Essay Contest Reminder and A+ Hosting Tips
By David Trussell, Assistant Academic Director | Tuesday, December 06, 2011 9:45 AM
December tends to be one of the quieter periods in the UIL calendar for high school academics, but as you are wrapping up your semester and planning for the spring, don’t forget about our newest activity — the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition.
Scholarship money is awarded to the top three statewide winners, and the top three winners from each of the competition’s 10 regions will have their essays added to the official historical record in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
It’s an exciting opportunity for students to learn more about their communities, and it provides valuable experience in writing a college-type research paper. The competition emphasizes primary source research, so the holiday break can provide students with good opportunities for conducting interviews.
Entries should be mailed to the UIL office for judging and must be postmarked by the Feb. 3 deadline. Additional information, including the contest guide and entry form, is available on the Academics section of the UIL website. Send me an email if you have questions.
A+ Academics
While things are a bit quieter on the high school side, December is also one of the busiest times of the year for A+ Academics participants. This year there are more than 160 A+ district meets scheduled between Dec. 1 and 16, and another 50-plus meets on tap for January.
For those who have signed on (or been “volunteered”) to serve as meet directors for their districts, those last few weeks leading up to the district meet can lead to lots of hair-pulling, even for those who have been around that particular block a time or two. It seems inevitable that unforeseen circumstances will arise and disrupt even the best-laid plans, but there are a few important pieces of advance preparation that can prevent some headaches.
• Be sure that your district defines very clear procedures for dealing with contest substitutions and late entries, and that all participating schools are aware of those procedures. (A substitute is a replacement for a contestant who was on the original entry, which may or may not be the student listed as an alternate. A late entry is an additional contestant in an event or slot that the school had not included on the original entry.) The C&CR leaves it to local districts to define substitution/late entry policies for A+ district meets.
Setting your entry deadline closer to the actual date of your meet can often reduce the amount of substitutions you deal with. This means a little less lead-time to prepare your contest rosters but fewer changes once those rosters are prepared. For high school district meets, the C&CR specifies an entry deadline 10 days prior to the meet date; A+ districts are encouraged to use the same 10-day limit whenever possible.
• When your shipment of contest materials arrives from the state office, open and inventory your boxes immediately. Shipping materials for such a large number of A+ meets is a very hectic process. The UIL print and mail division does an amazing job in handling this Herculean task, but it’s always possible that a packet could be inadvertently left out. Spend a few minutes taking that inventory as soon as the materials arrive, and notify us if anything is missing. That allows plenty of time to send missing items if needed.
• Schedule a brief training session for speaking event judges on the day of your meet. Many districts invite parents and other community volunteers to serve as judges for Oral Reading, Modern Oratory, Impromptu Speaking and Storytelling. That’s completely fine — these folks will usually be very good judges. However, it’s also important to remember that they’re not likely to be familiar with contest rules and procedures and may not know what to expect from the event they’ll be judging. A brief (15-20 minute) training session can help alleviate anxiety on the part of your judges and can also help your contest run much more smoothly. Provide judges with a brief overview of the events and criteria for judging, as well as instruction on filling out evaluation forms and ballots. Remind them also of the age groups involved, and emphasize the importance of positive comments and gentle constructive criticism.
• Plan for verification periods and include them in your meet schedule. A 15-minute verification period is required for all objectively scored contests, and is strongly encouraged for speaking events, particularly with panel judging. Writing events have an optional viewing period — it’s a good idea to include that as well, primarily to ensure that contestant papers are identified correctly.
Hosting a district meet will always bring its share of stress, but a little extra planning and preparation can keep the anxiety to a minimum.
Best wishes for successful meets and a restful break!