[GFCA] Policy in public forum

[Sean Hiland]

All of you make great points!   I have a couple of easy suggestions to help us keep the "public" in public forum.

1) Distribute the new NFL PF Judges guide to all people you bring to a tournament who may end up judging PF  http://www.forensicsonline.net/forum/uploads/1/9/9/532812888365327789.pdf
2) Tournaments directors should try, when possible, to avoid scheduling college students and coaches to judge PF rounds particularly if they have a policy background
3) If they must judge, then coaches should try to judges as though they were a member of the general public and not judge on technicalities or bizarre argumentation.

In short, if kids spread, use jargon, or rely on technicalities and they LOSE rounds, they'll stop doing these things.

-----Original Message-----
From: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org [mailto:thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org] On Behalf Of Laura LaChappelle
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 9:14 AM
To: Deanne_Varitek at Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Brianne Henry
Cc: thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org; thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org
Subject: Re: [GFCA] Policy in public forum

AMEN.  As a judge, I always tell students I am looking not only for solid argumentation, but also for strong, audience-friendly communication skills as well.  My assistant coach and I have noticed quite a "policy" trend in our Lincoln-Douglas rounds, as well, with less of a focus on the value, which should be the essence of LD.  I feel badly that I was unable to make the coaches meeting in August, as this was something I was hoping to discuss as a group (maybe y'all did, I hate that I missed it).  If enough of us as judges insist on maintaining the integrity of each event, it should help - and we must train our parent judges properly, as well!

Laura M. LaChappelle
Jackson High School
World History, Honors World History, AP World History Speech/Forensics Coach, Scuba Club Sponsor
770-504-2340 x2213
http://jhs.butts.k12.ga.us/home.aspx
________________________________________
From: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org [thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org] On Behalf Of Deanne_Varitek at Gwinnett.k12.ga.us [Deanne_Varitek at Gwinnett.k12.ga.us]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:26 PM
To: Brianne Henry
Cc: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org; thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org
Subject: Re: [GFCA] Policy in public forum

Brianne,
I feel strongly that we, as coaches and judges, need to stop the bleeding over of Policy techniques as they taint the true nature of PF debate and create fewer options for students. My PF debaters had several judges who were very tolerant of spreading and were unable to understand the other team's arguments. I was not tolerant of these things as a judge last Saturday. Clarity would be nice in order to establish equity, at the least.
Respectfully,
DeAnne Varitek, Language Arts Co-Chair, M.S., Ed.Sp.
Speech & Debate Coach



From:   Brianne Henry <briannemhenry at gmail.com>
To:     thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org
Date:   09/22/2011 09:21 PM
Subject:        [GFCA] Policy in public forum
Sent by:        thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org



 I am new to coaching, but I noticed at Griffin that some students are using policy techniques (counterarguments, spreading) in public forum. This is not addressed in the GFCA by-laws, so I wanted to get the groups'
opinions on how we should handle this as judges and coaches.

Thank you for your input.

Sincerely,

Brianne Henry
Fayette County High School

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