Candid Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I came back from my first NCFCA tournament this weekend. My son is doing debate, but as a parent I am asked (nay, required!) to judge all sorts of events. I had the privileged to judge two speech rounds. One was a persuasive speech and one was an impromptu sort of speech where the student draws three topics and then after four minutes of prep time gives a six minute speech. In both cases I was blown away the quality of the speakers I had children as young as twelve compete in both events. The best of persuasive speakers was advocating a specific law change and she could easily give her speech anywhere and gain converts to her advocacy But other speeches were on fun topics like chickens as pets and a gap year after high school. In the impromptu round one girl used a quote that caused one of the adults, a speaker by trade, to stop her and get her to repeat it so he could use it. If you are interested in your child gaining confidence in speaking this is a great way to go. The debaters are equally amazing. I saw students who hear an eight minute presentation from the first team (affirmative) and after only a couple of minutes of prep time get up and present an eight minute counter speech with evidence and organization. I also saw the students cross examine each other both coming up with good questions to ask and dealing with a slippery witness and answering tough questions, some of which were loaded about their point of view on the topic being debated. Further all these children knew a whole lot more about the UN and how it operates than anyone I know. The two groups I am aware of doing this are: http://www.ncfca.org/ This is the one we participated in. http://www.stoausa.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Thanks for posting. I have an opportunity to judge at an NCFCA tournament and have been trying to decide. I think i'm afraid I'll decide it is a good idea and then add another extracurricular to our schedule which will make me :willy_nilly: But, I have Ds who loves public speaking, so maybe I should just do it. Sounds like a great experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Thanks for posting. I have an opportunity to judge at an NCFCA tournament and have been trying to decide. I think i'm afraid I'll decide it is a good idea and then add another extracurricular to our schedule which will make me :willy_nilly: But, I have Ds who loves public speaking, so maybe I should just do it. Sounds like a great experience. If I might observe from judging. The first year limit your child to at most two areas. If debate is the primary interest, I might say do just that. While I did see some students doing several speech areas and doing very well, I also saw some that were going to get dismaying results because they were doing too many areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cave canem Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 which tournament? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Tar Heel Qualifier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I judged three rounds at the Tarheel Qualifier this past weekend - it was a fantastic! I did one qualifying round, one semi-final round and one final. I agree that the students were phenomenal! This is the second time I've judged at tournament & I look forward to it every year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Are you a mom judge or a community judge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Candid, I'm a community judge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cave canem Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I was at the Massachusetts Open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I competed in forensics in high school and college (my university was nationally ranked in Forensics and debate, so I got to do a lot of travel as part of that team-FUN!). It was great for me because I had speech/language issues, and preparing the speeches gave me a chance to really work on those skills in something prepared. I'm hoping to find a way for DD to participate when she's older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photo Ninja Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 My dc did speech and debate for years, and I think it was the most valuable activity they have done because of all they learned. It is life skills, not just an activity to do for a few years. They use what they learned in other areas of their lives. Their research skills are incredible, and they know how to organize and use the info they research. They write well and know how to communicate to their audience. They have excellent critical thinking and logic skills because that is essential for debate. They take organized notes. They know the Constitution and can readily analyze actions and words in light of law. They understand and follow current events, both domestic and international, and are capable of analyzing and interpreting what they hear, see and read. They are comfortable speaking in public on topics which they know well as well as those they are learning. They think fast on their feet, and know how to apply facts to situations. They have intelligent, knowledgeable conversations with adult on issues that I knew nothing about (and didn't want to know about!) when I was their age. They recognize logical fallacies and propaganda and won't easily fall for it. This was not all learned in a few months, though. It is all skills they learned over several years, from excellent coaches. My dc, in college, have been the ones selected by class groups to present group projects because my dc are comfortable speaking and present well. My dd won an interview competition for a group because she thinks fast and expresses herself well. Speaking ability helped my ds with an interview to get an internship, then a full time job before he graduated from college. They company he works for just had him attend a job fair for high school students and speak about the company, the career field, etc. because of his speaking ability (and his job has nothing to do with public speaking). My dc regularly use the thought-processes they learned from debate in college classes and organizing research papers. Many of their college essays and research papers require analysis, and while they had no problem doing that, many of the students in their classes were not able to analyze. The other students could acquire the facts, but were not able to interpret those facts because they did not know how. My dc can recognize and analyze benefits and harms (or negative results) and unintended consequences of words or actions, and apply those skills to different areas. They are capable of looking beyond the surface, beyond what is obvious, beyond the basic message being communicated and identify what is not being said and determine how that affects the message being communicated. They know how to interpret statistics in different ways from what is obvious. Best of all, they have strongly held beliefs that are their standard for analyzing and interpreting. They will not be easily led astray because they know how to think and question. Of course, there is the flip side. My dc also know how to convince people of just about anything. They know how to speak convincingly and authoritatively, even if they are not sure about what they are saying. They discovered that many people will believe anyone who speaks convincingly and authoritatively (and they have determined they won't be one of those people). My ds can convince people of just about anything if he wants to. He convinced another student at school that tofu is not vegetarian, from soybeans. He convinced the student that a tofu is a small mammal that is raised on ranches in Japan, then proceeded to tell the student about the ranching techniques and why the tofu is raised only in Japan, due to having no natural predators on the islands. The other guy actually told my ds that he was glad to know the truth about tofu because he had always believed it was a soy product. My ds finally admitted that he was pulling the guys leg, and they all had a good laugh. Again, speaking convincingly is a skill to learn, and I am thankful that my dc also learned ethics and values. It is no good being an excellent speaker without a truthful message to communicate. Bottom line, if your dc are interested in speech and/or debate, it is well worth the time investment because of the lessons and skills learned. Be warned, though - it is a big time investment for you as well as your dc if your dc become motivated. But the resulting dinnertime conversations can be lively and interesting. The students participating in speech and debate are some of the most knowledgeable, pleasant students I have had the pleasure to be around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 My ds can convince people of just about anything if he wants to. He convinced another student at school that tofu is not vegetarian, from soybeans. He convinced the student that a tofu is a small mammal that is raised on ranches in Japan, then proceeded to tell the student about the ranching techniques and why the tofu is raised only in Japan, due to having no natural predators on the islands. The other guy actually told my ds that he was glad to know the truth about tofu because he had always believed it was a soy product. My ds finally admitted that he was pulling the guys leg, and they all had a good laugh. :lol: :lol: :lol: I judged original interpretation for the first time this year. This would make an excellent piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Does this competition do impromptu duo? That's probably my favorite event-TWO competitors are given a topic, and with a few minutes prep, have to create a dialogue on it. It wasn't a high school league event when I did it, but is SO much fun-both to do and to watch. (I did prose and impromptu as a high school student, and added DI and impromptu duo in college). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Does this competition do impromptu duo? That's probably my favorite event-TWO competitors are given a topic, and with a few minutes prep, have to create a dialogue on it. It wasn't a high school league event when I did it, but is SO much fun-both to do and to watch. (I did prose and impromptu as a high school student, and added DI and impromptu duo in college). I don't think they had an impromptu duo. They have an interpretive duo. A guy from one of the strong debate teams did that with Hank the Cowdog, kids were going to see that. I saw one over the top persuasive speech on a "second chance law." The speaker had a personal connection and did an amazing job of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I was at the Massachusetts Open. That's terrific! We're in NCFCA Region 2, and we have a pretty large group of students from our region who went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Congrats! This is our first year in NCFCA as well, and I have learned SO much from judging the different events. Team Policy debate is my favorite, but I judge speech when they need me. I'm a ballot junkie ; ). Yes, they definitely need all the parent judges they can get, or the whole thing falls apart. Sometimes they have trouble getting community judges and/or they have problems with no-shows, so parents need to be ready to step up. And they want a mix of feedback for the students, so they almost always want at least one parent on the bigger, out-round panels. I am starting to see the glimmerings of skills I hoped my students would gain. NCFCA is a serious time investment, but the benefits are correspondingly large. I agree with the poster who said that first-year students should do only 1 or 2 speeches if they are in debate. Yes, I have found that to be true. We are charter members of a new club in Region 2. We have had the blessing of an experienced NCFCA family who moved here from one of the large clubs in another part of the state, and they helped start it. I would have been too chicken to start it on my own! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I don't think they had an impromptu duo. They have an interpretive duo. A guy from one of the strong debate teams did that with Hank the Cowdog, kids were going to see that. I judged that one in the semi-finals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I judged that one in the semi-finals! Did he do the back flip? I heard from my son about it, but did not catch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Did he do the back flip? I heard from my son about it, but did not catch it. He sure did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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