2020-2021 Speech and Debate Updates

Due to COVID restrictions, MRMS Speech and Debate will not meet in the Fall of 2020. We will revisit the possibility of meeting and hosting tournaments in the Spring of 2021.

Spring Speech and Debate is here!!

This semester we will be exploring a variety of the National Speech and Debate Association's events to prepare students for their future high school forensics careers.

Jan 30th--Congressional Debate Info/Intro--One of our most successful MVHS Seniors, Seamas, along with our MRMS Team alumni will be teaching students about Congressional Debate. This is one of the best entry events at high school. Students will receive Resolutions to research for a practice Mock Congress on February 6th.

Feb 6th--Mock Congressional Debate--A fun/relaxed mock Congress. This will be a chance for students to "try on" Congressional Debate with scoring, and practicing motions. MVHS Senior Seamas will be the Presiding Officer and our MRMS Alumni will help coach students through their first Congress.

Feb 27 --This week we will welcome the MVHS Team to model a variety of events from high school forensics. This will include "Speech" events such as Original Oratory, DUO, Drama, POI, Poetry, and Informative Speaking. After presentations, students can work with High School representatives to get advice and, if they want, to begin to select or prepare a piece. Students who are not interested in Speech can continue to explore Congress by writing drafts of legislation for a future Mock Congress.

March 12th--This week will be practice and preparation for whatever events students have chosen.

March 26th--This week will be practice and preparation for whatever events students have chosen.

April 9th--This week will be practice and preparation for whatever events students have chosen.

April 23rd--This will be our MRMS Showcase/Mock Congress. Parents and teachers are invited to attend to watch our students share what they have prepared in Spring Semester Speech and Debate.

We will have practice on 8/29, 9/5, 9/12, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12.

We will NOT have practice on 9/19 and 10/31.

Tournaments

Scramble @ MRMS--9/14 8am to 12pm

Tournament @ Cimarron--11/16 7:30am to 4:30pm

Tournament @ MRMS--12/7 7:30am to 4:30pm

Welcome to the MRMS Parent Debate Community!

We are so excited to have you and your student participate in debate this year. Debate is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn skills in purposeful current event research, team collaboration and time management as well as giving students confidence in public speaking, assertiveness, and making lasting friendships. This is a great opportunity for kids who may already have these skills as well as those who are looking to build them. Middle school debate is also a great foundation for students who are considering joining debate in high school or looking at future careers where debate skills will be integral.

Ms. Natalie Sprigg (MRMS Math teacher) and Mrs. Jennifer Smith will be coaching the students this fall. Mrs. Samantha Brickman will also be assisting. Ms. Sprigg has over 7 years experience coaching debate at the middle and high school levels. Mrs. Smith has two students on the debate team at MVHS, one student here on our team, and is the assistant coach at the high school as well. She is also an experienced judge for both speech and debate events at both the high school and middle school levels. Additionally, we will have support from the MVHS Debate students as assistant coaches this year. With this level of experience and diverse backgrounds, we are looking forward to a great season.

Students in DCSD middle schools participate in a form of Parliamentary Debate. This is through the MSPDP program. We welcome you at any/all practices and tournaments so you can learn more about this form of debate. In fact, we encourage you to attend tournaments, first to learn about the debate, and later to help with judging, as parent involvement is key to the program's success. We may ask for your assistance in judging onDecember 8th.

There are 5 rounds of competition including 4 topics that students will be preparing for both during practice times and at home throughout the week. Debate preparations outside of practice days are critical for a successful competition for both content knowledge and public speaking confidence. There is also one extemporaneous topic that all debaters will have 30 minutes to prepare for at the tournament. There is no preparation for this event outside of the 30 minutes since the topic is not disclosed until that time. Students are expected to dress professionally on tournament days and we will be going over the expectations of the dress code during practice.

We will meet once a week on Thursday afternoons from 2:45-4:30. We have two tournaments on the calendar at this time. The first tournament is coming up quickly, on Saturday, September 14th here at MRMS from 8am to noon! We will also host a tournament on Saturday, December 7th from 8am to 4:30pm. Please add these dates to your calendar. You can PAY on My School Bucks and select Speech and Debate. Students who have not paid before the first tournament will not be able to compete.

We will NOT have practice on 9/19 and 10/31.

We will have practice on 8/29, 9/5, 9/12, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12.

Tournaments

Scramble @ MRMS--9/14 8am to 12pm

Tournament @ Cimarron--11/16 7:30am to 4:30pm

Tournament @ MRMS--12/7 7:30am to 4:30pm

Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions!

Sincerely,

Natalie Sprigg Jennifer Smith

nsprigg@dcsdk12.org jennifersmith303@hotmail.com

(303) 250-1199. (Tournament days only) 303-437-8482

Update --August 2019

Welcome to our new interested students and families!

We will be introducing the 2019-2020 Debate Club plans in the next week or two! Please stay tuned!

Hello everyone!

Congrats to you all on such a successful tournament yesterday. I'm very proud of all of you and all the hard work you put in to present such strong debates. MRMS took 6 of the top 10 team award places and 7 of the top 12 speaker winners! Great job. ( I can tell you your place at practice this week if you want)

That may have been the last of our parliamentary tournaments but we have another tournament coming up on Friday, April 12th at Kent Denver School that offer a different assortment of speech and debate events to try! We will be competing against about 8 other schools.

Events offered: Drama, Humor, Prose, Poetry, Duo, Impromptu, and Public Forum.

Public Forum topic will be the February topic for both tournaments: The United States should end its arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

To take a closer look at these before we have our next practice visit and watch the videos visit:

https://www.speechanddebate.org/competition-events/

Make this decision on your own- don't just do what your friends are doing. For the PF and DUO kids I will help you find partners based on your skills and abilities. While you have choice on who you want to partner with, sometimes your best friends aren't necessarily your best speech and debate partners!

If you are unable to come to that tournament we will still offer one on one debates and flash debates during practice so you can keep honing your skills.

The rest of the schedule will be as follow: We will switch back to just one day per week until we get closer to April 12th and you need more practice.

Wed Feb 13th -430 review of tournament and intro to new events

Wed Feb 20th- 430

Wed Feb 27th- 430

Wed Mar 6th- 430

Wed Mar 13th-430

Wed Mar 27th-430

Wed Apr 3rd-430

Wed Apr 10th -430

FRIDAY Apr 12th Kent Denver School details TBD

Wed Apr 17th end of year party!

Thanks!

Coach Smith

Hi Parents and Students!

Welcome to the first week of debate club for this semester. We will be doing Parliamentary Debate again and our Tournament will be Saturday February 9th at MRMS! Here is the schedule up until our first tournament so please put this on your calendar. If you are not able to come to the February 9th Tourney please let me know ASAP. We need to have our teams of three all be able to commit to that day! Even of you cannot attend the tourney, you will still be a part of the mock debates.

The Wednesday practices are optional but will be really beneficial for new debaters and new teams. It is also good for teams that have a hard time finding a good time to get together. All meetings will be in 8 Blue in Ms. Sprigg's room (241).

I expect students to come prepared to our Thursday mock debates with all research prepared and ready to debate. Debaters- you can use your computers and notes for our mock debates- you do not need to recopy on paper like we will for the real tournament!!

January 10 1st practice and intro day

Jan 16- research and practice day

January 17 Debate topic: · Human Genome modification does more good than harm.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Jan 23- research and practice day

January 24 Debate topic: · Fracking on the boundaries of National Parks should be banned. Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Jan 30-research and practice day

January 31 Debate topic: · Veterans should be given priority access to mental health support.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Feb 6-research and practice day

February 7 Debate topic: · States should no longer allow personal exemptions for school vaccinations.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Friday Feb 8-research and practice day

Saturday, February 9 Tournament at MRMS 730am-430pm

All four topics above plus one extemp topic

PARENTS: Please ask your students frequently if they are doing their research, you can help if you want but they will need to be able to speak on each topic. If you find good articles online or in magazines, show them! Engage in conversations about the topics above. And know that they will have to be able to debate each side equally!

I need a couple of parents to volunteer to run the food and concessions for the tournament. Please contact me separately and we can discuss this. This will be a crucial part of running the event so I'd like at least 3-4 people to take charge of this!

I also need judges! Many of you have judged our tourneys before so I hope you will sign up again. The more judges we have, the fewer rounds you'll have to judge! I encourage you to come judge or watch our mock debates every Thursday. Please consider coming to pick up early and doing this. It's helpful for you in understanding what your child is working on and gives you confidence to be an actual judge! Just let me know if you are planning on this so I can make sure to let you in the front doors.

Email or call with any questions or clarifications.

Thank you!

Jennifer Smith MRMS debate coach 303-437-8482

Hi Parents and Students!

Welcome to the first week of debate club for this semester. We will be doing Parliamentary Debate again and our Tournament will be Saturday February 9th at MRMS! Here is the schedule up until our first tournament so please put this on your calendar. If you are not able to come to the February 9th Tourney please let me know ASAP. We need to have our teams of three all be able to commit to that day! Even of you cannot attend the tourney, you will still be a part of the mock debates.

The Wednesday practices are optional but will be really beneficial for new debaters and new teams. It is also good for teams that have a hard time finding a good time to get together. All meetings will be in 8 Blue in Ms. Sprigg's room (241).

I expect students to come prepared to our Thursday mock debates with all research prepared and ready to debate. Debaters- you can use your computers and notes for our mock debates- you do not need to recopy on paper like we will for the real tournament!!

January 10 1st practice and intro day

Jan 16- research and practice day

January 17 Debate topic: · Human Genome modification does more good than harm.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Jan 23- research and practice day

January 24 Debate topic: · Fracking on the boundaries of National Parks should be banned. Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Jan 30-research and practice day

January 31 Debate topic: · Veterans should be given priority access to mental health support.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Feb 6-research and practice day

February 7 Debate topic: · States should no longer allow personal exemptions for school vaccinations.

Round 1 3-345 Round 2: 345-430

Friday Feb 8-research and practice day

Saturday, February 9 Tournament at MRMS 730am-430pm

All four topics above plus one extemp topic

PARENTS: Please ask your students frequently if they are doing their research, you can help if you want but they will need to be able to speak on each topic. If you find good articles online or in magazines, show them! Engage in conversations about the topics above. And know that they will have to be able to debate each side equally!

I need a couple of parents to volunteer to run the food and concessions for the tournament. Please contact me separately and we can discuss this. This will be a crucial part of running the event so I'd like at least 3-4 people to take charge of this!

I also need judges! Many of you have judged our tourneys before so I hope you will sign up again. The more judges we have, the fewer rounds you'll have to judge! I encourage you to come judge or watch our mock debates every Thursday. Please consider coming to pick up early and doing this. It's helpful for you in understanding what your child is working on and gives you confidence to be an actual judge! Just let me know if you are planning on this so I can make sure to let you in the front doors.

Email or call with any questions or clarifications.

Thank you!

Jennifer Smith MRMS debate coach 303-437-8482