Topics for January 25th at Mother Teresa in Atlantic Highlands......

Ukraine should join the European Union. 

Delay Obamacare.

Immunizations should not be mandated.

Walmart is good for society.

Upcoming important dates

Practice Wednesday, November 20th 
Mrs. Goldstein will be here to talk about the bombing of Japan.

No practice next week, November 27th.  It is a 1/2 day.  Go home and write openings and closings.

Practice Wednesday, December 4th
Be ready to run some mock debates with your team.  Bring your notes.

Extra practice-Friday December 6th
It is an early dismissal for you as parent-teacher conferences are scheduled.
Bring your lunch and eat in Mrs. Burek's room.
We will practice and then get the school set up for the tournament.
Get a ride home at 4:30. 

"Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive."  John F. Kennedy

No practice this Wednesday, November 6th.
Use the time off this week to write your arguments.
Think of reasons to support your arguments and find evidence to support your reasons.
Use these sites for help.

Heckling hints from school  The links don't work, but maybe you can find some good heckling sites.

Convincing Conclusions    This is for High school, but you could use some hints.

Clash points  Read your arguments with these points in mind to find clash.

Log into the gmail account. Talk to Mrs. Burek if you are having trouble getting into the account.  There are lots of links in each folder in the        December 7th debate folder.  Type your notes in your folder.

Topics for December 7th debate at Stone Bridge

The atomic bombing of Japan was justified.

Single sex schools are good for K-12 students.

Raising the minimum wage causes more harm than good.

Surveillance measures used by the US government are warranted.

This is from the annual competition in California in 2006.
2006 National Championship debate

Two schools from the New York league debate

The Government should restrict free speech during National emergencies.
NYC debate June 2012

We should welcome the end of the printed book.
NYL debate June 2013

What did they do well? What would you do differently?  

The debate team was successful at the tournament on Saturday.

Sam Porozok, Ashna Singh, and Georgia Borkowski placed 12^th

Brenna Stampe, Kassi Galvano, and RJ Franzen placed 6^th

Joey Accardi, Arya Singh, and Brian Krewson placed 5^th

Calvin Madia, Evan Heddy, and Caroline Reynolds placed 4^th

Deven Kinney, Rishi Shukla and Jai Gill placed 1^st

Deven Kinney was also the top speaker for Stone Bridge and

 Caroline Reynolds was the top speaker for the tournament.

The entire team won a 2nd place trophy for winning 75% of their debates and walked away with 1st place for the school award having the most team wins.  Congratulations for a great day. 

Practice is on Wednesday after school.

                Great Openings

Great openings set the tone for the debate.
Great openings get the judge listening.
Great openings put your team out in front.
Great openings must be written before the debate.
Great openings should be checked by your coach.
Be a great team player and bring one great opening for each of the four debates.
Be a great team player and bring one for both prop and opp!
See you Wednesday.

“Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."
[Address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004]”
― Desmond Tutu

CBS Assad and Obama on Syria's civil war

October 19th tournament Topics

 

The United States should not seek involvement in the Syrian Civil War

 

Eliminate the teaching of cursive handwriting.

 

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 causes more harm than good.

 

Chris Christie is good for New Jersey.

 

Wednesday, September 18th will be the 1st debate team meeting of the 2013-2014 school year.
  Arrange for pick up at 4pm at the main office.
  Wear your shirts to school.
  Meet in Mrs. Burek's room right after school.
 Bring a snack. (No Peanuts)
No Presidential debate this year, but we are electing a governor.  You should start reading about the election.

 
 

Get your brain back in debate mode! 

Start reading the paper every day.

Check out the NY Times
You need to log in using 200347094 as user name and password.

Check out the The Times
You need burek6161 as username and 08501 as password.

This Pennsylvania Gazette is from the day the Declaration was published and includes a want ad by Mrs. Burek's family, looking for their stray cow. (George Sharpless)
Click here and zoom in on the bottom right
Life goes on!

STOP AND FRISK in the news.   Do you remember arguing any of these points in your debate?
Did you state any of these facts in your argument?  Did you knock down any of the points?
Do you agree or disagree with the newest ruling?

ABC News

NY Times- Stop-and-Frisk Policy Violated Rights

CBS News

CNN

Washington News- Judge Says NYC Stop-and-Frisk Policy Violated Rights


NY Daily News-Officials, activists react to decision imposing monitor on NYPD

Bored?  Looking for something to watch?  Trying to get better at debate? 
Look no further.  Watch the weekly broadcast of Prime Minister David Cameron as he holds his weekly Question Time with members of the House of Commons. Topics discussed focused mainly on domestic issues and the state of the British economy.

Prime Minister's Questions @ C-SPAN



In case you want to know more.....

What is the Prime Minister's Questions?

Who sits where in the Commons?

There was no television back when Lincoln was alive, but you can read all about them. Lincoln and Douglas agreed to debate in seven of the nine Illinois Congressional Districts; the seven where Douglas had not already spoken. In each debate either Douglas or Lincoln would open with an hour address. The other would then speak for an hour and a half. The first then had 30 minutes of rebuttal. In the seven debates, Douglas, as the incumbent, was allowed to go first four times.  And you thought our debates were long!
The Lincoln-Douglas Debate of 1858

Every year, the Middle School Public Debate Program hosts the National Tournament in California.  Read all about it here.
National Tournament Winners From NYC

Saturday, April 27th  Final debate tournament of the season
Joseph Boldger Middle School     Directions

Meet at Stone Bridge at 6:45am.  Parents are welcome to join us on the bus.

Check out this article from the Examiner.  Mrs. Hoffman and I are proud of all our debate students.  They work so hard to compete in their tournaments.
The Power of Middle School Debate

Please check the folders in the gmail account.  Notes from the last meeting have been added to the April 27th folders.
There is also a document with lots of links for 3 of the topics. (postal service, living wage, and stop and frisk)
Happy researching!

Remember to use the gmail account to type your notes.

Come to practice on Wednesday ready to share your facts.

Article in My Community Source online Debate: Alive and Well in Allentown NJ

If you win no debates, if you are the worst debate team in the league, you are still better than all the people who did not debate.

Our next debate is April 27, 2013  at Bolger Middle School   Directions to Bolger Middle School
 

TOPICS

The United States should establish a living wage for its workers.

The US Postal Service should continue Saturday mail deliveries.
Facebook causes more harm than good.

Stop-and-frisk does more good than harm.
Wrestling should not be an Olympic sport. 

Practice Wednesdays until 4:15  
April 3, 10, 17, and 24

Saturday, March 16th DEBATE at Mother Teresa Regional in Atlantic Highlands
Directions to the school

Meet at the entrance at the  front of the school at 7am.
Wear your Debate shirt.
Bring your notes, pens, drinks, lunch and snacks or money to buy them.
You might need a sweatshirt or sweater, it was chilly in the meeting room last year.
Debates start at 9am.
Judge training will start at 8:45.
All students must ride the bus to the debate.  They may ride home with parents.
See you Saturday!

No debate practice Wednesday, February 27th.  It is a half day for you, so go home and research.  See you the following Wednesdays, March 6th and 13th.  Our debate is Saturday, March 16th.  Be sure it is on your calendar.

Some places to use to start your research...These are not exactly what you need, but there are many good points for each topic.
The video game link is only about violent games, but maybe you can use some of the information.
Sorry, you are on your own with the NJ drivers pumping their own gas.

College education

Extra-Curricular
Olympic Games
Video games

Debate practice-Wednesday February 13th
Topics for the March 16th debate:

NJ drivers should be able to pump their own gas.

 

Video games cause more harm than good.

 

Students should not have to pay to participate in extra-curricular activities.

 

The US should guarantee a free college education to all citizens.

 

The Olympic Games do more good than harm.

Wednesday, January 23rd is the last practice before our debate on Saturday.  Please bring all your notes as you will be trying out your debating skills.  Remind your parents that the debate tournament is at
Clifton Barkalow Middle School
498 Stillwells Corner Road
Freehold, NJ 07728     Directions
We encourage your parents to attend the tournament.  We also need high school students, age 16 and up, parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends to get trained as judges.  Training takes place at the tournament, but more information can be found at Middle School Public Debate Program
Mrs. Burek and Mrs. Hoffman can also answer any questions.