Busy Fall Leads into Even Busier Spring as Student Congress Comes to State
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Tuesday, December 10, 2013 9:30 AM
Students preparing to participate in Student Congress take their oath of office from District Clerk Cheryl Potts — Education Service Center 10.
This has been an exciting fall with new prose and poetry categories, Super Conferences and a brand new pilot contest, Congress! There’s not a single moment of downtime as we challenge students with new experiences and to greater heights in our annual events. All of these opportunities develop the critical skill of communicating.
The skills that students learn through speech and the personal attributes young people develop through instruction in communication theory prepare them like no other opportunity. Regardless of the journey they choose professionally, they need communication skills to be successful. Regardless of their cultural background, educational training or environment, being adept at communicating with others one-on-one, in small groups and in corporate teams is essential. All humans are engaged in relationships on different levels. To be successful in those relationships, knowing how to communicate is the ultimate skill for a progressive and happy life.
On Nov. 21, the State Board of Education voted 8-6 to remove speech as a graduation requirement. The board will take a final vote on this proposal at the end of January. I believe that UIL speech and debate competitors display the training that excellent speech teachers provide daily in their classrooms proving that speech skills empower students to be successful. For more information, access the Texas Speech Communication Association website.
Twenty districts across the state hosted the very first Congress competitions for UIL. I cannot thank the District Clerks and hosts enough for the time and effort devoted to making these contests a great experience for students. On Jan. 7-8, 2014, 221 students representing 116 schools will advance to the State Congressional Meet. Preparations are underway for an exciting state meet, with the finals being held at the Texas State Capitol. A special thanks is in order to Senator Kel Seliger and Representative Dan Huberty for their sponsorship and their staff for assisting in the arrangements.
If you are a coach with a student qualified for Congressional State, your judging form is due no later than Dec. 1. You may submit the form online. I encourage you to review the tentative schedule and the information documents posted on the Congress page. Registration to check in your contestant and confirm your judge will occur on Monday evening, Jan. 6. Tournament headquarters that night and the first day of the meet will be the University Teaching Center. State legislation is not the same as the legislation debated at the district competition. Check the Congress page for the bills and resolutions that will be debated at State.
If you are a district contest official for Cross-Examination Debate, you should have already submitted your CX District Information Form and sent your request to me to be authorized. Once that authorization is completed, you are notified to set up your district meet in the Spring Meet Online System. As you complete this task, if you are ready for schools to enter their contestants, be sure to open the meet to allow that to happen.
CX Debate coaches need to indicate their preference of policy debate topics for next year. An initial ballot was solicited several months ago to narrow the topic field from five to two. Texas is proud of Noah Recker, coach at La Vernia High School, who served as the UIL study report author at the national topic selection meeting this summer in Portland, Oregon. His topic on Oceans made the final ballot, along with Middle East policy reform. A synopsis of both reports is linked on the debate page of the UIL website and the full reports can be accessed on the National Federation of High School Associations website. I encourage you to submit your ballot before leaving for the winter holiday so it can be counted in the Texas vote.
Many coaches already have their students working diligently to develop their oral interpretation performances and have been delighted at the challenge of new categories. Category B of Poetry requires students to read a poem, multiple poems or excerpts of poems written by one or more poets listed on the website PoetryFoundation.org. Two clarifications for understanding: the poems by the poet do not necessarily have to be posted on that particular website. You may find these in a book, a journal or another website, for example. But the poet must be listed on the website. The intent is for your student to select one of the poets featured, either with their biography and works on PoetryFoundation.org or featured in an article in the Poetry magazine that appears on that site. It is not meant for students to use a poet whose name was merely dropped into an article there, but is not featured. Encourage your students to explore some of the fresh, new writers on the site rather than typing the name of a well-worn poet from your files into the search bar, hoping at least their name shows up obscurely on the site. Otherwise, there will surely be problems at district competition and they are missing the point of the new category.
To those of you who will serve as prose and poetry judges or contest directors, I urge you to do what every coach is required by constitutional rules to do. That is to read the current UIL Prose & Poetry Handbook. Chapter 4 provides an in-depth discussion of all four of the new categories, clarifying the intent and requirements for them. If you are directing the contest, you should be well-versed in these details and should conduct a training session with your district judges prior to the contest so they are aware of what is expected of each contestant. That is a critical part of equalizing the playing field. All students should adhere to the category requirements and all judges should judge according to those standards. The handbook is conveniently available via the UIL Online Store.
It soon will be time to release the 2014 spring LD topic. Be watching the website in mid-December. If you have been coaching a few decades, you might still remember when Lincoln-Douglas Debate was inaugurated as a contest event. This spring, UIL will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its inception.
Practice topics continue to be posted monthly on the Extemporaneous Speaking webpage as a help to teachers as you guide students in the preparation of their files and to provide you with topics when you put your students through the rigors of practice rounds. Another set is scheduled to be posted next week. I hope these are helpful. You will notice that speaking topics encompass both domestic and international issues. General areas include economics, education, foreign policy, medical and health topics, military, political issues, science and technology, environmental issues, safety and social concerns. These topics cover major geographical areas such as the United States, Texas, Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and any global “hot” issues currently in the news.