Future of Public Forum Discussion: Proposed Changes and Enhancements
Explore the latest developments in Public Forum Debate, including proposed changes such as timing adjustments, elimination of Grand Cross Fire, and enhancements to evidence exchange. Understand the rationale behind these changes and the potential impact on the debate landscape.
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Presentation Transcript
Future of Public Forum A Conversation Chris McDonald, Eagan HS, MN Dave Huston, Colleyville Heritage HS, TX & NSDA Board of Directors
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION Why talk about Public Forum now? Fastest growing of the debate events Newest of the debate events Originally planned as an alternative to other forms Never a really good discussion and examination of the practice It s time
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION What happened this year? The NSDA formed an ad-hoc committee of coaches chaired by NSDA board member, Polly Reitkowski and Eagan, MN coach Chris McDonald Their charge was to examine the current state of Public Forum and suggest potential changes After several online meetings, the committee made a number of proposals Those proposals will now be vetted and examined in several ways so that some or all may be implemented in the 2019-20 school year
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION THINGS THE COMMITTEE DISCUSSED AND CONSIDERED AS THEY MADE THIS PROPOSAL Switch side debate and requiring students to debate both sides of the resolution is a good thing Calling for and examining evidence is a good thing Improves debate Allows for greater scrutiny
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #1 (Already implemented) TIMING OF TOPICS First four months of the season would feature two topics (Sept/Oct; Nov/Dec) Topics would then be monthly beginning in January Gives novices time to get used to a topic; holidays in Nov/Dec make those very short topics otherwise
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #2 ELIMINATE GRAND CROSS FIRE Most see it as a waste of time in the vast majority of rounds; time could be better spent elsewhere Other proposals give choices for what to do with the extra time created
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #3 EVIDENCE EXCHANGE & PREP TIME Increase prep time for each team to 3 minutes Better enhances current evidence exchanges; Need to develop norms for evidence exchange More time to prepare arguments; greater depth of arguments
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #4 Additional Time in One or More Speeches Add 1 minute to the summary speech Doesn t change the length because of the elimination of the grand cross fire Allows the summary speaker a better chance to cover the rebuttal speeches
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #5 Eliminate the coin flip Why would we want to change something that has made this event fundamentally unique? Switch debate is good (pedagogical); Guarantees that competitors have a balanced number of rounds Eliminates confusion of negative speaking first (practical/tabroom issues)
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #6 Order of the Speeches Proposed format would allow for a block of speeches for each team Pro would always speak first; CX after the constructives; Con would have the first rebuttal; CX after the rebuttals; Pro would have first summary and final focus speech
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT DOES THE PROPOSED DEBATE NOW LOOK LIKE? Pro Constructive 4 minutes Pro Summary 3 minutes Con Constructive 4 minutes Con Summary 3 minutes Crossfire 3 minutes Pro Final Focus 2 minutes Con Rebuttal 4 minutes Con Final Focus 2 minutes Pro Rebuttal 4 minutes (3 minutes prep per team) Crossfire 3 minutes
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WHAT ARE THE PROPOSED CHANGES ? CHANGE #7 Paraphrasing of Evidence Many teams paraphrase evidence; becomes very difficult to enforce Ignorance/lack of knowledge of NSDA evidence rules cause issues, especially with the sharing of evidence Academic integrity of the event is improved
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION OTHER THINGS THE COMMITTEE DISCUSSED COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IS A GOOD THING We want to make sure community persons are still the norm in judging If we keep that model, we need to do a better job of training judges NSDA needs to take the lead in developing training materials and curriculum for local organizations to use
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION OTHER THINGS THE COMMITTEE DISCUSSED TOPIC SELECTION INPUT Calendar is now established to allow the community to suggest and support topic wordings The topic committee will solicit and use community input to help with the formation of topics
PUBlIC FORUM DISCUSSION WANT TO SEE THE NEW PROPOSED FORMAT? Chris McDonald & Eagan HS in conjunction with another Minneapolis area school did a demonstration debate using the proposed format. The link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QHweeT-gMs
