students will behave with dignity and grace. Likewise, all supporters are asked to do the same. All audience members are asked not to communicate with teams during a debate. This is challenging for everyone, especially when all you want to do is nod and smile your encouragement, but it is against the competition rules. Most importantly, the adjudicators’ rulings are final. No parent or student should challenge the adjudicator. Any comments or concerns should be referred to the Head of Debating. 6 The speakers are generally six people arranged in two teams of three or four; one called the Affirmative and the other the Negative team. The topic is a proposal (always a single sentence usually starting with the word ‘that’) given to both teams who will argue either ‘for’ or ‘against’. The chairperson is ultimately responsible for organising the debate, starting the topic, introducing the speakers, keeping time and so on. The audience are there to witness the ‘public speaking’ event without participating. Teams are judged on manner, matter and method. Manner: The way a speaker presents themselves and their speech Matter: The arguments a speaker puts forward and the way they interact with the speaker’s arguments.

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