LD Training Week 4 - The Debate Round

Welcome to week 4 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate.  Today's lesson is entitled "The Debate Round"  This short video lecture gives you a quick overview of the 5 speeches and 2 cross examinations that make up a complete Lincoln-Douglas debate round.  

Each debater builds their case in the constructive speeches.  Each debater sells their case and attempts to undermine their opponent's case in the rebuttal speeches.  And each debater tries to gain credibility in the cross examinations.

Knowing the names of each speech, where they fall in the debate round, how long each speech lasts, and the purpose of each speech may not seem like vital information, but if you don't know the boundaries you will lose credibility and the round will not be enjoyable.  Just like a basketball game has some basic rules and everyone agrees that the 3-point lines and sidelines are hard and fast, the pieces of a debate round give us a perfect environment to have the educational and enjoyable debate we all want to have.

This week's lesson is available on the Great Debate's youtube page.  It is also available on the Great Debate website in embedded format.  Finally, you can see the videos right here:

If you haven't already, be sure to visit The Great Debate website to request your free packet of outlines.  If you are a student, you can request the student packet and coaches can request a coach packet with additional resources including a syllabus and answer keys.

As a drill to see if you understand what we're doing here, do 2 things:

First, write down the names of all the speeches on separate pieces of paper.  Write down the lengths of time for each speech on more separate pieces of paper.  Divide into 2 teams.  Each team should attempt to put the debate round in the proper order with all the proper times before the other team.

After you are certain you know the structure of the debate round, try another "fun debate." Pick a different topic than the one you picked last week.  If you missed the instructions last week, go back and read that post again.  

Rather than picking any structure for the round, use the Lincoln-Douglas structure we just learned.  If the debaters on your team can't fill up the entire 6 minutes, have more than one speaker "tag-team" to fill the entire speech time.  See if you can put in some cross examination questions too!

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook.  Read pages 8-19 before next week's lecture.

Finally, as homework, read the current resolution for your league.  Take your list of 3 reasons and give them to one of your classmate.  Write down 2 questions you have about each reason.  If you have time, look online for evidence that responds to the arguments of your classmate.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our fifth debate lesson, "The Resolution"

If you are interested in learning a form of debate other than Lincoln-Douglas value debate, The Great Debate is a wonderful textbook for policy debate written by the teacher in these videos.  The Great Debate provides training in the basics of debate and includes information for debaters who have already learned the fundamentals and are looking for more intermediate level training.  The Great Debate has a teacher's guide which includes lesson plans and additional material for coaches.  For more information about The Great Debate, visit our website.  We also have produced a video training series for Public Forum Debate.  The public forum series is another free resource from The Great Debate.