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