LD Training Week 16 - Practice Round

Welcome to week 16 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today is your chance to put everything you've learned into practice with a practice debate roundWe won't have a video lesson today, you're the stars of today's show.

For all the preparation of the room, some basic instructions on how to speak, how to flow, and what you are going to do in the round, look back at Week 12's lesson.

As you listen to your opponent's arguments, be sure to flow them so that you can address them using 3-point refutation.  Also, look for weaknesses in their arguments you can exploit during cross-examination.  Finally, think about why your value and value criterion are preferable and why that matters to the resolution.

Now comes the fun part.  As homework, make a list of every argument you heard in your debate round.  Go back through your flow and identify which arguments you had good responses to, which refutation you should have had, and which questions in cross-examination stumped you.  For each of these things, look for supporting evidence for your position.  This week is a vital week in your training to become a great debater.  The more time you spend in the week after one round preparing for your next round, the more likely you are to win your rounds in the future.  Each of the responses you create should be in 3-point refutation format.

Have a great week and we'll see you after Christmas!

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.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  I'd suggest skimming the discussion of the debate round just to be sure you're ready for your first full debate round! 

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 15 - Practice Round

Welcome to week 15 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today is your chance to put everything you've learned into practice with a practice debate roundWe won't have a video lesson today, you're the stars of today's show.

For all the preparation of the room, some basic instructions on how to speak, how to flow, and what you are going to do in the round, look back at Week 12's lesson.

As you listen to your opponent's arguments, be sure to flow them so that you can address them using 3-point refutation.  Also, look for weaknesses in their arguments you can exploit during cross-examination.  Finally, think about why your value and value criterion are preferable and why that matters to the resolution.

Now comes the fun part.  As homework, make a list of every argument you heard in your debate round.  Go back through your flow and identify which arguments you had good responses to, which refutation you should have had, and which questions in cross-examination stumped you.  For each of these things, look for supporting evidence for your position.  This week is a vital week in your training to become a great debater.  The more time you spend in the week after one round preparing for your next round, the more likely you are to win your rounds in the future.  Each of the responses you create should be in 3-point refutation format.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for another debate round!

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.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  I'd suggest skimming the discussion of the debate round just to be sure you're ready for your first full debate round! 

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 14 - Cross Examination

Welcome to week 14 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "Cross-Examination." We've talked about every other piece of the debate round and you've even had your very own debate round experience.  But the last piece of the puzzle is what goes on between the speeches you give in support of your own case and in opposition to your opponent's case.  Cross Examination is your opportunity to ask questions and make your opponent talk about what you want to talk about.  Learning the techniques of cross examination will take you a long way toward becoming a great debater.

This lecture focuses on both how to cross examine your opponent and how to answer questions during cross examination.  Cross-X is a 3-minute period after each constructive speech.  The person who just finished giving a speech is cross-examined by the other team.  For example, after the Affirmative Constructive, the negative debater will cross-examine the affirmative speaker.
Cross-examination is about asking questions.  It's not about giving your own speech, or bringing up new arguments and points of analysis.  Instead, everything that comes out of your mouth if you are the person cross-examining should be focused on asking questions either to clarify your opponent's arguments, poke holes in the arguments your opponent has made, or set yourself up for the next argument you want to make against your opponent.

When someone asks you a question in cross-examination you should remain poised, confident, and answer the question.  Try to anticipate what your opponent wants you to say and see if there's a way to give an answer that helps make your case even stronger.  Be concise when you answer the question, and if your opponent doesn't stop you, continue explaining the beneficial point you were making.  When you are being cross-examined, the most important thing to do is to answer the question you are asked.  Trying to avoid a difficult question is worse than admitting there is a hole in your case.  Remember, if you have a perfect case, you haven't thought about it closely enough.  There's always a hole in your case (but there's also holes in every case your opponents run).  Your job is to explain how the holes in your case are less gaping than the holes in your opponent's case.  

Before we start today's lesson, get a piece of paper and write down the contentions you are using for both your affirmative and negative cases.  Underneath each contention, write down two questions you think expose a weakness in your contention.   Put these pages to the side and watch the lesson.

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 (in 2 parts):

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.

Now it's time to practice cross-examination!  For each contention, take the questions you wrote down before the lecture and see if you can come up with some new ones.  Is there an argument you usually use that you can set up with a question?  Is there a piece of evidence you love to use you can prepare a question to direct your opponent to make a contrary point to the conclusion of that quotation?  Write down at least 10 new questions about your cases.

Now let's try these questions.  Have one debater stand up as the cross-examiner and another debater as the cross-examinee.  The questioner should ask questions for 2 minutes, and the other debater should do his best to answer the questions.  Switch to 2 new debaters.  The other debaters on the team should keep watching and try to identify whether the cross examiner is asking questions and letting her opponent answer the questions.  The team should also make sure that the cross examinee is answering the question in a concise manner and trying to expand on the answer if the opponent lets him.  Keep switching debaters and rotate to new sides so every debater gets to cross-examine and be cross-examined at least one time on both the affirmative and negative side.

Finally, make a list of the arguments you set up and ask your teammates whether your questions successfully set up the arguments you wanted to prepare.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  For a brief recitation of some common LD values, I suggest this short post by the Debate Central team at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Finally, as homework, it's time to prepare for a couple debate rounds.  The next 2 weeks you will be debating your teammates.  Take some time this week to identify which questions you want to ask in cross examination and which arguments you want to make against your opponent.  Good luck preparing for our next couple debate rounds!

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 13 - The Clash of Values

Welcome to week 13 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "The Clash of Values." In Week 10 we talked about how values and value criterion should be more than just an introduction to your case.  The value and value criterion are integral parts of your debate round.  Not only should the value be the focus of your debate round, but the best way to win the debate is to show that your value is the superior value in the debate round.

We've already discussed how to debate the value and value criterion, but this lecture is more focused on how to compare and contrast your value and value criterion with your opponent's value and value criterion.  Once you have attempted to explainhow your value is superior, how your opponent's value is not applicable to the resolution, how your criterion is the preferable way to measure whether a value has been reached, or how your opponent's value criterion is simply a restatement of their value and doesn't measure anything, you have gotten yourself started along the path of clashing values.  However, before the debate round is over you need to provide clear impacts to your judge and audience to help them understand why your value and value criterion are not only a good way to evaluate the resolution, but the most preferred way.

Before we start today's lesson, get a piece of paper and write down the value and value criterion you have been using for your affirmative and negative cases.  Flow them as if they were presented in the 1AC and the NC.  Leave lots of space so you can put arguments under each value and value criterion.  On a second page, write down 3 reasons you think your affirmative value is superior to your negative value.  Do the same thing with your negative value superior to your affirmative value.  Put these pages to the side and watch the lesson.

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.

We now know how important it is to actually compare and contrast our values.  Now it's time to try to clash some values.  Divide into groups of 2 students.  One person should be affirmative and the other should be negative.  Read the value and value criterion sections of your respective cases as well as the tags/section headings of your contentions (out loud) and flow the arguments.  Take 5 minutes of "prep time" and think up 2 reasons your value and value criterion are superior to your opponent's.  Come up with 2 ways your contentions would stand up under your opponent's value and value criterion.  Come up with 2 ways your opponent's contentions cannot defeat your contentions under your value and value criterion.  And finally, identify two ways your value and value criterion are best upheld under your value and criterion.  Next, use 3-point refutation and respond to your opponent's value and value criterion, show how your value and value criterion are stronger, concede your opponent's value and criterion and show how your contentions still win, show how your opponent's contentions can only win under their value and crieterion, and remind the judge how great your contentions fit into your wonderful value and criterion.  Be sure to flow all the arguments.  Take 5 more minutes of prep time and think up responses to your opponent's arguments and then use 3-point refutation to reply to those.  Be sure to keep flowing.  If you have time, continue this pattern without any additional prep time for another round for both speakers.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  For a brief recitation of some common LD values, I suggest this short post by the Debate Central team at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Finally, as homework, review your flows from today's exercise.  Research and write a response to each argument you heard in your practice.  Also, write down 2 different value and value criterion impacts for each contention in your pro and con cases.  Last, read a few articles (check out the Great Debate on twitter for links to articles on this year's LD topic!) and see if you find any other values playing a role in the writings of the experts in your field.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our fourteenth debate lesson, "Cross Examination" where we'll discuss the hardest part of a debate to prepare - cross examination.

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 12 - Your First Debate Round!

Welcome to week 12 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today is your chance to put everything you've learned into practice and participate in your very first debate round.  Again, we won't have a video lesson today, you're the stars of today's show.

Before you start debating you need to set up the room.  The best set-up is to have either 3 desks or two tables with seats facing each other.  The two debaters sit on one side of the room facing the judge.  The affirmative debater should sit to the judge's left, and the negative debater should sit to the judge's right.

Debaters usually speak from behind a podium or simply by standing up behind their desk or table.  The judge flows the round and in some cases will also keep time for the debaters.  Just in case your judge isn't going to keep time for you, it's a good idea to bring your own time piece and be prepared to keep your own time.

When you enter the room, be sure to tell the judge your name or competitor code.  Introduce yourself to your opponent as well.  Get out your case and prepare your table with your flowpad, pens, post-its, and any evidence you expect to use (evidence may also be kept in a box on the floor if you prefer).  Once the judge is ready, the round will begin.

Flowing - many debaters find it extremely helpful to "pre-flow" their own first constructive speech.  You already know what your case is about and so you can set up a template in excel to put each of your points on printed paper you can cut out and paperclip onto your flow pad.  That way, you don't have to spend any time flowing your own arguments either before the round starts or after you opponent starts addressing your arguments.

Once the round begins, you should feel right at home.  As you listen to your opponent's arguments, be sure to flow them so that you can address them using 3-point refutation.  Also, look for weaknesses in their arguments you can exploit during cross-examination.  Finally, think about why your value and value criterion are preferable and why that matters to the resolution.

The pace of your speaking should be reasonable.  At no point should you speak so quickly that your judge is not able to follow you.  Also, check with your coach and other local debaters to identify how quickly people are permitted to speak in a debate round.  The faster you go the more arguments you can raise, but the more likely you are to have a judge find you impossible to understand.  Look for a balanced approach.

If at some point you realize that you no longer have anything to say to fill your speech or cross-examination time, it is perfectly acceptable to say "thank you" and sit down.  There is no requirement that you stand up there with nothing more to say until time expires.

Pay careful attention to your limited prep time.  Don't use too much in the beginning, and be sure to have at least 30 seconds to prepare you final speech.

After the round, shake your opponent's hand and congratulate him or her on a job well done.  Thank the judge for his or her time, pack up your things, and leave the room.  In some leagues the judge will provide verbal feedback.  If so, take out a fresh sheet of flow paper and jot down the comments your judge gives you.

After you leave the room, the judge will be filling out a ballot and selecting which debater won the round.  The judge will also award "speaker points" for each debater.  Speaker points are a way for the judge to identify which debater presented strong arguments and gave a great presentation, regardless of whether those arguments ultimately carried the day and won that judge's ballot.  The judge will also typically provide written feedback on the ballot which is quite helpful to you as you learn debate.

Congratulations!  You have completed your very first full debate round.

Now comes the fun part.  As homework, make a list of every argument you heard in your debate round.  Go back through your flow and identify which arguments you had good responses to, which refutation you should have had, and which questions in cross-examination stumped you.  For each of these things, look for supporting evidence for your position.  This week is a vital week in your training to become a great debater.  The more time you spend in the week after one round preparing for your next round, the more likely you are to win your rounds in the future.  Each of the responses you create should be in 3-point refutation format.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our thirteenth debate lesson, "Clash of Values" where we'll discuss how values can really come into conflict in a debate round.

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.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  I'd suggest skimming the discussion of the debate round just to be sure you're ready for your first full debate round!

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 11 - Preparing to Debate

Welcome to week 11 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is all about researching and preparing for your first full debate round!  Rather than watch a video, I want to encourage you to spend this class working as a team to prepare for a full debate round next week.

Next week you will spend your entire class period debating!  In preparation for that class, spend this week tweaking your cases, finding additional supporting evidence, and preparing cross examination questions and responses to arguments you anticipate hearing.

First, go through the arguments you have heard over the past 10 weeks and decide which ones you are prepared to refute.  If there are any you haven't figured out how to attack or reject, think about that with your teammates and prepare a pre-written "block" of a couple arguments specifically addressing the weaknesses of those points. If you have any parts of your case you find less than compelling, consider what evidence would be useful to further support the arguments.  If you need research help, feel free to re-watch the Research Basics video, read the blog article "Secrets of Great Researchers," or talk to your coach or a librarian about how to find evidence you need.  Don't forget that on the Great Debate twitter there are lots of links to articles of interest as well.

Second, practice reading your cases, reading your practice cross examination questions, reading your prepared refutation arguments, and reading your back-up evidence.  Make sure you are comfortable with all the words in these quotations and that you fully understand what you are saying.  You sound much more credible when you aren't stumbling through your arguments in the round.

Third, make sure you have everything printed out and organized so you can find it during the debate round.  You'll want at least one copy of everything you might read during the round and you'll want to put it into folders or some other storage system so you can quickly and easily retrieve it during the round.

Fourth, practice making some arguments with your classmates.  Present one or two arguments and have them respond using 3-point refutation.  Then switch.  Let them present a couple arguments and you respond with 3-point refutation.

With that, you should be ready to spend this final week preparing for your first debate rounds.

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.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  I'd suggest skimming the discussion of the debate round just to be sure you're ready for your first full debate round!

As homework, be sure to read your cases one time every day this week.  You'll also need to gather your necessary supplies for the round.  You'll need: a timepiece of some sort (so you know how much time you have left to speak), 2 different colored pens (some debaters even like 3 or 4 colors), paper for flowing, post-it notes or some little notepad to write ideas that come to you throughout the round, and a highlighter to identify any parts of quotations you find useful.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our twelfth debate lesson, "Your First Debate Round" where we'll actually debate!

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 10 - Debating Values

Welcome to week 10 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "Debating Values" This lecture explains how a value debate is different from policy or public forum debate.  The difference is that we focus on the value and value criterion.  A LD round does not end with one team saying how much more interesting or persuasive their contentions are.  Instead, LD debates end with each side telling the judge how much better their value is than their opponent's value.  If the goal of the LD round is to show that the resolution should be affirmed or negated, the value is the way you reach that goal.  And, as we've discussed before, the value criterion helps us know how close to the value we can come.

Understanding how to debate the value and value criterion will go a long way toward helping you successfully to navigate the debate round. If you can explain how your value is superior, how your opponent's value is not applicable to the resolution, how your criterion is the preferable way to measure whether a value has been reached, or how your opponent's value criterion is simply a restatement of their value and doesn't measure anything, you have gone a long way toward winning the debate round.

Before we start today's lesson, get a piece of paper and write down the value and value criterion you have been using for your pro and con cases.  Flow them as if they were presented in the 1AC and the NC.  Leave lots of space so you can put arguments under each value and value criterion.  On a second page, write down 3 reasons you think your affirmative value is superior to your negative value.  Do the same thing with your negative value superior to your affirmative value.  Put these pages to the side and watch the lesson.

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.

We now know how to debate values.  It's time to actually debate them.  Divide into groups of 2 students.  One person should be affirmative and the other should be negative.  Read only the value and value criterion sections of your respective cases (out loud) to one another and flow the arguments.  Take 5 minutes of "prep time" and think up as many reasons your value and value criterion are superior to your opponent's.  Now, use 3-point refutation and respond to your opponent's value and value criterion.  You should have at least 5 reasons.  Flow these next to each person's value/value criterion.  Take 5 more minutes of prep time and think up responses to your opponent's challenges.  Present these in 3-point refutation as well.  Be sure to keep flowing.  If you have time, continue this pattern without any additional prep time for another round for both speakers.

Before you leave class, make a full team list of all the values and value criterions in your club.  This is really useful for your homework.

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.  For a brief recitation of some common LD values, I suggest this short post by the Debate Central team at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Finally, as homework, write up 6 arguments that explain why your value and value criterion in your affirmative case are superior to the values and value criterion of your fellow club-mates.  I'd strongly encourage you to come up with responses to at least 3 different values and 3 different value criterions.  Also, do the same thing for your negative case.  Last, read a few articles (check out the Great Debate on twitter for links to articles on this year's LD topic!) and see if you find any other values playing a role in the writings of the experts in your field.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our eleventh debate lesson, "Preparing to Debate" where we'll discuss the final steps you need to take before your first full debate round.

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 9 - Flowing

Welcome to week 9 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "Flowing" This lecture gives you an understanding of how LD debaters take notes during a debate round.  Really? you ask, a class on taking notes?  Well my friends, note-taking is important for debaters for 3 reasons.  First, debate gives each side a block of minutes to present their arguments and so you need to be able to remember all of the things your opponent said so that you can refute it.  Second, if you don't address an argument your opponent makes, debaters say the argument is "dropped" and that means that you lose on that particular argument.  Finally, a good debate only happens when both sides are addressing each other's arguments and flowing is the only way you ensure that both teams will be talking to each other and not past one another.  Still not convinced, watch the video and practice debating - see how you're doing then.

Before today's lesson, get a couple blank sheets of paper and 2 different colored pens.  The paper can be white paper, lined paper, or any other kind of blank paper.  I prefer to use a 8.5 x 11 inch "legal pad" so that I can have multiple pages for each debate round.  Figure out what works best for you.

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.

Now that you know what flowing is, it's time to try it out!  There are 2 exercises to practice.  First, have one volunteer in your group stand up and read his or her debate case from the homework.  The rest of the team should practice flowing the entire case.  Be sure you have the definitions, the value and value criterion, each contention, and the sub-points of the contention (especially focus on what the evidence says).  Have another student read the negative case and respond to the 1AC (a full NC) while the other students flow the case on another sheet of paper and flow the refutation on the first sheet next to the arguments the refutation answers.

Next, I would strongly encourage you to find some videos of LD Rounds to practice flowing.  I think the videos of past national finals (available here) are a great place to start, but feel free to use other videos.  Practice flowing as many rounds as you can and the more you flow the easier it will be for you!

By now you should have read all of Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Keep the book handy as a reference if you need it throughout the rest of your debate career.

Finally, as homework, try to find "extension evidence" meaning evidence that supports the contentions you already have in your affirmative and negative cases.  Read a few articles (check out the Great Debate on twitter for links to articles on this year's LD topic!) and find additional support you can use to refute your opponent's refutation of your contentions in your case.  I'd suggest finding a piece of extension evidence for each contention in both your affirmative and negative cases.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our tenth debate lesson, "Debating Values" where you'll learn how to compare the value you present with the values your opponents present.

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 8 - Case Structure

Welcome to week 8 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "The Debate Case" This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of how LD debaters present their arguments in the constructive speeches through a pre-written speech.  A good case sets the stage for the entire debate round, provides the value and value criterion, and presents contentions that support or negate the resolution.  If you don't start talking about a topic in the first speech, it's out of bounds for the remainder of the debate round.  Not only does writing a good case help you set up a good debate round, the pieces of a good case are quite similar to the pieces of any good written argument.

Before you watch the video, gather all the homework you have completed so far.  Make sure you have the arguments you have constructed, the refutations you have written, and the values you believe best support your arguments.  After today's lectures we'll start putting these together into your very own debate case.

When we discussed the debate round in week 3, we noted that both the 1AC and NC include pre-written speeches that lay out the case to either affirm or negate the resolution.  An LD case contains 6 parts: Introduction (you need to get your audience's attention); Resolution (what are we debating again?); Definitions (make sure we're all on the same page); Value (what justifies your position); Value Criterion (how are we going to measure whether we reached the value); and Contentions (evidence that the value you selected is good, can be measured by the criterion, and that upholding the resolution will best reach the value in question).  Some cases also contain a resolutional analysis, and other try to reply to alternative arguments, but those are optional pieces of the case.

The beauty of writing a case is that you already have the pieces you need for this endeavor.  You have crafted complete arguments both for and against the resolution, you have found evidence to support these arguments, you have decided which value and value criterion ought to apply to these arguments, and you have thought about the resolution quite a bit already.  So all you're missing is an introduction and some definitions to clarify the resolution.

So, without further ado, here's today's lesson.

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.

Now that you know the pieces of a case, it's time to write yours!  As an exercise today, work in groups and try to outline the case or cases you think will best support and negate the resolution.  If you have access to research tools, try to clarify words in the resolution that need clarification.  Pick a value and value criterion, and put three of your arguments into the case as "Contentions."  Be sure to include your evidence.  Also, the value and criterion should provide more than just "my value is justice and my value criterion is speedy trials."  Be sure to include some of your own commentary to help your audience know when you have reached your value and why your value is the best one for analyzing the resolution.  Your affirmative case should have 3 contentions and your negative case should have 2.  The negative case probably doesn't need definitions either.  Present your shell case outline to the group and get as much feedback as you can.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Read pages 67-76 before next week's lecture. Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, take your case outline and make it sound like you wrote it.  Put it in easy to read prose so that you are comfortable reading it.  If you need additional support, find more evidence to uphold your contentions.  And then start practicing reading your case.  I'd suggest you read it out loud 4-5 times to make sure you are comfortable with all the words (especially names of your authors and any difficult words in your quotations) and that you can read it in less than the full amount of time you have for the speech.  Try to find one or two pieces of "back-up" evidence that supports the arguments you have already made in your case so that you can refute your opponent's refutations.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our ninth debate lesson, "Flowing" where you'll learn the techniques of note taking debaters have been using to be sure they can attack every little nook and cranny of their opponent's case.

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 7 - Refutation

Welcome to week 7 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "Refutation" This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of how debate can be more than just repeating yourself, but can instead be an organized and interesting discussion.  This lecture is indispensable to any new value debater - it gives you the formula for responding to any argument whether in debate rounds or in your classroom.

Before you watch the video, consider any debate you have seen.  Don't limit yourself to a formal debate round.  What is the most frustrating thing that happens?  It's when a debate is disorganized and you don't know which arguments are supposed to be responding to the arguments of the other side.  Today, we'll learn the first step in making sure this kind of disorganization doesn't occur.  Later, we'll learn "Flowing" which is debate note taking.  That's the second piece of the organization puzzle.

As we've said before, an argument contains 3 vital pieces: A claim, a warrant, and an impact.  Each complete argument should be able to stand on its own and make a coherent point.  Refutation is the method of responding to an argument.  There are a few pieces of every refutation.  First, you must tell the audience which argument you're about to respond to.  This matters because formal debates give each team a few minutes of uninterrupted time to talk before any response - that means there will always be more than one argument on the table at any given time.  Second, you need to respond to the argument with an alternative argument.  What reasons do you have to reject the reasons presented by your opponent.  Finally, you must tell the audience why your argument is stronger or more useful to their analysis of the debate round.  All three steps put together are called "3-point refutation" and this method of replying to an argument will go a long way toward making your arguments winning arguments.

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.

Now that you understand the techniques of refutation, let's put them into practice.  Divide into groups of 2 or 3 students.  Get out the arguments you have for the resolution.  The first students presents 2 arguments in favor of the resolution. The next student uses 3-point refutation (Do NOT forget the impact) to reply to the arguments.  Switch.  Continue until you have exhausted all the arguments you have on the affirmative side and then switch to the negative.  If you would like a bit more of a challenge, try to refute your classmate's refutation (Argument - Refutation of the argument - Refutation of the refutation of the argument).  When the whole class comes back together, everyone should try to present and refute one argument for the whole group.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Read pages 28-34 before next week's lecture. Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, take your list of the arguments from last week (the ones you think support the resolution and are strong against the resolution).  Write down 3-point refutation for each of these arguments.  Next, try to refute 1 refutation on each side.  Your homework should be a document with an argument (claim, warrant, impact) at the top of the page, your refutation below (identify the argument, respond with your argument, and impact the differences to your judge's vote), and finally your refutation to the refutation (3-point refutation of the 3-point refutation).

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our eighth debate lesson, "Case Structure" where we'll get ready to write our debate case!

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 6 - Value Structure & Value Criterion

Welcome to week 6 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "Value Structure & Value Criterion" This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of how "values" are used in "value debate" and discusses how we can determine who won a debate round based on theri values. This lecture is indispensable to any new value debater - it gives you the keys to the world of Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Before you watch the video, participate in the following exercise:

Assume you are the coach of your high school's basketball team. At the beginning of the season you are told that you must select a team of only tall somewhat slow players or a team of only short quick players. Your objective as a team is obviously to win as many games as possible.

Which team would you select?

Why?

Write down 7 reasons having a team of all short (or all tall) players will make your team best able to win games.

As we've said before, value statements rank ideas or beliefs against one another. A debater must be able to articulate a value, provide a mechanism for measuring that value, and demonstrate the superiority of the value in order to win a value debate round. The mechanisms for encouraging a debate on values is the use of a value criterion. The criterion provides concrete measurement of how close we are to reaching a given value. Great debaters don't just understand what value they are using, they understand the strengths and weaknesses of that value in relation to other values which might be employed in the round.

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.

Now let's see if we understand how value statements apply in a debate round. Get your basketball coach exercise back out. Everyone that picked short players is on team "S" and everyone that picked tall players is on team "T." Compare your reasons with the other members of your team and come up with the 15 top reasons your team will present.

Here's where the value and criterion come in. The value you will be debating is "winning basketball games" and the value criterion is "scoring more points than your opponent." See, you can measure how likely you are to win games by how many more points than your opponent you score. Now group your 15 reasons into 4 or 5 "contentions" that all show how a short or tall team will be best able to win the games.

Each debater should take a turn presenting at least 2 arguments in favor of his or her side. The arguments should be in the form: "Tall players will be able to block more shots of their opponent and will thus prevent the other team from scoring. Preventing your opponent from scoring allows fewer points (criterion) which will ultimately lead to more wins for our team (impact the value)." If you wish, feel free to reply to one another's arguments after each debater has had the opportunity to present their reasons and apply them to the value and criterion.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Read pages 34-54 before next week's lecture. Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, make a list of the arguments you think support the resolution and are strong against the resolution.  Next look at the list of values from week 3's handout.  Do you see any values that would be furthered by the arguments you already have?  If you can link your arguments to a value, take the next step and try to figure out how you would measure your value - what would you use for your criterion?  Try to have 3 different value and criterion combinations ready for next week and try to have 3 arguments that you would use for each of these sets (9 arguments total).

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our seventh debate lesson, "Refutation and Rebuttals"

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 5 - The Resolution

Welcome to week 5 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate. Today's lesson is entitled "The Resolution" This lecture provides the background on what every debate round needs: a topic!  The resolution is the focus of every debate round and learning what a topic will require of you as a debater is the first step toward having a debate round.  Just as a basketball game wouldn't be fun if we couldn't agree where the out of bounds line is, a debate round isn't fun if we can't agree that we're only going to debate certain things.  Every debate team shows up ready to talk about the resolution, and the resolution should be what every round discusses.

Before you watch the video, do the following:

Find a value resolution you will be debating.  If you are going to compete in a league, I'd suggest looking at the resolution for next month just so you have time to actually prepare.  Write this resolution at the top of your paper so you can look at it during the video.  If you're a teacher, you might want to write the resolution on the board on a big sheet of paper for all your students to see.

The resolution will tell you the main objective of at least one team in the debate round and will often tell you what context the round should consider.  In our next class we'll talk about how the resolution is applied using values.

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.
It's time to brainstorm the resolution.  What do you think this resolution is all about?  If you'll be using any of this year's high school LD topics, be sure to check out the Great Debate on twitter. We've posted a series of 10 questions about each LD topic for you to think about.  Take these questions home and get your parents's feedback and ask your friends what they think to.  After you ask the question and get answers, be sure to ask "why do you think that?" and see how you can expand your knowledge.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook. Read pages 34-50 before next week's lecture. Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, find an article that gives a good overview of the topic you'll be debating.  Some leagues provide background materials for you.  Other leagues make you do this yourself.  Either way, read through the article and see what kind of questions you have about the resolution and which side you think is the strongest.  Also, take the 3 arguments you have for and against the resolution and decide if you think any of the overview materials indicate some other argument should be on your list.  Include those arguments in your list.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our sixth debate lesson, "Values: Structure & Criteria"

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 (coming soon) 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.

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.

LD Training Week 3 - Value Statements & Research Basics

Welcome to week 3 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate.  Today we'll be covering 2 lessons.  The first lesson is entitled "Value Statements and Definitions"  This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of what a "value" is in the context of "value debate" and discusses the importance of defining terms in a debate round.  This lecture is indispensable to any new value debater - it gives you the keys to the world of Lincoln-Douglas debate.

The second lesson is entitled "Research Basics"  This short video explains the initial steps you need to take to begin to understand any topic you'll be debating.

Value statements rank ideas or beliefs against one another.  A debater must be able to articulate a value, provide a mechanism for measuring that value, and demonstrate the superiority of the value in order to win a value debate round.  Today we'll focus on understanding what a value is and discuss some different values that are used in debate round.  Later we'll focus on measuring the comparing values against one another.

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:

And here's the research basics video:

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.

Today will be our last "fun debate" for a while.  Pick another topic, pick sides, and have fun!

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook.  Read pages 54-66 before next week's lecture.  Don't worry if it doesn't all make sense.  You are just trying to understand the big picture right now.

Finally, as homework, read the current resolution for your league.  Take out your list of 3 reasons from the last 2 weeks.  They should be in full argument form now - with claim, warrant, and impact.  Next, write down 3 arguments against the resolution.  Use the techniques of research you learned today and find evidence as your warrant for each of these 6 arguments.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our fourth debate lesson, "The Debate Round"

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 (coming soon) 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.

LD Training Week 2 - What is an Argument?

Welcome to week 2 of The Great Debate's introduction to Lincoln-Douglas Value Debate.  Today's lesson is entitled "What is an Argument?"  This 2-video lecture gives you an understanding of the difference between an argument and simply repeating a position over and over again.  Debate rounds are full of arguments - quarrels are not.  Debates help us learn something, a war of words may just leave us feeling angry with one another.

Because each debate round will be full of arguments, you should be aware of the key pieces of the argument: the Claims, the Warrants, and the Impacts.  The three pieces are necessary to build an argument that does more than just get written down and forgotten - your arguments will be remembered and applied!

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, try another "fun debate." Pick a different topic than the one you picked last week.  I like to use these topics:  "Resolved: flip-flops are better than tennis shoes."  "Resolved: Reeses Pieces are better than M&M's."  Or "Resolved: chicken is better than steak."  Divide into two teams, an affirmative and a negative.  Write down 10 "arguments" for you position (this means claims, warrants, and impacts).  Take 10 minutes to collaborate with your teammates and make sure you each have at least 3-5 good arguments so the debate can last for a little while.  For this round, I usually say it is acceptable to make up your own evidence.  For example, my favorite "fake expert" is Dr. Pepper.  I have Dr. Pepper say things like "Flip flops have been involved in 100 deaths in the last 2 years."  When you are in a real debate round making up evidence is an ethical violation and should never be done.  However, for this round we are just learning to put together arguments for trivial topics and so we can make up the evidence for this excercise.

It is now time to begin the debate.  Just like last time, the affirmative team will go first, one speaker will provide 2 reasons in favor of the resolution.  The negative team will send their first speaker to provide 2 reasons against the resolution and respond to one of the arguments from the affirmative.  The affirmative sends their second speaker to provide two new reasons and  respond to the arguments of the negative.  The debate continues for roughly 20 minutes or until you are all satisfied with how you have represented your positions.

After you watch the video, be sure you download Coach Marko Djuranovic's Ultimate LD Handbook.  Read pages 13-15 and 19-28 before next week's lecture.


Finally, as homework, read the current resolution for your league.  Take your list of 3 reasons from last week and form them into arguments including claim, warrant, and impact.  If you have time, look online for evidence to support your three claims and use that evidence as your warrant.

Have a great week and we'll see you next week for our third debate lesson, "Value Statements & Definitions" as well as "Research Basics"

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.