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2012-2013 Policy Debate Curriculum

By: Matt Grimes, Christie Louie, and Paul Madden

Contributing Authors: Abhi Bhakta, Danielle Cadet, Julio Lanzo, and Michael Liang

Certain narratives were adapted from the Policy Debate Manual with permission from: The National Debate Project, Joe Bellon, and Abi Williams

Edited by: Steve Stein

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.

Welcome

Thank you for agreeing to coach (or return as a coach) in the Boston Debate League! The time and energy of teacher-coaches is the lynchpin of debate in Boston and we hope you have a great time getting to know your students in a new context. If the past experience of coaches is any guidance, you’re almost certain to be blown away by what the young debaters are capable of doing.

Admittedly, coaching can be challenging at times, especially in light of all the other responsibilities teachers face. Still, almost any returning coach will tell you that the student transformations make the sacrifice worth it. Young people who fear speaking up in class suddenly become engaged, vocal learners. Students struggling with discipline issues begin to modify their behavior, having learned alternate outlets for expressing their thoughts or decided that they have something to lose. Without your dedication, these opportunities would not be possible.

The mission of the Boston Debate League is to measurably improve students’ academic achievement and their expectations of themselves by engaging as many BPS high school and middle school students as possible through academic debate. The BDL sees debate not as an activity for a small group of students but rather as a strategy for affecting academic culture school-wide. At the most basic level, this means that debate is accessible and appropriately challenging to students of all skill levels. It also implies that debate can be a defining part of the school’s identity, with the beneficial effects spilling over to students who aren’t even on the squad. So, by recruiting, retaining, and training students, coaches are part of a broader effort to boost academic expectations around the school.

This binder is intended to provide you with accessible curriculum tools and help you navigate some of the expectations of being a coach. While your own experience as an educator and knowledge of your students will serve you incredibly well, the ideas included here are great starting points for running your team and planning your practices. These lessons should help you build large debate teams and transform your school’s culture. They represent years of collective wisdom of debate coaches here in Boston and around the country. That said, feel free to make modifications to the ideas as you see fit and please let other coaches know when you have new ideas that have worked. The more strategies are tested and shared, the strong the league will be as a whole.

Thanks again for taking on your school’s debate squad. The BDL staff is here to help you be the best coach you can be, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions. We look forward to a great 2012-2013 season!

Sincerely,The Boston Debate League

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Table of Contents

Tab 1: Introduction

Welcome.......................................................................................................................................2

Curriculum Goals and Purpose...................................................................................................5

How to Use this Text..................................................................................................................6

How to Read these Practice Plans..............................................................................................8

Tab 2: Recruitment........................................................................................................................9

Engaging the Entire School......................................................................................................10

Selling School Stakeholders on the Importance of Debate......................................................11

Recruitment Pushes and Drives...............................................................................................12

Recruitment Schedule..............................................................................................................13

Best Practices of Headmasters, Coaches, Students, and Teachers..........................................25

Recruitment Materials.............................................................................................................30

Tab 3: Retention.......................................................................................................................... 58

Community Building................................................................................................................ 59

Practices and Tournaments.....................................................................................................60

Student Leaders.......................................................................................................................62

Tab 4: Debate Practice Activities.................................................................................................63

Philosophy of a Good Debate Practice.....................................................................................64

Community Building Activities.................................................................................................65

Warm Up Activities..................................................................................................................79

EBA-Style Debate Activities......................................................................................................92

Tab 5: Novice Curriculum...........................................................................................................131

Planning a Novice Practice.....................................................................................................132

Week 1...................................................................................................................................133

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Week 2...................................................................................................................................141

Week 3...................................................................................................................................149

Tab 6: Learning the Case............................................................................................................155

The Affirmative Case..............................................................................................................156

Answering the Affirmative Case.............................................................................................172

Tab 7: Disadvantages.................................................................................................................190

Intro to Disadvantages...................................................................................................195

Parts of a Disadvantage.................................................................................................197

Answering a Disadvantage.............................................................................................201

Tab 8: Counterplans...................................................................................................................220

Intro to Counterplans.....................................................................................................225

Parts of a Counterplan...................................................................................................227

Answering a Counterplan...............................................................................................233

Defending a Counterplan...............................................................................................236

Tab 9: Kritiks.............................................................................................................................. 238

Intro to Kritiks................................................................................................................243

Intro to Capitalism.........................................................................................................246

Parts of a Kritik...............................................................................................................253

Answering a Kritik..........................................................................................................257

Defending a Kritik...........................................................................................................261

Tab 10: Topicality.......................................................................................................................264

Intro to Topicality - What is Topicality?........................................................................267

Intro to Topicality - Why is Topicality Important?.........................................................269

Parts of a Topicality Argument.......................................................................................271

Answering Topicality......................................................................................................277

Defending Topicality......................................................................................................286

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Curriculum Goals and Purpose

The purpose of this curriculum is to provide you with resources and activities that will make large practices dynamic and simple to plan. It was designed based on feedback from Boston’s coaches who posed three big questions to us:

1. What do we do when 50 or more students show up to our practice? How do we meaningfully engage all of them for the entire practice?

2. If our debaters join the team because they like to argue, how can we create a practice where all students spend a large portion of their time engaging in argument? Even if I create the most student centered practice where the coach talks just 20% of the time and the students collectively talk 80% of the time, does that mean anything to an individual student who only gets into engage in an argument themselves for a few minutes, having to wait while everyone else has a turn? How can I create lessons where all students spend a substantial amount of time engaging in argument while learning debate content and skills.

3. It is easy to make fun practices and it is easy to make practices where students learn content and skills that will help them do better at the next tournament (the two key elements any practice needs to have), but how do we do both at the same time.

We know that as debate teams get larger, traditional debate activities become nearly impossible to lead. They tend to rely on small groups of students debating or speaking while others are forced to watch, or they are very teacher centered with a teacher or coach in front of the classroom as students share answers. The lessons in this curriculum are designed to overcome those problems. They are based on the Boston Debate League’s Evidence Based Argument (EBA) Initiative. EBA was designed for classroom teachers to use debate to teach their everyday content to a class of 30 or more students. When applied to after-school debate practices, EBA activities can be a great way to teach large groups of students both the content and skills they need to participate in policy debate.

While following this curriculum, you’ll find that your learning and development as a debate coach will grow, too. The lessons are designed with your dual role as a teacher and a learner in mind. We’ve broken down the toughest debate content into language and examples that will enable you to teach them with confidence—even if you don’t know the debate content going in.

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On the next page, you’ll find a detailed guide to using this text. While reading, keep in mind the philosophy behind these activities: the best practices are student-centered, challenging, and fun!

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How to Use this Text

This curriculum is filled with resources to help you develop and structure your team while leading interesting and engaging practices. The content is organized into three main sections:

Recruitment and RetentionTabs 2 and 3 focus on team recruitment and retention strategies for growing and maintaining large debate teams. They are organized three different ways:

1. By timeframe: We recommend thinking of the year as two seasons. The Fall season is the first three tournaments, where you recruit students before the first tournament and then work on retaining them over the next few months. Then, prior to the 4th tournament, engage in another school-wide recruitment push for the Winter season, or the final three tournaments.

2. Actor: There are handouts for the different actors who can be helpful in your recruitment and retention drives, specifically, the headmaster/principal, coach, debater, and teacher).

3. Sample Resources: Materials such as flyers and sample postcards can also be found in this section. You can use this section to make recruitment and retention plans for the year, and you can use the pre-made flyers and handouts in the resources section to make that process easier! These resources are also available online at the following URL: http://www.bostondebate.org/after-school/resources/for-coaches.

Debate ActivitiesTab 4 will help you prepare for practice. It includes Community Building and Warm Up activities, and it explains the different kinds of activities you’ll see throughout the text. Every practice plan in this curriculum is based on our six core activities. Read through the activities and familiarize yourself with them—understanding the basics will make understanding the curriculum better. More important than that, as you start coaching you’ll probably have practice ideas that go beyond this curriculum, and you can build on these activity templates to put your ideas into action.

LessonsTabs 5 through 10 focus on specific skills and content you’ll want to cover throughout the debate season. They’re organized into subsections by content area; counterplans have their own subsection, as do disadvantages, as do kritiks, et cetera. Each subsection is further divided three ways:

1. At the beginning of each subsection, you’ll find a narrative explaining the basic principles of the content. You can use that narrative to brush up on your own debate

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http://www.bostondebate.org/after-school/resources/for-coaches

knowledge, and you can also use it as a reference handout for your debaters. For example, at the beginning of the Counterplans unit, there are pages explaining what a counterplan is, how to run one, how to answer one, and how to defend one. This information is organized into tables and prose, and is often accompanied by examples.

2. After the narrative, you’ll find an assortment of activity plans—many of these activity plans are followed by corresponding worksheets and handouts. Think of the activity plans as a kind of menu. You can select the ones that are best for your students, and you can plug in any evidence you want to cover that day. We’ve highlighted areas in the lesson plans where you can easily insert new material. For example, let’s say you know you want to cover the Taxes Disadvantage during your next practice. You can flip to the disadvantages section and see which lessons are marked for Junior Varsity debaters and which are marked for Varsity debaters. Choose the lessons and activities that sound the best to you, and then just plug in the Taxes Disadvantage evidence! Later, you can use the same menu of lessons and activities to teach the Federalism Disadvantage by simply changing the prompts and evidence you use.

We hope this text will be an organized, accessible guide for planning your debate year!

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How to Read these Practice Plans

Answering a Counterplan – Table Debate

(The activity titles are organized in the following manner: “content/skill – activity.” For example, this lesson teaches the skill “answering a counterplan” and it does so through a “table debate” activity.)

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Some lessons will require a little prior knowledge. For example, if you’re teaching “Answering a Counterplan,” your debaters will need to know the parts of a counterplan first.

The SWBAT (students will be able to) section tells you what your debaters will be able to do by the end of the lesson. Think of this as the goals section.

Claims Some lessons will use claims, warrants, or prompts. For example, if you’re doing a Four Corners activity, this section might provide 3-5 prompts for that activity.

Activity What standard activity is this, or what is it based off of? The activity section will refer to the page in the EBA-Style Debate Activities section where you can read the activity description and the “teacher moves/student moves” direction for the activity.

Procedure Here you will find a step-by-step procedure for the lesson. Sometimes, phrases like “proceed with a standard table debate activity” will appear. If you are new to running table debates, just refer back to the EBA-Style Debate Activities section for the activity description and “teacher moves/student moves” directions.

Time The estimated time for the activity. The times are flexible and you can adjust them as you see fit by adding/subtracting prompts, shortening/lengthening speech times, etc.

Mentor/Student Leader(s)

These are suggestions for how your mentor/student leader(s) can help you during the lesson. It is important for mentors and student leaders to be involved in the practice, and they can be a great help to you as you’re coaching!

Materials The materials section refers to any handouts, worksheets, or other materials you will need to use during the lesson.

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Part 1: Recruitment

In this Section:Engaging the Entire School.........................................................11

Selling School Stakeholders on the Importance of Debate ..............12

Recruitment Pushes and Drives...................................................13

Recruitment Schedule................................................................14

Best Practices of Headmasters....................................................27

Best Practices of Coaches...........................................................28

Best Practices of Students..........................................................29

Best Practices of Teachers..........................................................30

Recruitment Materials................................................................31

Letter to Teachers and Administrators................................32

Judging Request for Faculty..............................................33

Tournament Sign-Up Sheets.............................................34

Tournament Reminders....................................................38

Flyers and Pamphlets.......................................................39

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Engaging the Entire SchoolThe Boston Debate League hopes to support BPS schools as they use debate to transform school culture. Headmasters and teachers have told us how debate has helped teachers achieve their academic goals, so we’ve designed some strategies to aid them in spreading debate into every classroom within their schools. Though this certainly sounds ambitious, several Boston schools have already begun to see positive changes occur. When a significant percentage of a school’s student body is on the debate team, classrooms begin to shift. More students are used to reading advanced, college-level text and pulling out quotations to back up arguments. They are trained to take notes on what their classmates say and present their ideas in an organized fashion. Perhaps most importantly, they are used to focused conversations that last up to two hours. When several of these students are in class together, the effect on learning, even for students not on the team, is profound.

For example, at one of our schools, 35 out of 250 students debate—that means that debaters represent an entire 10% of the school. When you walk into the building, debate is immediately visible; there are debate posters, bulletin boards, and notes of congratulations all over the walls. Along with basketball, debate is considered one of the two coolest activities to do in the school—and the focus on debate has really become part of the academic culture there.

Just like any school-wide initiative, developing support for debate among all stakeholders in the building is essential. Of course, such efforts can take time—first year teams rarely find across-the-board involvement in the team, and even fairly well-established squads are sometimes seen as niche activities. Still, through basic visibility tactics, patience, and administrative support, the debate team can easily become a defining part of the school culture. Plus, the investment is worth it. With the backing of the entire school community, coaches’ jobs become much easier and more students benefit from the program.

This section will discuss strategies for building school-wide support for the debate team. The end of this section has handouts, posters, and other materials that coaches can use to accomplish some of the ideas discussed here. These resources are also available online at the following URL: http://www.bostondebate.org/after-school/resources/for-coaches.

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Selling School Stakeholders on the Importance of DebateSometimes, especially when a team is a relatively new addition to a school, coaches will have to convince administrators and fellow teachers that having a strong debate squad is in their interests. With so many initiatives vying for teachers' limited time, getting their buy-in might take some work. However, when debate teams impact school culture as a whole, both administrators' and teachers' jobs are noticeably easier. Try some of these talking points when discussing debate with colleagues:

Other Teachers: Debate has been shown to increase attendance—your students will be more likely to be

present and engaged in class if they are on the squad. Debate teaches students key academic skills, especially reading, writing, speaking, and

listening. Having debaters in your class thus ups the level of academic rigor in your classroom. Also, debaters can act as resources for struggling classmates.

Your input matters—according to surveys of debaters in Boston, a teacher recommendation is one of the top two reasons that students join the team

Debate is for everyone—the tournaments are organized so that students compete against students of similar ability levels, meaning everyone has a chance for success. Students with IEPs or English language learners stand to benefit substantially from participation in debate.

Debate can make teaching easier; it will help you achieve your classroom objectives, and it will enable you to enjoy teaching more.

Administrators: Large debate squads are associated with improvements in standardized test scores,

graduation rates, and student attendance. The more students on the team, the more debate will impact the school.

Debate squads offer all of the benefits of teamwork and community that sports team include, but are open to students of all ability and age level.

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Recruitment Pushes and Drives

One of the main goals of the Boston Debate League is to support Boston Public Schools as they build large debate teams and make the benefits of debate available to as many students as possible. So, recruiting students is a major responsibility of coaches, especially at the start of the season. This section will discuss strategies for getting students through the door and into practice. The retention section that follows includes strategies for running effective first practice and generally maintaining a sense of community within the team.

Recruitment Pushes:

Focus recruitment efforts on two major pushes to make the process more effective and manageable.

Have a recruitment drive at the start of the season (in September) and again right after the Christmas break, roughly halfway through the competition calendar. Some coaches call this the “Winter Debate Season.”

Planning a Recruitment Drive:

The menu of recruiting ideas below is fairly extensive, and coaches should not feel pressure to do all of the recruitment activities.

A targeted, well-executed recruitment drive with a few key initiatives is likely to work far better than doing everything mediocrely.

When planning a recruitment drive, make sure to assign responsibilities and deadlines for completing specific tasks to coaches and student leaders. Choose the tactics that are most likely to work in your specific building and with your population of students.

Current debaters can be great resources for identifying what appeals will be most persuasive for the general student population.

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Recruitment ScheduleBefore School Starts

Coaches Set up a debate table at open houses and incoming freshman nights so parents are

made aware of the team Send out a letter to incoming freshmen advertising the debate team Discuss the debate squad with colleagues at start-of-year meetings Create a bulletin board with pictures of the team, highlights of awards won in the past,

and an invitation to attend the first practice of the season Coordinate with co-coaches to figure out who will be responsible for the different

aspects of recruitment—start the school year with a concrete plan of action for each coach

Hang up posters/fliers around the school announcing practice times & inviting newcomers

o Emphasize that there will be food at the first practiceo Consider having an informational first meeting before the first practice in

earnest. This informational session can be fairly quick and oriented around debate games and/or a movie.

Send message to headmaster laying out hopes for administrative involvement in the team

Send message to faculty laying out hopes for whole-school involvement in the team

Faculty

Action Coach GuidanceLearn to use debate and other argumentation activities in teaching practice

-Encourage teachers to sign up for EBA classes/trainings (this should happen the spring before the coming debate season)

Administration

Action Coach GuidanceInclude mention of debate team in promotional materials about the school (for parents' night, incoming freshman mailings, etc.)

-Remind administrators to include debate in promotional materials-Write the language and provide a few pictures to add to brochures/flyers

Encourage faculty members to take EBA classes

-Follow up with administrators to ensure details and dates of EBA classes are clear (this should happen the spring before the coming debate season)

Make debate a formal part of the school day -Ask if there is time in the school day/year to

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(such as a dedicated debate elective) make this a realityAsk teachers to be active recruiters for the debate squad

-Ask administration to make this request of its teachers at the start of the year

Permit students in detention or who have been frequently tardy and/or absent to make attend debate practice in lieu of punishment

-Make this request of headmaster—in some schools it’s not a problem, in others it’s a non-starter

Students

Action Coach GuidanceAppear at open houses and incoming freshman events to answer questions about the debate team;

-Reach out to team captains and/or other reliable team members to appear-Coach students on how to make their appeal effective (emphasize family, fun, challenge of debate, not evidence packets and early Saturday mornings)

Attend debate camp Remind students who have signed up for camp to attend via phone call

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First Week of School

This is your first week back in the building. The general goal is to start building awareness of the team for a first practice that’s two weeks away.

Coaches

Wear debate t-shirts, sweatshirts, debate medals, etc. around school Recruit students in your classes Send out message to the faculty (or present at school-wide meeting) about the debate

team asking for recruitment help

Faculty

Action Coach GuidanceHang up fliers in classrooms announcing first debate practice

Give teachers the necessary fliers and remind them to hang them up

Students

Action Coach GuidanceDevelop plan for recruiting new students to the team in conjunction with coaches

Set up meeting for returning debaters to plan their involvement in recruitment

Help coaches hang up fliers around the school Give students copies of fliers and designate area in the school that they’re responsible for

Appear at freshman orientation events and talk up the team

Organize group of students to speak to freshmen

Talk up the debate squad to friends and acquaintances

Remind students that word of mouth is the best way to build a team

Wear debate t-shirts, sweatshirts, debate medals, etc. around school

Remind students to do this; perhaps organize team t-shirts

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Second Week of School

This is the week before the first practice of the year (which happens early in week 3).

Coaches Talk to students you know personally—this is probably the single-best way to attract

students to the teamo Pass out an invitation to join the team to a select number of students (some

coaches favor giving out invitations in small bunches to create a sense of scarcity)

o Provide extra credit to students in your class who join the team Hang up posters/fliers around the school announcing practice times & inviting

newcomerso Emphasize that there will be food at the first practiceo Consider having an informational first meeting before the first practice in


Make reminder announcements on the PA system before the first practice(s)

Faculty

Action Coach GuidancePass out first practice invitations to students in your class who you think would be good at debate

-Provide copies of invitations and remind teachers why debate is beneficial for all students-Ask teachers to especially target 9th and 10th graders

Allow current debaters to pitch the debate team during class time

Ask teachers ahead of time to permit debaters to do this (send brief reminder email)

Offer extra credit for attending debate tournaments and/or practices

-Ask teachers to make this option available to students, even in very modest amounts-Don’t push too hard—not all teachers are comfortable with this approach

Complement students who have success on team

-Make sure teachers are generally aware of who is on the team

Administration

Action Coach GuidanceAsk faculty members to allow current debaters to pitch the debate team during class time

Remind administration of this request

Make occasional school-wide announcements -Send reminder email with a sample message

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about the upcoming debate that can be usedPersonally recruit students to join the team, signaling top-level support for the team to the student body

-Encourage administrators to do this recruitment-Highlight those students who were recruited by headmaster

Students

Action Coach GuidanceMake announcements in classes about upcoming debate practices (especially during key recruitment drives) with the teachers’ permission

-Let teachers know ahead of time that students will be asking to do this-Help students practice the pitch they will make (perhaps by holding a quick returning debaters meeting before the first practice)

Talk about debate regularly to your friends and acquaintances and emphasize all the benefits of being on the team (meet people from around the city, good food, better shot at college, school becomes easier, etc.)

-Remind debaters to be representatives of the team at all times-Keep track of who brings in the most friends and perhaps offer some sort of reward

Walk around the lunch room and talk to other students about the team

-Remind students to do this-Help them practice their pitches ahead of time

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Pre-Tournament 1

These practices are intended to get students ready for the first tournament. Though they will need to build off one another, expect newcomers to continue joining. (The curriculum section of the binder describes how to handle teams with different experience levels.) Recruitment should still be a major priority during this time.

Coaches

Make phone calls home to students who have joined the team and let the parents know how happy you are that the student joined the team. (Gather contact information at the first practice.)

Talk up the community aspect of the team regularly. Have practices where students of different skill levels work together. Carve out time in practice to talk about ideas that aren’t necessarily related to debate

(favorite shows, sports teams, etc.)—though it may cut down on learning some debate skills, it’ll go a long way toward keeping the team together.

Have student leaders create and maintain a Facebook page (or potentially another site, though Facebook is probably easiest and most useful) that everyone on the team can access

o Post announcements for upcoming events and results from past tournamentso Make sure to invite all newcomers to the group as soon as possibleo Feel free to keep things somewhat lightheartedo The site can also be used to share articles about the topic and plan out-of-school

practices First Practices : The first practices (or debate information sessions) are a make-or-break

time for building a successful squad. Below are some ideas for running effective first practices, but bear in mind that the curriculum portion of this binder will give specific tips for slowly introducing new novices to the complexity of debate.

o Provide food at the first few practices. This is a major selling point for new debaters and will keep kids coming back who might not be fully committed to debate yet.

o Keep the practice light—don’t spend too much time on the intricacies in debate or the evidence packet. When selling the debate program, highlight the fun parts (ideally hearing from current debaters) and emphasize that becoming a good debater takes a little time but is possible for anyone.

o Students join the debate team because they want to argue. Make sure there’s ample time for student voice at your first practices.

Student Mentoring: Talk to returning students about having a mentoring program. This can involve formally assigning new debaters to particular returning debaters (and having these pairs work together at practice) or simply building an ethic of talking to and helping younger debaters on a regular basis.

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Appoint team captains to lead parts of practice—they will hopefully be able to understand and respond to the needs of other debaters in ways that coaches may not.

Send students to the LEAP (student leadership) program—they’ll learn strategies for mentoring newer debaters and maintaining community on their teams.

Hang up sign-up sheets for the upcoming tournament and encourage students to sign up in advance

Faculty



Acknowledge students whose skills might lead to success on the debate team (or whose areas for skill development would be targeted by debate)

-Make sure teachers can recognize the behaviors of a good debater (it’s probably most helpful to point out these qualities in students who aren’t classic debate types—e.g. quiet or shy students; students who don’t have perfect language skills, etc.)

Administration

Action Coach GuidancePublicly acknowledge those teachers who make the effort

-Let administration know who the standout teacher recruiters have been (and obviously avoid singling out teachers who have been less successful)

Attend the first team meeting and speak briefly about why debate is so important

-Invite headmaster to speak at first team meeting—make sure this is clearly scheduled in advance

Regularly discuss debate team achievements at faculty meetings and in student announcements

-Keep administration informed of debate team successes

Students

Action Coach GuidanceGather contact information of students who come to the first practice or information session and follow up in person, on Facebook,

-Carve out time in practice to gather this information-Assign small groups of new debaters to each

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or via phone returning debaterTalk about debate regularly to your friends and acquaintances and emphasize all the benefits of being on the team (meet people from around the city, good food, better shot at college, school becomes easier, etc.)





-Remind students to do this (to build excitement for the tournament)

Inform teachers of upcoming debate events -Remind students to do this (it will likely impress their teachers, which is never a bad thing)

Create and maintain a Facebook page (or potentially another site, though Facebook is probably easiest and most useful) that everyone on the team can access

Give students ideas for how to use the site: Post announcements for upcoming events and results from past tournaments; Make sure to invite all newcomers to the group as soon as possible; Feel free to keep things somewhat lighthearted; The site can also be used to share articles about the topic and plan out-of-school practices

Fulfill your mentoring responsibilities with first-time debater

-Regularly check in with returning debaters to make sure they’re working with newcomers

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Pre-Tournament 4 (Winter Recruitment Drive)

Coaches

Have outings (dinners, field trips, etc.) that are reserved for team members but are intended to be fun.

Separate the newcomers from returning debaters at the first practice Follow the same procedures for the first practice listed on the Pre-Tournament 1 page Carve out time in practice to talk about ideas that aren’t necessarily related to debate

(favorite shows, sports teams, etc.)—though it may cut down on learning some debate skills, it’ll go a long way toward keeping the team together.

Assign student mentors to the new crop of debaters

Faculty



Acknowledge students whose skills might lead to success on the debate team (or whose areas for skill development would be targeted by debate)

-Make sure teachers can recognize the behaviors of a good debater (it’s probably most helpful to point out these qualities in students who aren’t classic debate types—e.g. quiet or shy students; students who don’t have perfect language skills, etc.)

Administration

Action Coach GuidancePublicly acknowledge those teachers who make the effort

-Let administration know who the standout teacher recruiters have been (and obviously avoid singling out teachers who have been less successful)

Attend the first team meeting and speak briefly about why debate is so important

-Invite headmaster to speak at first team meeting—make sure this is clearly scheduled in advance

Regularly discuss debate team achievements at faculty meetings and in student announcements

-Keep administration informed of debate team successes

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Students

Action Coach GuidanceGather contact information of students who come to the first practice or information session and follow up in person, on Facebook, or via phone

-Carve out time in practice to gather this information-Assign small groups of new debaters to each returning debater

Talk about debate regularly to your friends and acquaintances and emphasize all the benefits of being on the team (meet people from around the city, good food, better shot at college, school becomes easier, etc.)






Fulfill your mentoring responsibilities with first-time debater

-Regularly check in with returning debaters to make sure they’re working with newcomers

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Week before any Tournament

Coach

Talk about how the tournament works (reading the pairings, schedule of events, qualifying for the elimination rounds, etc.) before the event itself

Stress that students will be in divisions where students are of roughly equal skill level. If it’s the first tournament, then it’s everyone’s first tournament and judges will have appropriate expectations.

Gather students together before the school day ends (with administrative approval) and then walk everyone to the T or school bus for the tournament. This makes students feel like they are part of something important, gets them out of class early (a nice perk), and prevents them from wandering off with friends when the school day ends.

Check in with debaters, especially novices, after the debates. Walk them to their rounds, ask them what arguments they did well with, and generally be available for support.

Set expectations appropriately—being on the team isn’t about winning; it’s about working hard and having fun. Acknowledge success on these fronts.

Send reminders about upcoming tournaments to students via their homeroom teachers. Encourage students to make friends with debaters from other schools. These

connections are strong incentives to come to future tournaments.

Faculty

Action Coach GuidanceJudge at a tournament to show support for the team and learn about why debate is so beneficial

-Send around a sign-up sheet/email asking for judging support

Pass out reminder notices to students in class -Give teachers reminders to pass out

Students

Action Coach GuidanceWear debate t-shirts, sweatshirts, debate medals, etc. around school


Inform teachers of upcoming debate events -Remind students to do this (it will likely impress their teachers, which is never a bad thing)

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Week after any Tournament

Coach

Update the debate bulletin board with pictures and results from the past tournament Publicly display trophies won at the tournament Keep the administration and school faculty updated on the results from tournaments

and encourage them to congratulate students. Acknowledge the behaviors you wish to reinforce—complementing someone on

working hard or helping out a teammate can go a long way, especially if that student does not tend to win awards.

Update parents/guardians on how their students are performing on the debate team (both in terms of effort and competitive success)

Faculty

Action Coach GuidanceCongratulate students who attended and succeeded at the most recent tournament

-Let faculty members know about student performance at the tournament via email or flier

Administration

Action Coach GuidanceCongratulate all participants in the recent tournament (and call out individual strong performances) in announcements

-Make sure administration has necessary information to make announcement and is reminded to do so

25

Best Practices of Headmasters, Coaches, Students, and TeachersThere are numerous strategies for building general awareness about the debate team, all with the goal of branding the debate team as a welcoming but rigorous after-school activity. The approaches are broken down by the people who should perform them. Actions taken by Headmasters or other teachers in the building can be very effective, but may require substantial follow-up on the part of coaches or debaters. Still, the ideas listed here are relatively painless, and school stakeholders who are convinced of the importance of debate should be very willing to help out.

Over the next four pages, you will find the Best Recruitment Practices of four key actors: headmasters, coaches, students, and teachers. When examining the schools with the largest debate teams, we have found that headmasters at those schools have generally been involved in doing the following activities, which include personally nominating students to debate, getting non-coaching teachers to promote the team, and publicly congratulating the team on their successes. As you read, think about how you can approach and engage these groups in your own recruitment efforts.

26

Best Practices of Headmasters

We know headmasters and other school administrators are busy people, but you can substantially help recruitment with just a few simple steps. Most importantly, you can set an example from above that the debate squad is a highly valued aspect of the school.

Here are the top three strategies and tactics administrators at our schools have used and have found to be successful. You can use to encourage the growth of large debate teams in your schools:

1. Regularly discuss debate team achievements at faculty meetings and in school-wide announcements

2. Include mentions the of debate team in promotional materials about the school (for parents' night, incoming freshman mailings, etc.)

3. Ask teachers to be active recruiters for the debate squad and publicly acknowledge those teachers who make the effort

Other strategies and tactics that have worked are:

Personally recruit students Attend the first team meeting and speak briefly about why debate is so important Make debate a formal part of the school day Encourage teachers to give extra credit for participation on the debate team

27

Best Practices of Coaches

Beyond trying to build the brand of the debate team within the school (discussed in the previous section), coaches should also work to directly speak to students and invite them to the team.

Here are the top three strategies and tactics coaches at our schools have used and have found to be successful. You can use to encourage the growth of large debate teams in your schools:

1. Talk to students you know personally—this is the single-best way to attract students to the team

Pass out an invitation to join the team (attached) to a select number of students Provide extra credit to students in your class who join the team

2. Hang up fliers/posters (attached) advertising the team generally and the first practice specifically

Emphasize that there will be food at the first practice Consider having an informational first meeting before the first practice in


3. Announce the winners of awards at recent tournaments on the loudspeaker and at assemblies, and make sure other teachers know the team is doing as well


Maintain a bulletin board with results from recent tournaments and pictures of student competitors

Display trophies in a prominent area of the school Remind teachers and students about upcoming tournaments, especially if they want to

judge or cheer their classmates on Set up a debate table at open houses and incoming freshman nights so parents are

made aware of the team Regularly discuss the debate squad with colleagues and encourage them to support the

team and recommend students who should join Make reminder announcements on the PA system before the first practice(s) Make phone calls home to students who have joined the team and let the parents know

how happy you are that the student joined the team. (Gather contact information at the first practice.)

Appear at freshman orientation events and talk up the team (ideally with current members)

28

Best Practices of Students

Returning debaters are great recruiting resources. Having a meeting prior to the recruitment drive will allow everyone to strategize together and build buy-in for recruitment goals.

Here are the top three strategies and tactics students at our schools have used and have found to be successful. You can use to encourage the growth of large debate teams in your schools:

1. Wear debate t-shirts, sweatshirts, debate medals, etc. around school2. Make announcements in your classes about upcoming debate practices (especially

during key recruitment drives) with your teachers’ permission Practice the pitch ahead of time, ideally with the entire set of returning debaters,

to ensure that everyone is using the same talking points and that the more intimidating parts of debate (like the big evidence packet) aren’t major components of the initial pitch

Talk to your teachers about how they can help recruit students to the team. They might identify some students who would be good debaters, take those students aside, and recommend that they join debate

3. Appear at open houses and incoming freshman events to answer questions about the debate team


Inform your teachers of upcoming debate events Gather contact information of students who come to the first practice or information

session and follow up in person, on Facebook, or via phone Talk about debate regularly to your friends and acquaintances and emphasize all the

benefits of being on the team (meet people from around the city, good food, better shot at college, school becomes easier, etc.)


29

Best Practices of Teachers

Other (non-coaching) teachers are invaluable resources in building a team. Your connections to your students are key to recruiting new debaters to the team and supporting those who are already on it.

Here are the top three strategies and tactics teachers at our schools have used and have found to be successful. You can use to encourage the growth of large debate teams in your schools:

1. Pass out first practice invitations to students in your class who you think would be good at debate

Get these invitations from a debate coach Especially target 9th and 10th graders

2. Allow current debaters to pitch the debate team during class time3. In front of the class, compliment students who have success on team


Hang up posters/fliers for the debate team in your classroom Offer extra credit for attending debate tournaments and/or practices Use debates and other argumentation activities in teaching practice

o Attend EBA classes to learn how to do this—ask the debate coaches for more information if you haven’t had EBA training

Judge at a tournament to show support for the team and learn about why debate is so beneficial

30

Recruitment MaterialsCustomizable electronic copies of these files can be found on our website by typing in the following URL: http://www.bostondebate.org/after-school/resources/for-coaches. Please peruse this section to get familiar with the different kinds of recruitment materials you will use throughout the year. Then log onto the web to customize and print your own!

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Letter to Teachers and Administrators

Debate at _______ High School

Welcome to the start of the school year! While our students are fortunate to have a broad menu of extracurricular activities to choose from, we’d like to take this opportunity to highlight the debate squad. Students and coaches alike have spent considerable time this summer preparing for the upcoming debate season, and we’re asking for the support of the entire school to make the team the best it can be.

The most important message we can share is that debate is for everyone. Our team has honors students and debaters who are just scraping by. English language learners team up with athletes, special education students with computer whizzes. Of course, many students who thrive in debate wouldn’t have guessed they’d be good at it ahead of time. This is where you come in: one of the biggest contributors to students joining debate teams is the recommendation of another teacher. By encouraging students to take a risk and try out debate, you can transform a student’s high school experience and strengthen the debate team as a whole.

Of course, we don’t believe in debate just for the trophies. Debate has the power to boost student achievement and ultimately the academic character of the whole school. According to a study of the Chicago Urban Debate League, debaters are 42% more likely to graduate from high school than similarly achieving non-debaters. For African-American males, this number jumps to 70%! Unsurprisingly, debate also makes students more likely to attend school—being able to compete at an upcoming tournament is often the extra incentive students need. Of course, grades and standardized test scores also improve when students attend class and engage in rigorous academic practice after school and on the weekends.

These changes aren’t just abstract ideas either—you’ll see them first-hand in your classroom. Debate teaches students key academic skills, especially reading, writing, speaking, and listening. So, having a class full of debaters can seriously alter the level of academic rigor. Debate also teaches the importance of teamwork and community—an individual is only as good as the rest of her team. This makes debaters ideal resources for helping struggling students and can change the tenor of group work. In short, debate reinforces the vital academic and social skills you teach every day in your classroom.

We’ll have two major recruitment pushes this year: one for the first six weeks of the school year and another in late December/early January. We’d appreciate you talking up the program throughout the year, but especially during these times. With your help, ________ High School will take Boston by storm this year!

Sincerely, _______ High School Debate Coaches

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Judging Request for Faculty

Dear Westie Teachers,

We're writing with a quick request that you consider helping out the Westie debate team this weekend. Our tournament desperately needs judges, since college finals and the holiday season have substantially decreased community turnout. The team is thriving this year and our debaters would be thrilled to see you there supporting them.

Westie will be debating at English HS all weekend. Judging shifts include meals and training, last for four hours, and start at 4pm on Friday, 8am on Saturday and 12pm on Saturday. We hope you can make it!

Plus, if enough teachers come out to judge, the team wins money to spend on supplies. Can you help us out? If you can, please sign up by visiting bostondebate.org/signup and completing the form there.

Thanks,Westie Coaches

33

Tournament One: Sign Up SheetOctober 19th-20th

VarsityPartner One Partner Two

JVPartner One Partner Two

34

*When you sign up, you are committing to go to the tournament. It is very important that you attend once you have signed up.

35

Tournament One: Sign Up SheetOctober 19th-20th

NovicePartner One Partner Two

36

*When you sign up, you are committing to go to the tournament. It is very important that you attend once you have signed up.

37

At English High School!

The team will be meeting:

Time:

Have a question? Contact:

At English High School!

The team will be meeting:

Time:

Have a question? Contact:

38

You Can Speak Like Me

FIND YOUR VOICE

DEBATECOME TO OUR FIRST PRACTICE ON AT IN ROOM

39

You can Speak Like Me

FIND YOUR VOICE


40

You can Speak Like Me

FIND YOUR VOICE41


42

Colleges Will Recruit You

“Debate is the reason I got a college scholarship.” – BPS Student

FIND YOUR VOICEDEBATE

COME TO OUR FIRST PRACTICE ON AT IN ROOM

43


“All of our graduating debaters got college scholarships.” – BPS Debate Coach



44


“Debate is the reason I’m going to college.”– BPS Student



45


“We have a hundred colleges and universities recruiting out of Urban Debate League populations because these students have the academic

skills to succeed in college.” – College Debate Coach



46

What is Power?

In 2008, Barack Obama shocked the world. Through a series of speeches, refined rhetoric, and eloquence rarely heard, he became president Obama. He realized that power is VOICE.

be the next one.Find your voice.


47

What is Passion?

Oprah Winfrey never wanted to be famous, or beloved, or rich. As a child in Mississippi, she simply wanted to be heard. She had passion. She conveyed it with her VOICE.



48

What is courage?

In 1960, being Irish wasn’t cool and it certainly wasn’t Presidential. In fact, Irish Americans endured discrimination every bit as harsh as any other group. One Massachusetts Man changed that. His name was JFK. He realized that courage is VOICE.



49

What is a hustler?

Call him Sean, Jay, Hov, or Jigga. Debate his music, fame, label, or swag. Hate him. Love him. Whatever. Just know 2 things – 1) he was born in an alley, under a bridge, where most people dare to go. 2) he’s an orator. Hustling is VOICE.



50

What is purpose?

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayer changed US history. After being raised poor in a New York slum, she became Justice Sotomayer – our first Hispanic-American Supreme Court Justice. She realized that purpose is VOICE.



51

Sí, Se Puede!

La vida de un agricultor nunca ha sido fácil, pero era mucho más difícil antes de que César Chávez. Creó sindicatos para los trabajadores. Él luchó por sus derechos y ayudó a establecer salarios dignos en la industria. He did it with his VOICE.



52

What is leadership?

You know the story – poor black boy, born to an unforgiving world. couldn’t stomach the prejudice; wouldn’t stand for inequality. He had a dream. But first, he had a following. MLK realized that leadership is VOICE.



53

School is Easy Now

“Debate has given me the ability to analyze and interpret things more completely…Now I get straight A’s.” – BPS Student



54

School is Easy Now

“Before debate I felt like I tried in school but wasn’t being rewarded…Every time I tried to climb up the mountain I would fall deeper into a

hole.” – BPS Student



55

School is Easy Now

“Debate helps me process information – not just take what my teachers or books tell me – but take that information, think about it, and add my

own thoughts.” – BPS Student



56

School is Easy Now

“I know I can compete with other really smart people.” – BPS Student



57

Colleges Will Recruit You!!“Debate is the reason I got a college

scholarship.” – BPS Student

“We have a hundred colleges and universities recruiting out of Urban Debate League

populations because these students have the academic skills to succeed in college.” –

College Debate Coach

“All of our graduating debaters got college scholarships.” – BPS Debate Coach

Speak Like Us!

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-Martin Luther King Jr.

“I’ve told how debating was a weekly event there, at the Norfolk prison colony. My reading had my mind like steam under pressure… ONCE MY FEET

GOT WET, I WAS GONE ON DEBATING.”-Malcolm X

USA Debate

“Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join…

THE DEBATE TEAM”

-Barack Obama, 2009

Come to our first practice in __________

on ______, at _______!!

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We will have FOOD!!! What is Leadership?

You know the story – poor black boy, born to an unforgiving world. Couldn’t stomach the prejudice; wouldn’t stand

for inequality. He had a dream. But first, he had a following. MLK realized that

leadership is VOICE.Sí, Se Puede!

La vida de un agricultor nunca ha sido fácil, pero era mucho más difícil antes de que César Chávez. Creó sindicatos para los trabajadores. Él luchó por sus derechos y ayudó a establecer salarios dignos en la industria. He did it with his VOICE.

What is Purpose?

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayer changed US history. After being raised poor in a New York slum, she became Justice Sotomayer – our first Hispanic American Supreme Court Justice. She realized that purpose is VOICE.

What is Passion?

Oprah Winfrey never wanted to be famous, or beloved, or rich. As a child in Mississippi, she simply wanted to be heard. She had passion. She conveyed it with her VOICE.

59

What is Courage?

In 1960, being Irish wasn’t cool and it certainly wasn’t Presidential. In fact, Irish Americans endured discrimination every bit as harsh as any other group. One Massachusetts Man changed that. His name was JFK. He realized that courage is VOICE.

What is a Hustler?

Call him Sean, Jay, Hov, or Jigga. Debate his music, fame, label, or swag. Hate him. Love him. Whatever. Just know 2 things – 1) he was born in an alley, under a bridge, where most people dare to go. 2) he’s an orator. Hustling is VOICE.

60

Part 2: Retention

In this Section:Community Building...................................................................62

Practices and Tournaments.........................................................63

Student Leaders........................................................................65

61

Community Building

The key to building a strong, consistent debate team is thinking ahead about how to keep students interested in and excited about debate. Of course, not all students who attend the first debate practice will come back. However, coaches can take concrete steps to ensure students initially feel welcome and part of the debate team community. Getting students to even consider joining the team is probably the hardest part of recruitment, so coaches and current debaters should do everything they can to keep the new students who walk in the door.

Retaining students is a year-long process. In part, it depends on generally maintaining the brand of the debate team within the school building. Still, there are several particular areas to think about when working to retain students.

A large chunk of debaters in Boston think of their debate team as a family. Though this sentiment arises organically through long hours of practice and competition, coaches can still take active sense to foster a family vibe.

Talk up the community aspect of the team regularly. Have practices where students of different skill levels work together. Carve out time in practice to talk about ideas that aren’t necessarily related to debate—

though it may cut down on learning some debate skills, it’ll go a long way toward keeping the team together.

Have outings (dinners, field trips, etc.) that are reserved for team members but are intended to be fun.

Have student leaders create and maintain a Facebook page (or potentially another site, though Facebook is probably easiest and most useful) that everyone on the team can access

o Post announcements for upcoming events and results from past tournamentso Make sure to invite all newcomers to the group as soon as possibleo Feel free to keep things somewhat lightheartedo The site can also be used to share articles about the topic and plan out-of-school

practices

You can find a list of community building activities on page 69.

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Practices and Tournaments

First Practices: The first practices (or debate information sessions) are a make-or-break time for building a successful squad. Below are some ideas for running effective first practices, but bear in mind that the curriculum portion of this binder will give specific tips for slowly introducing new novices to the complexity of debate.

Provide food at the first few practices. This is a major selling point for new debaters and will keep kids coming back who might not be fully committed to debate yet.

Keep the practice light—don’t spend too much time on the intricacies in debate or the evidence packet. Instead, discuss the fun parts (ideally hearing from current debaters) and emphasize that becoming a good debater takes a little time but is possible for anyone.

For the winter recruitment drive, hold a separate practice for newcomers and follow the same guidelines.

Tournaments: Tournaments can be an especially scary time for new debaters, and more than a few teams have experienced mass desertion before the first competition of the season. These steps will help students feel comfortable before and during tournaments.

Talk about how the tournament works (reading the pairings, schedule of events, qualifying for the elimination rounds, etc.) before the event itself

Stress that students will be in divisions where students are of roughly equal skill level. If it’s the first tournament, then it’s everyone’s first tournament and judges will have appropriate expectations.

Gather students together before the school day ends (with administrative approval) and then walk everyone to the T or school bus for the tournament. This makes students feel like they are part of something important, gets them out of class early (a nice perk), and prevents them from wandering off with friends when the school day ends.

Check in with debaters, especially novices, after the debates. Walk them to their rounds, ask them what arguments they did well with, and generally be available for support.

Set expectations appropriately—being on the team isn’t about winning; it’s about working hard and having fun. Acknowledge success on these fronts.

Send reminders about upcoming tournaments to students via their homeroom teachers. Encourage students to make friends with debaters from other schools. These

connections are strong incentives to come to future tournaments.

Acknowledge Effort & Success: Publicly acknowledging students for their hard work and competitive success can help keep students on the team (and even draw new ones in).

Keep the administration and school faculty updated on the results from tournaments and encourage them to congratulate students.

63

Acknowledge the behaviors you wish to reinforce—complementing someone on working hard or helping out a teammate can go a long way, especially if that student does not tend to win awards.

Identify a spot in the school for posting results from the tournaments and keep them updated.

Have year-end awards within the team. Acknowledge the upperclassmen who have worked hard and had success, but also give awards for emerging all-stars and workhorses on the team.

Update parents/guardians on how their students are performing on the debate team (both in terms of effort and competitive success)

64

Student Leaders

Relationships between debaters are the glue that holds the team together. These relationships will happen organically, but coaches can help jumpstart them at the beginning of the year. The more a student feels connected to a broader community, the more he is likely to continue returning to the team.

Talk to returning students about having a mentoring program. This can involve formally assigning new debaters to particular returning debaters (and having these pairs work together at practice) or simply building an ethic of talking to and helping younger debaters on a regular basis.

Encourage students to attend the BDL summer camp—they’ll build connections with students from other teams (which are helpful in retention) and have a jump-start on the year’s topic.

Send students to the LEAP (student leadership) program—they’ll learn strategies for mentoring newer debaters and maintaining community on their teams.

Appoint team captains to lead parts of practice—they will hopefully be able to understand and respond to the needs of other debaters in ways that coaches may not.

65

Part 3: Debate Practice Activities

In this Section:Philosophy of a Good Debate Practice...........................................67

Community Building Activities.....................................................69

Warm Up Activities....................................................................83

EBA-Style Debate Activities.........................................................96

66

Philosophy of a Good Debate Practice

A good debate practice is built on a number of key principles. These principles can be incorporated through all kinds of activities, practice formats, and teaching styles—there’s definitely not one right way to lead a practice! However, all of the best practices aim to include the following things:

Student participation. Every debater should speak for at least 25% of each practice. An observer should be able to walk into any debate class, zoom in on a random student, and observe them speaking for a substantial amount of time. Students join debate because they like to argue, and they won’t stay with it or go to practice if most of the time they are just answering questions posed by the teachers, maybe getting called on every 15 minutes or so. While mini-lectures and guided discussions are often a necessary component of an effective and efficient lesson, it is very possible for students to learn that same information without a teacher in front of the room.

Student-centered learning . Student-centered learning is the single most important component of a good debate practice. Debate activities should always place students in the driver’s seat of their own learning; it is one of the things that makes debate so different from school. Students get to decide what they are going to learn and argue. The curriculum is determined by them, not the coach.

Peer engagement . Students should spend more time engaging each other than being engaged by the coach. Argumentation forces students to develop the habit of tackling what is initially difficult. When students engage peer ideas they internalize strategies needed for multifaceted thinking. In debate, students’ competitive nature forces them to think fully about complex topics or texts in order to win, requiring them to balance potentially contradictory ideas.

Making arguments. Students should be regularly asked to make and defend controversial claims. Giving students the opportunity to advocate for something engages them in the content while building genuine excitement about debate. Prioritizing student voice in the practice, especially in the form of regular oral argumentation, is vital for creating an environment where students own their education and begin to think of themselves as intellectuals.

Using text as evidence . When making arguments, students should cite supporting evidence to bolster their interpretation of a text. To use texts effectively, students must first read them closely to determine their key points. They then draw connections to the argument they are trying to build, identifying key quotations from the text that will be most useful. Finally, they clearly explain the reasons they chose particular quotations to demonstrate their relevance to the overall argument.

67

Community Building ActivitiesCommunity Building Activities are fun ice-breaker/getting-to-know-you exercises to do with your team. It is important that the debaters feel like their team is a community. While they will get to know each other as debaters, they should also get to know each other’s personalities, likes, dislikes, etc.

Do Community Building Activities regularly throughout the debate season to build team spirit. These are a great way for the team to get to know debaters in other divisions, and an even greater way to get them hooked on debate!

69

Two Truths and a Lie

SWBAT Learn facts about their peers.

Prompts N/A

Procedure Ask each person in the group to think of and write down two facts about themselves, and one lie.

Each person in the group takes a turn telling the group their three items.

The group then has to agree on which fact they think is a lie. Once the group announces their decision, the speaker tells the group the correct answer. The group then can talk about any of the interesting things they just learned about the new person.

Time 5-7 minutes


N/A

Materials Scrap paper

70

My name is and I like to…

SWBAT Learn the names of and facts about their peers.

Prompts N/A

Procedure Break up your practice into groups of 8. Have each group stand in a circle.

The first person says, "My name is ______and I like to ______ (insert hobby and act out a motion from that hobby.)

The next person says “My name is ______and I like to _______” and then repeats the first students name and hobby and acts out a motion from that hobby.

Everyone else in the circle will repeats the process, adding on one additional person’s name and hobby each time.

This continues until the last person goes, at which time the entire group will repeat the process once more. For the second round, everyone will start with themselves and then continue clockwise around the room until everyone’s name, hobby, and action is repeated. Once each person does this, the activity will end.

Time 15-20 minutes


Have a mentor/ student leader monitor each group of 8.

Materials N/A

71

Silent Interviews

SWBAT Learn names of and facts about their peers.

Prompts N/A

Procedure Divide the team into groups of 8-10.

In these groups, have everyone pair-up with someone that the do not know well.

Ask the participants to introduce themselves to their partner.

Instruct the group that from this point forward, speaking is not allowed. This includes whispering, mouthing words, and making sounds, too!

Inform the group that they must tell their partner 3 things about themselves without speaking, similar to a charades game. These things cannot be physical characteristics.

Once all of the partners have finished miming to each other, call everyone back to their group; have each group circle-up. Ask for each pair to verbally introduce their partner to their group of 8-10, as well as the three things that they learned (or think they learned).

Time 3-5 minutes


Have a mentor/ student leader monitor each group of 8 to 10.

Materials N/A

72

I Have Never

SWBAT Learn facts about their peers.

Prompts N/A

Procedure Everyone is sitting in a circle of chairs except for the person in the middle.

The person in the middle calls out something they have never done. For Example "I have never been to New York." or "I have never been Sky Diving." The people who are sitting in the chairs who have DONE what this person has NEVER done must get up and switch seats. However, they cannot switch seats with the person sitting directly next to them.

The object is for the person in the middle is to quickly take a seat from those that are switching seats before they become occupied again.

Time 7 minutes


N/A

Materials Chairs

73

Be My Buddy


Prompts For this activity you must find a different person with whom you share a similarity with for each of the following topics:

Favorite subject Book Dessert Movies Transportation Ancient Egypt Debate School Sports Music Games from childhood Time machine The T Hospitals Ice cream Candy Weekends Weekdays

Procedure You must find a different person for each topic. In the buddy column write your buddy’s name. In the similarity column write how you and your buddy are similar in relation to the row’s topic. You can only use a person once.

Time 7 minutes


N/A

Materials Sheet of paper with the topics already written on them.

74

Shared and Unique


Prompts N/A

Procedure Ask participants to form groups of five people with the people around them.

The first half of the activity is the Shared part. Instruct a note taker for each group to create a list of many common traits or qualities that members of the group have in common.

The second half is the Unique part. On a second sheet of paper have them record Unique traits and qualities; that is, items that only apply to one person in the group. Instruct the group to find at least two unique qualities and strengths per person.

Time 10-12 minutes


N/A

Materials Paper and pens

75

Link Up


Prompts N/A

Procedure One person stands and talks about him/herself. When someone in the group has something in common with something they’ve said, they get up and link arms with the person speaking person. Only one person at a time.

They declare the thing that they had in common and then begin talking about him/herself until someone else comes up with something in common with them. The activity continues until all group members are “Linked Up.”

Time 5-10 minutes


N/A

Materials N/A

76

Who am I?

Skills Students will get to know their fellow debate team members.

Prompts Pre-write or have your students write the names of a famous person on the back of an index card so that everyone can have a unique famous person (living or not) assigned to them.

Procedure Pass out index cards with a living or dead famous person on it to every debater.

Tape your famous person to another debater without them seeing the persons name.

Debaters will be asked to identify the names of the famous person taped to their back (e.g. Lil Wayne, Barack Obama) by asking questions of their teammates who cannot tell them explicitly who they are but who can answer their questions in a yes/no format. If the member receives a “yes” answer, they can continue to ask that individual questions until they receive a “no” answer.

Then they must continue on to ask someone else. When a group member figures out who they are, they take off the tag, put it on the front of their shirt, and write their own name on it.

The member then can help other members find out who they are. The exercise concludes when all members have discovered who they are.

Time 10 minutes


N/A

Materials Index Cards Tape

77

All My Friends and Neighbors

Skills Students will get to know their fellow debate team members and lessen their fears of speaking in front of a group.

Prompts Example prompts with underlined sentence starters:

I am calling on all my friends and neighbors that love history.

OR

This is a shout out to all my friends and neighbors that play basketball every week.

Procedure Players take off their shoes and stand in a circle in front of their shoes with one person in the middle who announces "This is a shout out to all my friends and neighbors ...who like ice cream” (finishing with a common trait such as "like action movies" or "like ice cream").

The players who identify with that trait must run to a new spot that is not next to their current spot as the player in the middle tries to find a seat for herself. Whoever does not find a place in the circle becomes the middle person.

Activity repeats as many times as desired.

Time 10-20 minutes.


N/A

Materials N/A

78

Inner Circle, Outer Circle

Skills Students will get to know their fellow debate team members.

Prompts Example prompts:

“What is your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“What is the first question you would ask an alien?”

“Would you travel to the Mars? For how much?”

Procedure Have each student write down a question that they would like another debater to answer.

Collect the questions.

Have half of students stand in a circle facing outwards. Then have a looser outer circle will form with students facing inwards towards their peers.

The teacher will then read off questions, one-at-a-time. After each questions is read and answered, students in the outer circle will rotate clockwise to meet a new teammate, until the questions are all read or until everyone in the outer circle talked to everyone in the inner circle.

Time 15-20 minutes.


N/A

Materials Pre-prepared list of 20 questions if your students do not develop the questions before the activity begins.

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Tall Stories


Prompts N/A

Procedure The leader starts a story with a sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. The next person then has to add to the story with his own sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. Continue the story until everyone has contributed.

Time Until everyone contributes


The student leaders should focus on adding to the story in a way that will help others contribute and not in a way that shuts the game down.

Materials N/A

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Catch Me If You Can


Prompts N/A

Procedure Players should be paired up. All players divide into two lines (facing in) shoulder to shoulder, with partners facing each other.

Participants should be given approximately 30 seconds to look at their partners, taking in all details about the individual.

The leader then instructs the two lines to turn and face away from the center. One or both lines has 15-20 seconds to change something about their appearance (i.e. change a watch to different wrist, unbutton a button, remove a belt, etc.). The change must be discrete, but visible to the partner.

The players again turn in to face each other and have 30 seconds to discover the physical changes that have been made.

Time 3-5 minutes


N/A

Materials N/A

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Transformation

SWBAT Have fun with their new team members.

Prompts N/A

Procedure Have the group in a circle.

Everyone starts out as an egg by squatting down low and waddling like an egg. "Eggs" find another egg and play a game of rock-paper-scissors. The winners turn into a chicken.

Chickens move on to find other chickens, and eggs continue to play against other eggs. Each time a player wins an r-p-s bout, they evolve into the next stage. Inevitably, one person will be left as the lone player in each stage of evolution until the end of the game as the winner of the final pair in each stage wins and moves on.

The game ends when all but the lone person in each stage evolve to the final stage.

Time 15-20 minutes


N/A

Materials N/A

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Warm Up ActivitiesWarm Up Activities are fun, focusing activities that are great ways to start a debate practice. Some Warm Up Activities focus on certain debate skills while others focus on topic-related content. If you want a creative way to get your students into the debate mindset, start your practice with a Warm Up Activity!

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Human Barometer

SWBAT Decide upon and defend a place on a spectrum, based on a given prompt.

Prompts Examples:

The development of high speed rail will to improve the US economy. It is necessary for the federal government to act to develop high

speed rail. Capitalism is a bad system.

Procedure Set up the room so that there is sufficient space for students to stand against the wall.

Place the two signs on opposite ends of the room. Instruct students to place themselves on the spectrum once the prompt

is read. Read one of the prompts aloud. Pick on a few students to share why they chose the position they did. (It

is sometimes helpful to go to students at distinct points on the spectrum first.)

“Fold” the spectrum in half: Students on the farthest ends of there should now be two lines facing each other (with the students on the farthest ends of the spectrum facing each other).

Instruct students on one half of the spectrum to persuade the other half to move.

Time 5-10 Minutes


N/A

Materials Prepared prompts

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Who or What Am I?

SWBAT Recall key terms based on the given clues.

Prompts Examples:

Mass transit Subsidy Gentrification Urban

Procedure In groups students have titles on their forehead that everyone else but they can see.

Other group members drop hints to people in the group. Continue until everyone figures out who/what they are.

Time 5 Minutes


During the activity, walk around to make sure everyone follows the rules and that no group is stuck.


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Personalize It!

SWBAT Recall debate terminology and concepts

Prompts Examples:

Fiscal Discipline Social Inequality Mass Transit

Procedure Write the topic to be taught on the board and then talk about how the topic relates to them by using a personal reference or story.

The students are then to figure out how they can relate the topic to a personal reference or story.

Time 10 Minutes


Keep track of time. Each team should have no more than one minute for each question

Materials Blank paper.

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Ranking Terms and Concepts

SWBAT Review the key debate terminology and concepts within a case or negative argument.

Prompts Example from Mass Transit Aff – Novice:

Rank the following terminology and concepts from most important to understanding the case/argument to least important to understanding the case/argument:

Car culture Communities of color Discrimination Cycle of poverty Emissions Socially isolated Unequal access Gentrification Marginalized communities Segregation Social inequality Subsidy Urban Sprawl

Procedure Write or project a list of terms and concepts to be ranked on the board. Instruct the students to rank the terminology and concepts from most

important to understanding the case/argument to least important to understanding the case/argument.

Optional: Follow up with a 2-person table debate about which of the top 2 terms or concepts is the most important.

Time 10 Minutes


Circulate around the room and help students recall key terms and concepts found in their core files.

Materials Blank paper

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Wordsearch – Vocabulary Development

SWBAT Recall key terms based on the given clue.

Prompts Example:

There are 4 basic ways that you can respond to your opponents arguments. Using the mnemonic Dr. MO, find the 4 terms (Deny, Reverse, Minimize, Outweigh – facilitator note: include if you wish).

Other example: “Mass Transit Terms Word Search” –terms, e.g., subsidy, segregation, urban, moral obligation (search as if one word).

Procedure Students will find as many words in the time allotted with or without a list of terms.

Time 5 Minutes


N/A

Materials Printed word search puzzle.

(Create your own at http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/. Once created, select printable pdf for a professional looking word search puzzle.)

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http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/

Find the Question – Vocabulary Development


Prompts From Mass Transit Aff – Novice’s glossary:

America’s love of cars that is seen in music, movies, etc. What is car culture?

Differences between groups of people who do not have the same social status. In the US, this can mean differences in access to education, health care, housing, etc. What is social inequality?

Government financial support of an industry or thing.What is a subsidy?

This theory says that poor families do not have the necessary resources to escape poverty and stay in poverty for many generations. So if a grandparent is poor, their grand-child is likely to also live in poverty.What is the cycle of poverty?

The separation between people of different races. In this case, in terms, of where people live and work.What is segregation?

Procedure Supply students with a worksheet with the prompts. Allow for up to thirty seconds for each question. Review the answers aloud as a class.

Time 3-5 Minutes


N/A


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Myth Busters – Vocabulary Developement

SWBAT Discuss statements and pick out whether they are true or false

Prompts From Mass Transit Aff – Novice’s glossary:

Urban sprawl refers to the influx of people from the suburbs into the city.

Subsidy is government financial support of an industry or thing. Cycle of poverty refers to the process of starting out poor, working

hard until you become rich, and your kids becoming poor because they did not have to work for their own money.

Car culture refers to America’s love of cars that is seen in music, movies, etc.

Social inequality is when two people are not equal in their ability to hold a conversation socially.

Procedure Supply students with a worksheet with the prompts. Allow for up to thirty seconds for each question. Review the answers aloud as a class.

Time 3-5 Minutes


N/A


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Tongue Twisters

SWBAT Develop and continue practice on their speaking skills

Prompts Example tongue twisters:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Denise sees the fleece,Denise sees the fleas.At least Denise could sneezeand feed and freeze the fleas.

Luke Luck likes lakes.Luke's duck likes lakes.Luke Luck licks lakes.Luck's duck licks lakes.Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes.Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes.

Procedure Instruct students to read the tongue twisters over and over until time runs out.

They should be reading at comfortable speeds.Time 5 Minutes


N/A


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Brainstorm Race


Prompts Example Prompts:

Social inequality Infrastructure Cycle of poverty

Procedure Find out what your group knows about a topic before you begin a new lesson.

Divide them into teams of four and present the topic. Ask them to brainstorm and list as many ideas or questions as they

can come up with in a given amount of time. Here’s the kicker---they cannot speak. Each student must write his or

her ideas on the board or paper you’ve provided. Optional: The team with the most relevant terms, wins a snack or

other small prize.

Time 3-5 Minutes


Walk around and help teams that are confused or stuck. Optional: Check off and tally relevant terms.

Materials Prepared prompts Board of Paper Markers

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Flowing Drill (JV+)

SWBAT Develop and continue practice on their flowing skills

Prompts N/A

Procedure Prepare the drill by having a shuffled deck and ensuring you have a flat clear surface to place the cards.

Go over the proper way to flow (i.e. spacing) For about one minute, place the cards down one by one and call the

names of the cards. Place the cards down vertically. After you finish the first column you may want to go through the order

(by having students call them out). For your next “speech” repeat the same process, except this time make

the cards “answer” each other. (For example: “My opponent said two of hearts but jack of diamonds.”) You can also group, extend and drop the “arguments” to make things a little more complicated.

Once again go over the “speech” with the class. Be sure to place the cards down for each speech in a way that mimics a

flow so that students can potential look at them later to compare them to their own flows.

Time 5-10 Minutes


N/A

Materials A deck of cards

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Debate Jeopardy (JV+)


Prompts What are the four stock issues?

Procedure Split students up into two teams. Each group will take turn selecting questions from the jeopardy

board

Time 10-20 Minutes


Keep track of time. Each team should have no more than one minute for each question

Materials Debate Jeopardy PowerPoint (see online Coach Resources)

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Debate Quiz (JV+)


Prompts What are the four stock issues?

Procedure Quiz them on some of the debate terminology before group activity begins. Once time is up discuss the answer as a group.

Time 5-10 Minutes


N/A


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EBA-Style Debate ActivitiesOn the following pages, you will find the six main activities that are used throughout this curriculum. The activities were adapted from the Boston Debate League’s Evidence Based Argumentation (EBA) program, and their goal is to engage the entire classroom, no matter what its size.

We’ve applied these tried-and-true activities to this year’s debate topic by inserting specific claims and warrants, designing handouts, and creating other tools that will make it easy for you to hold large debate practices. Read through the descriptions so the individual practice plans will be easier to understand, and feel free to refer back to these pages for any ideas or clarification you might need.

In this Section:Four Corners.............................................................................97

Worksheet(s)...................................................................99

Evidence Scavenger Hunt...........................................................104

Worksheet(s)..................................................................106

Defeating/Defending the Argument..............................................108

Worksheet(s)..................................................................111

Table Debates...........................................................................113

Worksheet(s)...................................................................118

Round Robin Debate..................................................................125

Worksheet(s)...................................................................129

Multiple Perspective Debate.........................................................130

Worksheet(s)...................................................................133

EBA Activities Cheat Sheet..........................................................135

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#1 Four Corners

In this activity, each corner of a classroom is labeled with a sign: “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.” The coach presents a claim, and each student moves to the corner with the sign that best represents her views on the statement. Once in their corners, students will be given a specified time to 1) discuss what the best warrants are for believing their position and 2) choose someone to present the warrants that defend their position to the rest of the group. Four Corners lessons introduce an element of physical activity into debate and provides a relatively safe opportunity for students to practice the development of claims and warrants in groups.

The Four Corners activity has many uses. It can be an “Introduction to Argumentation” activity if it’s used with claims drawn from current events or popular culture. It can introduce debaters to specific cases if it’s used with claims drawn from the core files.

How students are asked to defend their positions will depend on the activity’s purpose. If basic argumentation is the goal, each student might be required to say “My claim is...” and “My warrant for this claim is...” When arguing about a specific case, every student might need to cite one piece of evidence from the core files, and in such cases they might need several minutes to find that evidence before moving to their corners. More experienced debaters can be asked to produce more complex arguments: multiple warrants for each claim, perhaps, or the refutation of counterarguments.

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Coach and Student Moves for Four Corners

Step Coach Move Student Move

1 Make four signs: (1) STRONGLY AGREE, (2) AGREE, (3) DISAGREE, (4) STRONGLY DISAGREE. Post one in each corner of the classroom.

2 Prepare a list of controversial claims--usually between 4 and 7.

3 Read one of the claims. Optionally, show the claim on a projector or pre-write it on the “4-Corners Pre-Activity” worksheet as well.

Move to the corner with the sign that best represents your views on the claim. Standing in the center of the room or in the middle of a wall is not allowed. If using text, take time to find evidence supporting your beliefs before moving to a corner.

4 If you want, give each group time to talk and select their strongest warrants. Then call on a student to share. Repeat as desired (suggested order: agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree).

If given time to talk with others in your corner, 1) discuss what the best warrant is for selecting your corner and 2) decide who will speak out for your group.Defend your position (if called upon) and listen (if not).

5 Invite students to change positions if a speaker convinces them to do so.

Change positions if desired.

6 Repeat steps 3-5 for each statement. Repeat steps 3-5 as required.

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Four Corners Pre-Activity

Complete the claim by filling in the blank and provide a warrant for the following:

Claim (Controversial statement) Warrant (Reason claim is true)

____________________ would be the easiest to answer.

____________________’s evidence would need to be updated the most often

____________________ would be the hardest to answer.

____________________ would be the easiest to find evidence for.

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Agree100

Disagree

101

Strongly Agree

102

Strongly Disagree

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#2 Evidence Scavenger Hunt

To begin this activity, the coach reads students a claim about an argument. This claim can be something factual, or it can be an interpretive claim that is supported or disproved by specific portions of the text. In pairs, students decide whether they agree with the claim. Then they find a piece of evidence in the text to support their position. Finally, they fill out a graphic organizer with three columns: in the left column they record the claim, in the middle column they copy the evidence, and in the right column they analyze the text by explaining how their textual evidence works to prove or disprove the claim.

This can be made into a game that rewards the first pair to fill out all three columns accurately and thoroughly. To ensure that other pairs still do the work, a coach could award one point for every satisfactory answer and just one extra point (2 points) to the team that finishes first. Alternately, speed could be made a non-issue and students could simply work to complete their graphic organizers at their own pace. For example, a coach might have the claims written on half sheets of paper at the front of the room; when a pair is done with one row on their graphic organizer, they can come show it to the coach and, if their work is approved, be given the next claim for which to find evidence. The number of claims (i.e., the number of rows in the graphic organizer) varies according to coaches' preferences.

An Evidence Scavenger Hunt works well as an activity to get students to learn both the specific and general arguments of an affirmative case, negative file, or any negative argument (e.g. DAs). In addition, it helps debaters learn how debate arguments and files are organized and how to navigate that evidence using taglines and/or other titles (e.g. harms, uniqueness) to find warrants that support desired claims. It combines competition and collaboration, encouraging students to read quickly yet accurately to both identify and analyze textual evidence.

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Coach and Student Moves for Evidence Scavenger Hunt


1 Select or modify an Evidence Scavenger Hunt Worksheet and if necessary, create a set of claims.

2 Have students pair up and give each pair an Evidence Scavenger Hunt Worksheet.

3 Read a claim aloud and write it or project it on the board.

Write the claim in the left column of your graphic organizer.

4 Monitor pairs as they... Decide with your partner whether you agree with the claim.

5 Monitor pairs as they... Look through the text for evidence to support your view on the claim.

6 Monitor pairs as they... When you find a suitable piece of evidence, write and cite it in the middle column of your graphic organizer.

7 Monitor pairs as they... In the right column of your graphic organizer, explain briefly how your evidence supports or refutes the claim. Make sure you analyze the text rather than simply re-wording it.

8 Check answers for accuracy and depth of analysis. Award points as desired when students...

Notify the coach when you have completed the row.

9 Repeat steps 3-8 as desired. Repeat steps 3-8 as required.

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Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Students will race in pairs to both find textual evidence and to explain how the text supports their claim. Every team that correctly answers that statement will receive 1 point, the first group to answer in each round will receive 2 points, and the group that answers the statement best will receive 3 points.

Claim WarrantTextual Evidence (Your work) Analysis – How does your work

support the claimThe neglect of mass

transit is discriminatory.

“there are clear disparities in auto ownership and drivers licenses between the predominantly low-income and minority residents and the predominately white residents of suburban counties”pg 4, Mass Transit: Novice Aff

Funding highways at the expense of mass transit only benefits those that own cars. Since low-income and minority residents are less likely than their white suburban peers to own a car and are thus more likely to use mass transit this policy acts to privilege mostly white suburban peers.

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Claim WarrantTextual Evidence Analysis – How does the text support the

claim

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#3 Defeating/ Defending the Argument Team Challenge

There are 2 versions of this activity:a) Defeating the Argument Team Challengeb) Defending the Argument Team Challenge

In Defeating the Argument Team Challenge your team will be defeating an argument that many of your team members have had trouble answering. There will be 3 steps:

1) The coach or a debater presents a claim or argument your team has had trouble answering.2) In groups, students create counterargument and debate which of their counterarguments best defeats the argument presented.3) Each groups shares their best response to the counterargument.

In Defending the Argument Team Challenge the team will be defending an argument that many of your team members have been unable to defend. There will be 4 steps:

1) The coach or a debater presents one of your claims or arguments that your team often loses.2) Students write down and then share the toughest counterarguments against the claim in the second box.3) Students create responses to the counterargument debate in groups and debate what the best response to the counterargument is.4) Each group shares their best response to the counterargument.

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In the end of both versions of this activity, although everyone in the class is on the same side of an argument the team that best defends or defeats the argument wins! It thus combines what is best about both competition and cooperation.

As it is described here, the activity focuses on how to defeat and defend arguments. It could be adapted, however, to hone any number of argumentation skills. Groups could compete to incorporate textual evidence most smoothly into their arguments, use the greatest variety of warrants to support their claims, organize their arguments most clearly, and so on. Content could of course be privileged over argumentation skills at any time; for instance, students might be rewarded on how well they understand the evidence rather than on how creatively they respond to arguments analytically.

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Coach and Student Moves for Defeating the Argument Team Challenge

Step Teacher Move Student Move

1 Lead a discussion in which the class generates an argument to be defended or defeated.. (Or, if time is a more pressing issue than buy-in, just provide the squad with the argument

2 Divide the squad into groups of 3-5.

3 Set a timer for three minutes. While it runs, monitor students to make sure they are on task.

Take three minutes to draft a one-minute speech defeating or defending the argument. Select a representative who will deliver your speech.

4 Set a timer for one minute. While it runs, have one group’s representative...

Take one minute to deliver your speech while the rest of the class listens.

5 Repeat step 4 until all groups have shared.

Repeat step 4 until all groups have shared.

6 Lead a discussion in which students... Discuss which group’s speech was the strongest and why.

7 Repeat steps 2-6 as desired. Repeat steps 2-6 as required.

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Defeating the Argument Squad ChallengeInstructions: In this exercise your team will be defeating an argument that many of your team members have had trouble answering. There will be 3 steps: 1) present a claim or argument your team has had trouble answering, 2) debate in your groups which counterargument best defeats the argument presented, 3) groups share their responses to the counterargument.

Remember: Argument = Claim + Warrant; Claim: debatable statement & Warrant: reason why the claim is true

“Unbeatable” claim or argument (claim + warrant)

Counterarguments – Dr. MO the claim and challenge the warrant.

Remember: Dr. MO – Deny (claim is not true), Reverse (opposite of the claim is true), Minimize (claim is not important), or Outweigh (your claim is less important than our claim)

Bonus: Rank the top 3 counterarguments provided by your teammates!1)2)3)

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Defending the Argument Squad ChallengeInstructions: In this exercise your team will be defending an argument that many of your team members have been unable to defend. There will be 4 steps: 1) present one of your claims or arguments that your team often loses 2) write the toughest counterargument against the claim in the second box, 3) debate in your groups what the best response to the counterargument is, 4) groups will share their responses to the counterargument.

Remember: Argument = Claim + Warrant; Claim: debatable statement & Warrant: reason why the claim is true

Your claim or argument (claim + warrant)

Counterargument– argument presented against your claim or argument that you rarely defeat.

Responses to Counterargument - turn back to re-affirm your claim—while “Dr. MO”ing the counterarguments claim and challenging the warrant.

Remember: Dr. MO – Deny (claim is not true), Reverse (opposite of the claim is true), Minimize (claim is not important), or Outweigh (your claim is less important than our claim)

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#4 Table Debates

A) Overview

In this activity the coach will split all of the debaters into groups (typically 2 or 3 debaters per group) and facilitate simultaneous debate rounds. Group size is dictated by the number of positions the activity requires, e.g., if there were 3 warrants in a card and you want to debate which one is best there naturally could be 3 debaters per group or if you wanted 2-debaters per position, 6 debaters per group.

Once the group size is determined and students split into groups, students should select a position to advocate for and defend. After prep-time is used to prepare debaters for their first speech, which usually involves filling our a pre-flow handout, the debate may begin. To start, have all of the debaters arguing “position 1” rise simultaneously and give a timed speech advocating their position to their group members (not to the coach). Then have all of the debaters arguing position 2 rise and simultaneously give a timed speech advocating their position to the other group members (not to the coach). If there are 3 or more positions then continue with the same procedure. If desired, provide prep-time and have another round of speeches where the debaters will defend their positions and directly respond to the arguments made by their fellow group members. At the end of the table debate the coach may ask debaters to share an argument that one of their group members made that they found persuasive. Or they may also discuss what position won the debate and why; remember to focus the discussion on arguments, not on people.

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Coach and Student Moves for Table Debates


1 Divide the class into groups whose size matches the number of debatable positions and instruct each group to...

Designate each person in your group a letter A-Z.

2 Provide a position for each debater by letter, e.g., all As will argue that cross examination is the hardest part of a debate round.

3 Set a timer for 2 minutes of “prep time” to ensure that every debater has time to prepare a specified number of reasons in support of their position.

Debaters, create a specified number of reasons to support your position and write them down in the given handout or on a sheet of paper.

4 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the first speakers to rise and remind them to number their reasons during their 1-minute speech. Meanwhile, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

First Speaker: stand and affirm your position in a 1-minute speech. Second Speaker: listen, take notes in the given worksheet and prepare to refute their position.

5 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the Second Speakers to rise and remind them to number their 2 reasons during their 1 minute speech. While it runs, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

Second Speaker: stand and advocate for your position in a 1-minute speech. First Speaker: listen, take notes in the given worksheet and prepare to refute their position later.

6 If there are 3 or more positions then continue with the same procedure as in 4 and 5 as many times as necessary.

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Coach and Student Moves for Table Debates (Continued)

7 Optionally, provide 1 minute of prep time and then repeat steps 4-5 to give students a chance to...

Prepare for 1 minute and then respond to your opponents’ arguments and elaborate on your own in further 1-minute speeches if required.

8 Optionally, lead a whole-class discussion in which students...

Explain which side won the debate in your group and why. Talk about arguments rather than about the people who made them.

B) 4 Examples of common Table Debate formats (many more possible):

Example 1) 2-Person Claim Table Debates

In this version of table debates a claim (i.e. a debatable statement; e.g. “C-X is the most exciting part of a debate round”) is provided that one side will affirm (e.g. “C-X is the most exciting part of a debate round”) and one side will negate (e.g. “C-X is not the most exciting part of a debate round”). Each side should prepare a specified number of warrants, usually 2, in affirmation or negation of their claim which, depending on the coach’s teaching objectives may or may not require textual evidence from the core files.

Claim Table Debates are a quick and efficient way to activate prior knowledge or to provide students with a motivating reason to understand the main claims (taglines) in the core files. They are thus particularly useful as introductions to the case and its cards.

Example 2) 3-Person Warrant Table Debates

In 3-Person Warrant Table Debates, students will argue which warrant (reason) best proves the claim is true. Unlike Claim Table Debates where 2 debaters argue for/ against a given claim (e.g. We should have school uniforms), in this activity 3 debaters agree that the claim is true and instead each one of the 3 debaters argues that their warrant best proves the claims is true; e.g. warrant 1 - school uniforms prevent clothing-based bullying, warrant 2 - school uniforms save families money, warrant 3 – school uniforms build a sense of school community.

This activity is an engaging and efficient way to motivate students, in groups of 3 to learn the cards in the core files by having them debate about which of its warrants best proves the claim (in the tagline) is true. This activity could be easily modified to accommodate groups of 2 or 4 debaters with the adding or subtracting of a warrant.Example 3) Four Speech Table Debates

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In Four Speech Table Debates students give a total of 4 shortened speeches on one part of a debate (e.g. harms, a DA, a K, solvency). Before the Four Speech Table Debates prep time will be given to review the appropriate evidence and to pre-write arguments for the first two speeches on the provided flow. Keep in mind speech times can vary between 1 minute and full time (i.e. 8-minute constructive or 5-minute rebuttal) depending on the coach’s learning objectives and the demands of the argument or skill being practiced. These activities can begin in the 1AC if the focus is on an affirmative case, the 1NC if the focus is on negative arguments (e.g. counterplans), or even the 2NC/1NR if the focus is on giving rebuttals.

This activity focuses on students simultaneously applying newly learned debate arguments and skills. Debaters will be motivated to learn and comprehend arguments and skills in preparation for one-on-one or two-on-two debates. Although the prep time given to students in preparation for this form of table debates can be significantly longer than claim, or even warrant table debates it is still a relatively time-efficient, student-centered activity.

Example 4) Shortened Debate Round

In shortened debate rounds, students give simultaneous (all the affirmatives argue at once to their negatives and vice versa) and shortened speeches with a limited amount of arguments and/or a focus on a specific skill using abbreviated content. For example, you may practice the skill of giving roadmaps and signposting using just the taglines from the cards and their corresponding warrants which are put in your own words in 3-minute constructives, 2-minute rebuttals, and 1-minute cross examinations. Alternatively, you may choose to just have a DA vs Case debate with a full 1AC followed by 3-minute constructives, 1-minute cross examinations, and 2-minute rebuttals focusing on just the DA and the case. In either case, prep-time should be given in-between each speech as this is a whole group activity and some debaters may need prep-time while others will merely appreciate it. Coaches are encouraged to be flexible and creative with the breakdown of times given their learning objectives.

C) The Feedback Problem

The problem with running traditional debate activities is that they require a 4 to 1, debater to coach ratio with extra students watching and taking notes, i.e., being unengaged. The trouble with table debates is that with a much higher debater to coach ratio, debaters often miss out on coach feedback that could help them improve. There are 4 main ways to alleviate the feedback problem:

1. Varsity debaters and/or mentors could take turns listening to debaters and providing feedback after table debates.

2. Each group could add an extra student who could serve as a judge who could provide feedback.

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3. After each table debate the squad could engage in an Argument Finale wherby each group writes their best argument from their group’s winning position on the board and then gives a 30 second speech to the squad about why their argument is the best, and

4. The coach could have debaters provide feedback to one another after each table debate regarding what they did and did not find persuasive

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Four Speech Table Debates

Four Speech Debates focus on just four speeches at a time (no CX) for one ‘flow” at a time, e.g., harms, a DA, a K, solvency. Debaters will be given time before the round to review the evidence and arguments made in the 1AC and the 1NC. After the 1NC and 2AC prep time will be given at the coach’s discretion.

1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1AR

Note: When speaking start by saying “#1 my opponent said _____, my response to that is_____”

Note: When speaking start by saying “#1 my opponent said _____, my response to that is_____”

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Claims Table Debates

Before the activity begins if you’re for the claim write your two warrants in the top two boxes in the 1AC column and if you’re against the claim write your two warrants in the top two boxes in the 1NC column. During table debates the 1AC will start by providing two warrants for the given claim. Beginning in the 1NC each debater will state or defend their 2 warrants while attacking their opponent’s two arguments.

1AC (For) 1NC (Against) 2AC (For – 2nd speech)

2NC (Against – 2nd speech)

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Warrant Table Debates – Which warrant best proves the claim is true?

In warrant table debates, unlike claim table debates, both debaters assume the claim is true and instead debate which warrant best proves the claim is true. Before the activity begins each debater should write the two reasons they believe their warrant best proves the claim is true in the top two boxes in the appropriate column (i.e. warrant 1 or warrant 2). During table debates Warrant 1 will start by providing two reasons why their warrant best proves the claim is true. Beginning with warrant 2 debates should state or defend their 2 reasons their claim is best while attacking their opponent’s warrant.

Warrant 1 Best Proves the claim is true because…




Your 1st Reason your warrant best proves the claim is true.

Your 2nd 1st Reason your warrant best proves the claim is true.

Their 1st Reason their warrant best proves the claim is true.

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Their 2nd reason their warrant best proves the claim is true.

Three Person Warrant Table Debates – Which warrant best proves the claim is true?

1st Round of Speeches 2nd Round of SpeechesWarrant 1 Best Proves the claim is true because…






Your 1st Reason your warrant best proves the claim is true.

Your 2nd 1st Reason your warrant best proves the claim is true.

Their 1st Reason their warrant best proves the claim is true.

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Their 2nd

reason their warrant best proves the claim is true.

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Shortened Debate Round – __ minute constructive, __ minute rebuttals, __ minute Cross-X

1AC 1NC 2AC 2NC 1NR 1AR 2NR 2ARRead a shortened version of the Affirmative Case. Since you only have 2-3 minutes, read the tags, the case in your own words, or select cards.

Read a DA.Select pieces of evidence to attack case line-by-line.

Respond to the DA.Extend arguments from 1AC and respond to the 1NC line-by-line.

Arguments split between the 2NC and the 1NR. Extend harm and solvency cards from the 1NC.

Arguments split between the 2NC and the 1NR. Extend DA and Inherency arguments from the 1NC.

1AR responds to all of the arguments made by the 2NC and 1NR as quickly as possible.

-Respond to 1AR, tell the judge why you won the round. Why is the plan a bad idea?

Respond to 2NR, tell the judge why you won the round. Why is the plan a good idea?

*Explain why plan is good.

Note: When speaking start by saying “#1 my opponent said _____, my response to that is_____”*Explain why plan is net bad

Note: To extend evidence say “The 1NC said _____ but please extend the 1AC _____evidence that…”*Explain why plan is net good.

*Explain why plan is net bad

*Explain why plan is net bad

*Explain why plan is net good.

Tip: Anticipate what they’ll argue and preempt it. Say “they’ll tell you that x will happen, but that’s wrong because of y and z.”

*Explain why *Explain why plan is net good

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plan is net bad

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#5 Round-Robin Debates

The name of this activity refers to the fact that students take turns being the affirmative, negative, and judge, switching roles after each round of debating. They work in groups of three, with each person in a group designated “A,” “B,” or “C.” The coach supplies a claim, and person A in each group stands to deliver a short speech in defense of that claim. Then person B in each group stands to refute the claim while person C decides who wins (based on criteria provided by the coach—see below). Persons A and B may give a round of rebuttal speeches if desired, but when the debate is over and C has named a winner it is time to change both the claim and the roles: for the next debate, B and C will argue while A judges.

Round-Robin Debates allow all students in a class to debate simultaneously in small-group, low-stakes situations. They also place the burden of choosing a winner on the students, who must understand and articulate what exactly constitutes a winning argument. Finally, this activity forces students to argue for claims they do not choose themselves--a valuable exercise in critiquing their own assumptions.

Round Robins can be used to help students gain in-depth understanding of an issue or even the cards that support a given argument (e.g. privatization counterplan). They might develop original warrants on a single claim or set of evidence cards; for example, argue that the status quo is better fixed by a counterplan rather than the plan. You might also use the core files to help debaters see clashing perspectives on an issue, and to practice distilling and emphasizing the main claim and supporting warrants of an author’s argument.

The criteria for judging in these debates will vary. Some coaches might have students judge holistically or generate their own criteria for picking a winner. Others might implement a point system in which the judge awards one point each time a speaker cites evidence from a text, two points each time someone directly refutes an opponent’s argument, and so on. In this way

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coaches can ensure that the Round-Robin debates directly fulfill their specific skill objectives for the practice. For purposes of scaffolding and accountability, judges can also be provided with worksheets that will help them make their decisions.

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Coach and Student Moves for Round-Robin Debates


1 Place students in groups of three and designate each group member “A,” “B,” or “C.”

2 Provide a claim; a debatable statement (e.g. x is the best for the economy or any tagline from a card).

3 Assign roles for to each debater (e.g. A is Affirmative, B is Negative, and C is the Judge) and set a timer for 2 minutes of “prep time” to ensure that every debater has a chance to prepare two warrants in support of their claim.

Debaters, create 2 warrants to support your claim and write them down in the Round Robin Debate Worksheet; Judge - support the debaters in writing their warrants.

4 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the As to rise and remind them to number their 2 warrants during their 1 minute speech. While it runs, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

A: stand and affirm the claim in a 1-minute speech. B: listen, take notes in the given worksheet and prepare to refute the claim. C: listen, take notes, and award points as appropriate.

5 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the Bs to rise and remind them to number their 2 warrants during their 1 minute speech. While it runs, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

B: stand and negate the claim in a 1-minute speech and attack As arguments. B: listen, take notes in the given worksheet and prepare to refute the claim. C: listen, take notes, and award points as appropriate.

6 Provide 1 minute of prep time. Circulate around the room, providing support to students as they write out the defense of their claim and attack of their opponents.

Prepare for your next speech where you will need to attack your opponent’s arguments while defending your own.

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Coach and Student Moves for Round-Robin Debates(Continued)

7 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the As to rise and remind them to number their 2 warrants during their 1 minute rebuttal. While it runs, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

A: stand and rebut B’s opening arguments in a 1-minute speech. B: listen and prepare to rebut A's opening arguments. Record your notes on the given worksheet. C: listen, take notes, and award points as appropriate.

8 Set a timer for 1 minute. Ask all of the Bs to rise and remind them to number their 2 warrants during their 1 minute rebuttal. While it runs, walk around the room and listen in on the groups for both the purpose of feedback and classroom management. It is recommended to give debaters time cues every 15 seconds.

B: stand and rebut A’s opening arguments in a 1-minute speech. A: listen and prepare to rebut A's opening arguments. Record your notes on the given worksheet. C: listen, take notes, and award points as appropriate.

9 Ask the judges to share their decision with the two debaters. You may also invite or call on a judge (“C”) or two to share with the whole team.

C: explain which side won in your group and why. Talk about arguments rather than about the people who made them.

10 Repeat steps 2-9 with another claim if desired.

Repeat steps 2-9 as required with Affirmative (A) Negative, Negative (B) Judge, Judge (C) Affirmative.

11 Repeat steps 2-9 with yet another claim if desired.

Repeat steps 2-9 as required with Affirmative (C) Negative, Negative (A) Judge, Judge (B) Affirmative.

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Round Robin Debates

In groups of 3 each debater will take turns being the affirmative, negative, and the judge. After both the affirmative and negative alternate and give 2 speeches each and the judge provides feedback the roles will rotate; affirmative negative, negative judge, and the judge affirmative. This will repeat until all 3 debaters get to experience each role.

Claim:_________________________________________________________________________

1AC (For) 1NC (Against) 2AC (For – 2nd speech)

2NC (Against – 2nd speech)

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#6 Multiple Perspective Debate

A) Overview

In a multi-perspective debate, students are divided up into groups of 4-6. Each group is responsible for defending something different, maybe that their piece of evidence on a particular question is the best or their case or DA is the best or their impact outweighs the others.

Within each group, every student has a distinct role: one delivers the opening statement, one asks cross-examination questions, another answers questions posed by other groups, a different person attacks another groups arguments, another defends their own group’s arguments after they are attacked, and yet another delivers the closing statement. If groups are smaller, some roles can be combined. Each group is responsible both for defending its own perspective and for effectively critiquing the arguments made by other teams.

The debate starts with a round of opening statements, with one student from each group giving a 1 minute opening statement about why their groups argument is the best. This is followed by a round of cross-examination, attacks, defenses, and closing statements. Coaches should take care to make sure each group will be challenged by at least one opponent to avoid any ganging-up on one team.

These debates can take a nearly infinite number of forms. They can be adapted to suit the size of a class, the length of practice, or the layout of a room.

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B) Possible Outline of Debate with Built in Speaking Responsibilities:

1. Opening statements [one for each group- 1 min each] – Each student should list 4 reasons (with warrants and hopefully evidenced support) why their position is the best.

2. Prep [1 min total] – Prepare your questions for your assigned group.3. Cross examination [on person in each group questions another group- 1 min each]

a. Cross-Examiner - Ask questions to clarify an argument from the opening statement or critical questions that will produce an argument that can be used against them in later speeches.

b. Cross-Examinee – Respond to questions asked by assigned cross-examiner4. Prep [2 minutes] –Using the answers received during cross-examination and your own

ideas prepare your attack against all 4 of their points.5. Attack [One person from each groups attacks an assigned group- 1 min each]– Attack all

points made by opponent.6. Prep [2 minutes] 7. Defense –[one person from each groups responds to the attacks just made- 1 minute]

Defend all your teams arguments by explaining why your position is still the best by responding to each of the attacks made against your group.

8. Prep [2 minutes]9. Closing statements [one person from each group- 1 min each ]– State why the judge(s)

should believe your position is the best.

C) Coach and Student Moves for Multiple Perspective Debate

Event Time Allotted

Coach’s Moves Students’ Moves

Prep for opening 4 min Coach will ensure that each team has 4 reasons why their group is the best.

Students will help the opening statement presenter prepare and organize their groups 4 reasons why their group is the best.

Selection of roles/ Getting Settled

+ 3 min Coach will facilitate the process by verbally confirming and checking that each student has a role and that every role in the debate is taken.

Students will self-select what roles they will take on during the debate and

Opening statement

4 min total w/ 1 min for each group

Coach keeps time and coordinates and quos students to perform roles successfully.

Opening statement presenter Lists 4 reasons why their method is the best.

Cross examinations

3 min total, 45 seconds each

Coach keeps time and calls up the cross examiners and cross examinees one at a time.

Cross-examiner Asks their assigned team clarifying or critical questions and cross-examinees respond.

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Prep-time 2 mins Coach will ensure that teams attack each one of their assigned opponent’s points.

Students will help each other prepare for their Attack on their pre-assigned groups.

Attack 4 min w/ 1 min for each group

Coach keeps time and coordinates and quos students to start.

Attacker, responds critically to all 4 points that their assigned group makes.

Prep-time 2 mins Coach will ensure that teams defend each one of their assigned opponent’s attacks against them.

Students will help each other prepare for their Defense against the attack from their pre-assigned groups.

Defense 4 min w/ 1 min for each group


Defender will defend all 4 of their group’s arguments by explaining why their opponent is wrong and why their method is still the best.

Prep-time 2 mins Coach will ensure teams are ready to give closing. Start thinking about who should win.

Students will help each other prepare for their closing statement.

Closing 4 min w/ 1 min for each group


Students will instruct the judge/teacher how they should decide the match and then prove how their group best fits their voting criteria.

Total time 32 mins

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Multiple Perspective Debate

Claim/Prompt: ____________________________________________________________________

Group Opening Statement (60 s) Attack (60 s) Defense (60 s) Closing Statement (60 s)1 - …for the following 3 reasons:

1)

2)

3)

Group 4’s attack on Group 1

1)

2)

3)

Group 1’s defense to Group 4’s attack1)

2)

3)

Judge, you should vote for group 1 because…

2 - …for the following 3 reasons:

1)

2)

3)


1)

2)

3)

Group 2’s defense of group 1’s attack1)

2)

3)


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Group Opening Statement (60 s) Attack (60 s) Defense (60 s) Closing Statement (60 s)


1)

2)

3)


1)

2)

3)

Group 2’s defense to Group 3’s attack

1)

2)

3)



1)

2)

3)


1)

2)

3)

Group 4’s defense of group 3’s attack

1)

2)

3)


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EBA Activities Cheat Sheet

While the activities described in this section can be used and adapted for many purposes and in many ways, the following are some of the most popular uses of these activities

Four Cornerso Analyze and understand a specific piece of evidence- Use the tag of the card as the

statement and students should strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the tag, followed up by a second round where they agree, disagree etc. if the tag is supported by the evidence (note that these are two different activities).

o Understand a specific argument. Take the shell of a DA or the solvency contention of an affirmative and do four corners activities around each piece of evidence individually (whether the evidence supports the tag) followed up by one where students can agree, disagree, etc. if they think overall the DA shell or solvency contention is well supported by evidence. When they share out, make them refer to quotes from the evidence to support their answer.

o This can be a warm up activity- open every practice with a four corners around a specific piece of evidence or two- by the end of the year, it will add up.

Evidence Scavenger Hunt

o A good introduction to a new file- Give students claims or arguments and they have to find the evidence that either supports or answers those claims.

o To better understand evidence- have them find warrants in pieces of evidence

Defeating the Argument Team Challengeo After a tournament, come up with a list of arguments that your teams lost to. Divide

the students into groups and go over the arguments one by one- having the students come up with the best way to defeat that argument next time they hear it. Incorporate evidence into this by having them find a good piece of evidence to use to defeat the argument.

o Argument depth- focus on one particular argument, and try to develop as many solid warrants to defeat/defend it. Write them on the board and as a class pick the top ones

Table Debates and Round Robin Debateso The primary benefit of these activities is that they provide a way for ALL students to

argue and debate during each practice, rather than one group debating while others

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watch. Doing a short version of one of these each practice is a great idea to make sure all students are engaged in every practice

o Shorter versions of these debates can focus on whether a particular piece of evidence is good or which warrant in a piece of evidence is the best.

o Longer versions can be mini-debates where students give just 1 minute speeches answering and defending just a DA or the case. This is a great way to both learn the evidence and skills such as flowing and clashing.

Multi-Perspective Debateo On the negative, use this activity to determine the best way to answer a case or part

of a case or responding to a particularly effective answer to one of your off-case positions. Each group can either defend that their argument is the best response, or be forced to defend that their piece of evidence is the best piece of evidence to respond.

o On the affirmative, it can be answering an off case position like a DA or CP or a particularly effective case attack. Each group would defend their analytical or evidence based response as the best way to answer it.

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Part 4: Novice Curriculum

In this Section:Planning a Novice Practice..........................................................138

Week 1....................................................................................139

Week 2....................................................................................147

Week 3....................................................................................155

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Planning a Novice PracticeNovice practices should be varied and engaging in a way that is tailored to brand-new debaters. First, novice practices should include community building activities. Debate is a team sport and many students choose to remain on the debate team because they feel like they are part of a debate family. Start forming this “family” early in order to build an atmosphere where debaters support one another and want to continue working with one another. (For a list of community building activities, see page 69.)

As a coach, you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of material novice debaters need to learn. Don’t let these anxieties get to you. The rule of thumb in novice practices is to focus on the big picture. Introduce your students to the basics of debate; help them understand the general concepts and the specifics will follow as they get more experienced.

To help you do this, we’ve created a three week guide leading up to your novice debater’s first tournament. Remember, the debate year is broken into the Fall season (October to December) and the Winter season (January to March). The novice case will switch when the seasons switch.

The first week of novice practices will focus on 1) introducing basic argumentation skills and 2) familiarizing debaters with this year’s topic. The activities you will find in this section are activities that are used throughout the entire curriculum in a number of different ways. You can adapt these activities to any case (use them for both the Fall and Winter cases!), and you can also use them with the more experienced divisions.

The second week of novice practices will focus on understanding the affirmative case files. The activities you’ll find in this section build on the argumentation skills learned in Week 1 while simultaneously teaching the affirmative evidence. Again, you can adapt these activities to any case. and you can also use them with the more experienced divisions.

The third week of novice practices will focus on understanding the negative case files. The activities you’ll find in this section build on the argumentation skills learned in Week 1 while simultaneously teaching the negative evidence. Instead of merely asserting arguments, students will also practice responding to arguments in defensive and offensive ways.

This three week guide ends with a practice debate round. Use it to give your debaters a taste of what the tournament will be like, but don’t do too much tournament preparation beyond that. Most debaters do not truly begin to learn or love debate until they’ve participated in a few tournaments. This is normal. At this point, the important thing is to get them excited—not overwhelmed. Have senior debaters tell them about their positive experiences and answer questions that will help allay novice fears. They have a basic understanding of argumentation and they’re becoming familiar with the evidence. That’s exactly where they need to be!

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Week 1The first week of novice practices will focus on 1) introducing basic argumentation skills and 2) familiarizing debaters with this year’s topic. The activities you will find in this section are activities that are used throughout the entire curriculum in a number of different ways. You can adapt these activities to any case (use them for both the Fall and Winter season affirmatives!), and you can also use them with the more experienced divisions.

Intro to Debate - Four Corners

This first Four Corners activity will get debaters used to the idea that an argument consists of a claim and a warrant. A claim is a statement; a warrant is a reason or piece of evidence that proves the claim is true. The debaters will respond to general claims drawn from current events, popular culture, etc. (some sample claims are listed below). Later, you can repeat this activity with topic-related claims.

SWBAT Make an argument using the format argument = claim + warrant.

Claims College tuition should not exceed $10,000 per year Television is a bad influence Homework should be banned Birth control should be covered under all health insurance policies

Activity Four Corners. See page 97.

Procedure This is a standard Four Corners activity. If your students only give claim, prompt them to give a warrant to support that claim.

Time 10-15 minutes

Mentors/ Student Leaders

During the activity: Distribute mentors and student leaders evenly to each corner. They will help facilitate discussion in each corner and ensure that the students in the corner are prepared to deliver a coherent warrant.

Debriefing: Share one overall positive and address one overall concern in a teachable manner.

Materials Four Corners signs. See page 100.

Intro to Debate - Table Debate

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This first Table Debate activity will introduce the ideas of presenting and rebutting (answering) arguments. Students will present and rebut arguments on both sides of a debate—answering one another’s arguments head-on is essential to what we call clash. The debaters will respond to general claims drawn from current events, popular culture, etc. (some sample claims are listed below). Later, you can repeat this activity with topic-related claims.

SWBAT Respond to rebuttals

Claims/ Warrants School computers should not restrict access to any websites Movie theaters should allow customers to bring in their own food Animal cloning should be banned Puerto Rico should become an independent nation

Activity Table Debate. See page 113.

Procedure This is a standard Table Debate activity.

Time 10-15 minutes


During prep-time: Have student leaders perform Step 1 of the activity (demonstrating how to rebut).

During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later. Remember to remind students to use claims and warrants.


Materials Table Debate worksheet. See page 118.

Intro to the Topic - Four Corners

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Students will continue learning the argument = claim + warrant format while beginning to learn claims and warrants related to the topic. Remember the difference between topic and case. The topic refers to the resolution (“The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States”) while case refers to any of the specific sets of plan-based arguments that fall under the resolution. In short, “case” is more specific than “topic.”

At this point, we just want the novice debaters to get a general introduction to the topic. We’ll focus on case-specific topics the following week.

SWBAT Make an argument using the format argument = claim + warrant.

Claims See handout.


Procedure Pass out the “Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic” handout. Have students read Claim 1 and the card that supports it. Then have

them choose a corner depending on how strongly they agree or disagree with the claim.

At each corner, the students should discuss their reasons (warrants) for agreeing or disagreeing with the claim.

At least one student from each corner should share out. Repeat for the following claims.

Time 10-15 minutes




Materials “Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic – Four Corners” handout. See page 142.

Four Corners signs. See page 100.

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Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic

Directions: Read the following claims. Then read the card (piece of evidence) that supports the claim. Do you agree with the claim? What text supports your claim? Do you disagree? Make up your own argument against the claim!

CLAIM 1Spending billions on highways instead of on public transit (think buses and trains) is discriminatory against the poor.

Karyn Rotker, Attorney of Law, 2007(Poverty & Race 16.5, " Transportation: Regional Equity & Environmental Justice", http://search.proquest.com/docview/210339531)

In August, 2007, a bridge on an interstate highway came crashing down during rush hour in Minneapolis. Commentators seized upon the disaster as a sign of the need for more government spending on infrastructure. But conversations about "infrastructure" routinely focus on building, maintaining and expanding highways, treating public transit as an afterthought at best. For decades, the federal government (and many state governments) have lavished billions upon billions of dollars on highway construction, while funding for mass transit lags far behind. The neglect of transit is discriminatory: The 2000 Census showed that nearly one in four African Americans, and large percentages of Latinos and Asians, live in households without vehicles available, compared to only 7% of non-Hispanic whites. Communities of color are far more likely than whites to depend on public transportation to get to work. Governmental disregard of transit strands low-income persons and communities of color, often in inner cities though also in rural areas, while job growth, economic development and housing migrate to wealthier, whiter suburbs. At the same time, federal mandates that require regional planning frequently limit the influence of central cities in transportation and regional development. The precise structures vary from community to community. In some cities, activists have challenged the disproportionate amount of money pumped into modes of transit used by better-off, whiter communities, while transit modes used by inner-city residents are starved. The most well-known example was the case in which Los Angeles bus riders challenged how much money was going to the rail system. In Milwaukee, a majority-minority city surrounded by a ring of overwhelmingly white suburbs, survival of the transit system is at issue. There are clear disparities in auto ownership and drivers licenses between the predominantly low-income and minority residents of Milwaukee's central city and the predominantly white residents of suburban counties. Census data confirm that Milwaukee residents, especially those living in the central city, remain far more likely to rely on public transportation than do suburban residents.Source: Mass Transit Affirmative

CLAIM 2Building more, improved roads for cars helps people to live further from work which is bad for the environment.

Islam et.al. 2008 (Anna Brandon Lynn, and Bridget Maher, “Negative Environmental Impacts of American Suburban Sprawl and the Environmental Argument for New Urbanism”http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section007group5/home)

The dependency on automobiles for transportation is one of the biggest factors in the environmental impacts of “suburban sprawl” and “urban growth.” Suburban growth as a result of highways being built after WWII made rural areas more accessible for development increasing the reliance on automobiles to get to and from the city for work (Southerland 164). This reliance has been furthermore encouraged through the relative decrease in gasoline prices since the 1970s (Southerland 165). City development in the past has been mainly focused on planning, “…towns and cities at a larger scale with a reliance primarily on automobile travel (Doi 485).” This type of urban growth results in a number of adverse effects on the environment. Growth of this nature requires people to travel larger distances for even basic needs, therefore making automobiles a necessary form of travel. One of the strategies for solving the overwhelming reliance on automobiles has been the construction of “compact cities.” The idea is that “compact cities” offer a closer community, a neighborhood, and a better quality of life that decreases the reliance on automobiles and therefore promotes a more environmentally friendly city. Mass transit and public transportation drastically decreases the amount of air pollution and reliance on oil. Source: Mass Transit Affirmative

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CLAIM 3US Ports, a place where boats with goods enters the US from another country, lack security. Terrorists are going to detonate a weapon of mass destruction – WMD – in a US port.

Lt. Morgan James et al, Naval Postgraduate School, 2007(Port Security Strategy 2012, edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/TR/2007/NPS-97-07-003.pdf)

The disruption of port operations may come in three forms: Injuring and/or evacuation of port workers Damaging infrastructure of the port Contaminating port facilities with a chemical weapon or a dirty bomb Vehicle-borne IEDs and pier-side release or detonation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been identified to be the prominent land threats to port operations. Vehicle borne IEDs are improvised explosive devices carried either in a vehicle or inside a shipping container. IEDs can be made easily from readily available materials. The delivery of such devices is noted to be either by personnel (suicide bombers) or vehicles. From the various IED bombing incidents on 1 October 2005 in Bali, Indonesia, on 9 September 2004 at the Australia Embassy in Indonesia, on 5 August 2003 at the Marriott Hotel in Indonesia, and on 19 April 1995 in Oklahoma City in the United States, it was noted that vehicle borne IEDs are preferred mode of terrorist operation as it has enough explosive power to cause significant damage to infrastructure which, in the case of a port, may severely impact port operation. WMDs are weapons that possess the capacity to inflict extensive damage to infrastructure or the populace, or deny the use of critical geography through contamination. The successful deployment of a weapon of mass destruction would result in large economic loss and/or loss of life.Source: Port Security Affirmative

CLAIM 4

Having a slow and busy train system is the key reason that the US can’t compete with other countries.

BAF Educational Fund, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials dedicated to bringing about a new era of U.S. investment in infrastructure, 2011(“Building America’s Future Educational Fund, “Building America’s Future: Falling Apart and Falling Behind”, August, http://www.bafuture.org/sites/default/files/Report_0.pdf, DOA: 4-10-12)

Economic growth now depends on American businesses’ ability to participate in this growing global trade, and moving freight cheaply, easily, and reliably is now more directly related to the overall health of our economy than ever. As much as 60% of American-made products are now exported, and so the success of the manufacturing sector depends on our ability to export what we make here and sell it in the global marketplace. Billions of dollars’ worth of goods move around this country every day, by rail, truck, and air, to and from manufacturing plants, packaging centers, warehouses and distribution facilities, cargo airports and international shipping terminals. The supply chain now spans the globe, and a significant contributor to the American economy is the ability to transport goods cheaply, efficiently, and reliably across national corridors to and from international gateways. An explosion in shipping from China has fundamentally altered global shipping patterns and increased congestion at major U.S. ports. The expansion of the Panama Canal currently underway will direct more mega-ships from Asia directly to our east coast ports—but only if they are deep enough to accommodate the new supertankers. The surge in global trade is expanding and realigning American business transportation needs. International merchandise and goods are now transported in shipping containers, which can be moved, packed full of goods, and directly transferred from a ship to a truck or a train. New trade features and patterns are straining access to and from ports, increasing the need for sophisticated logistics to oversee more complicated supply chains, and making “intermodal”— involving one or more types of transport— the new necessity for 21st-century freight transportation. This is how business is done in the 21st century, but the U.S. is falling behind. Our freight transportation system was not built for the explosive growth of coast-to coast shipping and international trade experienced over the past two decades, and our economically vital gateways and corridors—our primary port, road, and rail routes for shipping goods in and out of the country—now operate at or over capacity. Congestion plagues our freight corridors and acts as a drag on the American economy as a whole. In Chicago, the nation’s biggest rail center, congestion is so bad that it takes a freight train longer to get through the city limits than it does to get to Los Angeles. 3 Freight bottlenecks and other forms of congestion cost about $200 billion, or 1.6% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a year.Source: High Speed Rail Affirmative

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Intro to the Topic - Table Debate

Students will continue to practice presenting and rebutting arguments while beginning to learn claims and warrants related to the topic. Remember the difference between topic and case. The topic refers to the resolution (“The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States”) while case refers to any of the specific sets of plan-based arguments that fall under the resolution. In short, “case” is more specific than “topic.”

At this point, we just want the novice debaters to get a general introduction to the topic. We’ll focus on case-specific things the following week.

SWBAT Respond to rebuttals

Claims/ Warrants See handout.


Procedure Pass out the “Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic” handout. Put students into pairs. Randomly assign one student to be affirmative

and the other student to be negative. Have students read Claim 1 and the card that supports it. Then have

them engage in a table debate about the claim. Repeat for each claim.

Note: If the students struggle on the negative side, introduce the negative files and point out the card that will help them refute the claim.

Time 10-15 minutes


During prep-time: Have student leaders perform Step 1 of the activity (demonstrating how to rebut).

During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later.


Materials “Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic – Table Debate” handout. See page 145.

Table Debate worksheet. See page 118.

144

Is the Claim True? Learning the Topic


CLAIM 1Spending billions on highways instead of on public transit (think buses and trains) is discriminatory against the poor.

Karyn Rotker, Attorney of Law, 2007(Poverty & Race 16.5, " Transportation: Regional Equity & Environmental Justice", http://search.proquest.com/docview/210339531)

In August, 2007, a bridge on an interstate highway came crashing down during rush hour in Minneapolis. Commentators seized upon the disaster as a sign of the need for more government spending on infrastructure. But conversations about "infrastructure" routinely focus on building, maintaining and expanding highways, treating public transit as an afterthought at best. For decades, the federal government (and many state governments) have lavished billions upon billions of dollars on highway construction, while funding for mass transit lags far behind. The neglect of transit is discriminatory: The 2000 Census showed that nearly one in four African Americans, and large percentages of Latinos and Asians, live in households without vehicles available, compared to only 7% of non-Hispanic whites. Communities of color are far more likely than whites to depend on public transportation to get to work. Governmental disregard of transit strands low-income persons and communities of color, often in inner cities though also in rural areas, while job growth, economic development and housing migrate to wealthier, whiter suburbs. At the same time, federal mandates that require regional planning frequently limit the influence of central cities in transportation and regional development. The precise structures vary from community to community. In some cities, activists have challenged the disproportionate amount of money pumped into modes of transit used by better-off, whiter communities, while transit modes used by inner-city residents are starved. The most well-known example was the case in which Los Angeles bus riders challenged how much money was going to the rail system. In Milwaukee, a majority-minority city surrounded by a ring of overwhelmingly white suburbs, survival of the transit system is at issue. There are clear disparities in auto ownership and drivers licenses between the predominantly low-income and minority residents of Milwaukee's central city and the predominantly white residents of suburban counties. Census data confirm that Milwaukee residents, especially those living in the central city, remain far more likely to rely on public transportation than do suburban residents.Source: Mass Transit Affirmative

CLAIM 2

Building more, improved roads for cars helps people to live further from work which is bad for the environment.

Islam et.al. 2008 (Anna Brandon Lynn, and Bridget Maher, “Negative Environmental Impacts of American Suburban Sprawl and the Environmental Argument for New Urbanism”http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section007group5/home)

The dependency on automobiles for transportation is one of the biggest factors in the environmental impacts of “suburban sprawl” and “urban growth.” Suburban growth as a result of highways being built after WWII made rural areas more accessible for development increasing the reliance on automobiles to get to and from the city for work (Southerland 164). This reliance has been furthermore encouraged through the relative decrease in gasoline prices since the 1970s (Southerland 165). City development in the past has been mainly focused on planning, “…towns and cities at a larger scale with a reliance primarily on automobile travel (Doi 485).” This type of urban growth results in a number of adverse effects on the environment. Growth of this nature requires people to travel larger distances for even basic needs, therefore making automobiles a necessary form of travel. One of the strategies for solving the overwhelming reliance on automobiles has been the construction of “compact cities.” The idea is that “compact cities” offer a closer community, a neighborhood, and a better quality of life that decreases the reliance on automobiles and therefore promotes a more environmentally friendly city. Mass transit and public transportation drastically decreases the amount of air pollution and reliance on oil.Source: Mass Transit Affirmative

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CLAIM 3

US Ports, a place where boats with goods enters the US from another country, lack security. Terrorists are going to detonate a weapon of mass destruction – WMD – in a US port.

Lt. Morgan James et al, Naval Postgraduate School, 2007(Port Security Strategy 2012, edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/TR/2007/NPS-97-07-003.pdf)

The disruption of port operations may come in three forms: Injuring and/or evacuation of port workers Damaging infrastructure of the port Contaminating port facilities with a chemical weapon or a dirty bomb Vehicle-borne IEDs and pier-side release or detonation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been identified to be the prominent land threats to port operations. Vehicle borne IEDs are improvised explosive devices carried either in a vehicle or inside a shipping container. IEDs can be made easily from readily available materials. The delivery of such devices is noted to be either by personnel (suicide bombers) or vehicles. From the various IED bombing incidents on 1 October 2005 in Bali, Indonesia, on 9 September 2004 at the Australia Embassy in Indonesia, on 5 August 2003 at the Marriott Hotel in Indonesia, and on 19 April 1995 in Oklahoma City in the United States, it was noted that vehicle borne IEDs are preferred mode of terrorist operation as it has enough explosive power to cause significant damage to infrastructure which, in the case of a port, may severely impact port operation. WMDs are weapons that possess the capacity to inflict extensive damage to infrastructure or the populace, or deny the use of critical geography through contamination. The successful deployment of a weapon of mass destruction would result in large economic loss and/or loss of life.Source: Port Security Affirmative

CLAIM 4

Having a slow and busy train system is the key reason that the US can’t compete with other countries.

BAF Educational Fund, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials dedicated to bringing about a new era of U.S. investment in infrastructure, 2011(“Building America’s Future Educational Fund, “Building America’s Future: Falling Apart and Falling Behind”, August, http://www.bafuture.org/sites/default/files/Report_0.pdf, DOA: 4-10-12)

Economic growth now depends on American businesses’ ability to participate in this growing global trade, and moving freight cheaply, easily, and reliably is now more directly related to the overall health of our economy than ever. As much as 60% of American-made products are now exported, and so the success of the manufacturing sector depends on our ability to export what we make here and sell it in the global marketplace. Billions of dollars’ worth of goods move around this country every day, by rail, truck, and air, to and from manufacturing plants, packaging centers, warehouses and distribution facilities, cargo airports and international shipping terminals. The supply chain now spans the globe, and a significant contributor to the American economy is the ability to transport goods cheaply, efficiently, and reliably across national corridors to and from international gateways. An explosion in shipping from China has fundamentally altered global shipping patterns and increased congestion at major U.S. ports. The expansion of the Panama Canal currently underway will direct more mega-ships from Asia directly to our east coast ports—but only if they are deep enough to accommodate the new supertankers. The surge in global trade is expanding and realigning American business transportation needs. International merchandise and goods are now transported in shipping containers, which can be moved, packed full of goods, and directly transferred from a ship to a truck or a train. New trade features and patterns are straining access to and from ports, increasing the need for sophisticated logistics to oversee more complicated supply chains, and making “intermodal”— involving one or more types of transport— the new necessity for 21st-century freight transportation. This is how business is done in the 21st century, but the U.S. is falling behind. Our freight transportation system was not built for the explosive growth of coast-to coast shipping and international trade experienced over the past two decades, and our economically vital gateways and corridors—our primary port, road, and rail routes for shipping goods in and out of the country—now operate at or over capacity. Congestion plagues our freight corridors and acts as a drag on the American economy as a whole. In Chicago, the nation’s biggest rail center, congestion is so bad that it takes a freight train longer to get through the city limits than it does to get to Los Angeles. 3 Freight bottlenecks and other forms of congestion cost about $200 billion, or 1.6% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a year.Source: High Speed Rail Affirmative

146

Week 2The second week of novice practices will focus on understanding the affirmative files. The activities you’ll find in this section build on the argumentation skills learned in Week 1 while simultaneously teaching the affirmative evidence. Again, you can adapt these activities to any case (use them for both the Fall and Winter season affirmatives!), and you can also use them with the more experienced divisions.

Learning the Affirmative - Four Corners

Students will review the difference between a claim and a warrant while learning the major claims and warrants of the affirmative case. During this activity, students will hear the case’s claims, decide to what extent they agree or disagree with the claim, and be asked to provide a warrant as their reasoning.

SWBAT Make a complete argument (claim + warrant) about concepts related to the Mass Transit affirmative.


Procedure Pass out the “Is the Claim True? Learning the Affirmative” handout. Have students read Claim 1 and the card that supports it. Then have

them choose a corner depending on how strongly they agree or disagree with the claim.

At each corner, the students should discuss their reasons (warrants) for agreeing or disagreeing with the claim.

At least one student from each corner should share out. Repeat for the following claims.

Time 10-15 minutes




Materials “Is the Claim True? Learning the Affirmative” handout. See page 148.Four Corners signs. See page 100.

147

Is the Claim True? Learning the Mass Transit Affirmative


CLAIM 1Lack of public transportation (busses and trains) and the development of highways creates communities segregated along racial lines.

Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres, Ph.D. in Sociology at Iowa State University; Associate Professor at Clark Atlanta University; Geographic Information Systems Training Specialist, 2004("Highway Robbery Transportation Racism And New Routes to Equity", Page 3-5)

Transportation systems do not spring up out of thin air. They are planned and, in many cases, planned poorly when it comes to people of color. Conscious decisions determine the location of freeways, bus stops, fueling stations, and train stations. Decisions to build highways, expressways, and beltways have far-reaching effects on land us e , energy policies, and the environment. Decisions by county commissioners to bar the extension of public transit to job-rich economic activity centers in suburban counties and instead spend their transportation dollars on repairing and expanding the nation's roads have serious mobility implications for central city residents. Together, all these transportation decisions shape United States metropolitan areas, growth patterns, physical mobility, and economic opportunities.' These same transportation policies have also aided , and in some cases subsidized, racial, economic, and environmental inequities as evidenced by the segregated housing and spatial layout of our central cities and suburbs. It is not by chance that millions of Americans have been socially isolated and relegated to economically depressed and deteriorating central cities and that transportation apartheid has been created. An Affair with the Automobile Over the past 75 years, automobile production and highway construction have multiplied, while urban mass transit systems have been dismantled or allowed to fall into disrepair. The American automobile culture was spurred by massive government investments in roads (3 million miles) and interstate highways (45,000 miles). Automobiles account for 28 percent of our nation's energy consumption. Transportation consumes 67 percent of the petroleum used in the United States.' And over 75 percent of transportation energy is used by highway vehicles. From 1998 to 1999, US gasoline consumption rose by 2.5 percent and vehicle miles traveled increased by 1.4 percent. More cars on the road has meant more pollution, traffic congestion, wasted energy, urban sprawl, residential segregation, and social disruption. Indeed, not all Americans have received the same benefits from the massive road and highway spending over the past several decades. Generally, the benefits of highways are widely dispersed among the many travelers who drive them, while the burdens of those roads are more localized. Having a seven-lane freeway next door, for instance, is not a benefit to someone who does not even own a car. People of color are twice as likely to use nonautomotive modes of travel public transit, walking, and biking to get to work, as compared to their white counterparts. In urban areas, African Americans and Latinos comprise 54 percent of transit users (62 percent of bus riders, 35 percent of subway riders, and 29 percent of commuter riders).5Source: Mass Transit Affirmative-Novice, Pg. 5

CLAIM 2

Increasing investment in mass transit is crucial to decreasing social inequality and creating change

Eric Mann et al, members of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, 2006(Eric Mann, Kikanza Ramsey, Barbara Lott-Holland, and Geoff Ray, “An Environmental Justice Strategy for Urban Transportation”. http://urbanhabitat.org/files/ 1%20Eric%20Mann.pdf)

Mass Transit: The Heart of the New Revolution Transportation is a great multifaceted issue around which to build a movement, because it touches so many aspects of people’s lives. Transportation affects public health, access to jobs, childcare, housing, medical care, education, and more. It is inextricably tied to the history of the civil rights movement now and in the past. Now it has taken on a life and death urgency because of the public health crisis and global warming brought on by the automobile. Public transportation can be a great unifier—bringing together people of all races and classes who seek a saner, healthier world in which wars for oil and energy are exposed and opposed.Source: Mass Transit Affirmative-Novice, Pg.7

CLAIM 3

148

Reason that people don’t use public transportation is because it is not available – plan could resolve this

Weyrich and Lind 2003 (Paul M. and William S., “How Transit Benefits People Who Do Not Ride It: A Conservative Inquiry”, October,

http://www.apta.com/gap/policyresearch/Documents/how_transit_benefits.pdf)A major reason why Americans do not use public transportation at the same rate as Europeans is that good public transportation is not available. As we noted in an earlier study, only about one-half of all Americans have any public transit service, and only about one-quarter haveservice they call “satisfactory.”34 In most cases, high quality transit – transit good enough to draw riders from choice – means rail transit. That, in turn, usually means electrified railways,if the rail transit system is carrying lots of passengers.

Source: Mass Transit Affirmative – Novice, Pg. 11

CLAIM 4Current transportation policies exclude poor neighborhoods from jobs and opportunities

Center for Social Inclusion 2006(“Racism and Racial Discrimination in the U.S.: Federal Disinvestment in Opportunity for Marginalized Communities”. The Center for Social Inclusion is a national policy strategy organization that works to dismantle structural racial inequity and increase well-being for all. http://www.assetfunders.org/library/documents/CSIonUSandCERD.pdf)

In all of the public spheres listed in Article 1, U.S. policies create conditions that disproportionately exclude marginalized communities and groups from enjoying fundamental freedoms and opportunities, such as good jobs and good schools. Some policies may be facially race-neutral but perpetuate the historic racial exclusion that is embedded in our institutions. Present-day federal transportation, housing, education and fiscal policies perpetuate the racial exclusion that was built into federal policies from the 1930s through 50s – policies that created middle-class White suburbs and poor, non-White inner-city neighborhoods. While the incomes and racial identities of cities and suburbs have been changing, people of color continue to be deeply isolated from opportunities. Poor people of color are much more likely than poor Whites to live in concentrated poverty neighborhoods that lack opportunities, like good jobs, good schools, and quality services. Concentrated poverty neighborhoods are neighborhoods where at least 20% (rural) or 40% (urban) of the population lives at or below the federal poverty level.3More than two-thirds of people living in concentrated urban poverty are Black or Latino, even though they are one-fourth of the US population.4 In rural America, half of poor rural Blacks and Native Americans live in concentrated poverty and 27% of all poor rural Latinos live in areas of high poverty.5 Gulf Coast states have high rates of concentrated poverty compared to the rest of the country (26% in Alabama, 41% in Louisiana, and 41% in Mississippi).6 More than 1 out of every 10 neighborhoods in New York City is a concentrated poverty neighborhood (248 total, or 11.2% of all neighborhoods) and these neighborhoods are predominately people of color (87.5% of these neighborhoods are over 80% non-White). Of the 923,113 people living in concentrated poverty in New York, 37.1% are Black and 49.7% Latino, compared to 8.4% White.7 (See Appendix A for a map of concentrated poverty in neighborhoods of color in New York City). o Very poor neighborhoods of color have far less to no jobs in their neighborhoods compared to other areas of the City. (See Appendix B for a map showing the relationship between concentrated poverty, neighborhoods of color, and location of jobs).

Source: Mass Transit Affirmative – Novice, Pg. 8

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Learning the Affirmative - Evidence Scavenger Hunt

The Evidence Scavenger Hunt will expose novice debaters to the format and content of the case files. They will become familiar with the layout of a card (a piece of evidence), be able to identify a tagline (the bolded summary at the top of the card), and do more practice with claims and warrants. Evidence Scavenger Hunts are important because they make reading cards a fun activity, and they teach debaters how to scan evidence for important content.

SWBAT Find evidence (a warrant) in the card that supports its tagline.

Claims/ Warrants See handout

Activity Evidence Scavenger Hunt. See page 104.

Procedure Hand out the Find the Evidence! worksheet (See page 151). Students should fill in the middle column (“Identify the card…”) with

the page number, author’s last name, and date. Students should fill in the rightmost column (“Warrant”) with a

sentence or two that supports the tagline. The first row is completed as an example. An answer key can be found

on page 152.

Note: This activity can also be done in pairs or small groups.

Time 25 minutes.


Circulate the room and assist students in completing their worksheets.

Materials Find the Evidence! (Mass Transit Aff) worksheet. See page 151. Core Files

150

Find the Evidence!Mass Transit Aff

Directions: First, read the tagline and find the card it comes from. Then, find a piece of evidence (warrant) in that card that supports the tagline. The first one is done for you.

Tagline Identify the Card it Comes From Warrant (Supporting Statement/Evidence)

Current transportation infrastructure policy spends billions on highways …

Pg. 4 – Rotker, 2007 Conversations about “infrastructure” routinely focus on building, maintaining, and expanding highways, treating public transit as an afterthought at best.

Current lack of public transportation creates communities segregated along racial lines.

Failure to address transportation inequality guarantees cycles of poverty

Increasing investment in mass transit is crucial to decrease social inequality and create movements for change.

Change in federal funding is the crucial issue.

151

Find the Evidence! - Mass Transit Aff – ANSWER KEY





Pg. 5 – Bullards, Johnson, and Torres, 2004

It is not by chance that millions of Americans have been socially isolated to economically depressed central cities and that transportation apartheid has been created.


Pg. 6 – Ohnmacht et al, 2009 The lack of mobility facilities prevents people from access to education, the labour market, etc. Poverty and deprivation structures are thus mutually reinforced.


Pg. 7 – Mann et al, 2006 Transportation affects public health, access to jobs, childcare, housing, medical care, education, and more.

Change in federal funding is the crucial issue.


Cutbacks in mass transit subsidies have the potential to further isolate the poor in inner-city neighborhoods from areas experiencing job growth.

152

Learning the Affirmative - Table Debate

Like the Evidence Scavenger Hunt, the Warrant Debate gets students familiar with the cards, taglines, claims, and warrants. However, it also gives students one of their first debating experiences. In debate, they will often hear the term “weigh” to describe the process of evaluating and comparing opposing evidence, harms, impacts, etc. The Warrant Debate will get them to weigh the warrants of the affirmative case. They will need to verbally defend why their warrant is the most compelling warrant in the group. As they debate in this activity, they will become more familiar with the claims and warrants of the affirmative case, and they will get more comfortable with verbalizing their thoughts about the evidence.

SWBAT Understand each cards claim (tagline) and weigh the warrants that support the claim within the text.



Procedure Hand out the What’s the Best Warrant? worksheet See page 154. Put students into pairs. Randomly assign one person to defend “1” and

the other person to defend “2.” For each card and claim on the worksheet, they will debate which of the two warrants is the best.

Follow the procedures for a standard Warrant Debate.

Tip: Remind students that they are not arguing whether the claim is true or not. Instead, they need to argue that their warrant is the best reason for believing the claim to be true.

Time 4 minutes per claim.


During prep-time – assist students with developing two reasons why their warrant best proves the claim is true.

During the speeches – circulate around the room, listening for things you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later.

Debriefing – share one overall positive and address one overall concern in a teachable manner.

Materials What’s the Best Warrant? (Mass Transit Aff) worksheet. See page 154.

153

What’s the Best Warrant?Mass Transit Aff

Directions: Read the two warrants for each claim listed below. Your coach will assign you to defend one of them, and you’ll have to tell your table debate opponent why your warrant is the best warrant to support that claim. Refer to the card to help you make your argument.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 4, Rotker, 2007Claim: Current transportation infrastructure policy spends billions on highways while ignoring public transit. This situation is discriminatory against the poor and communities of color.Warrants: 1) For decades, the federal government have lavished billions upon billions of dollars on highway construction,

while funding for mass transit lags far behind.2) Governmental disregard of transit strands low-income persons and communities of color, often in inner cities

through also in rural areas, while job growth, economic development, and housing migrate to wealthier, whiter suburbs.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 5, Bullard, Johnson, and Torres 2004Claim: Current lack of public transportation creates communities segregated along racial lines. Transportation directly influences the special layout of communities.Warrants:1) These same transportation policies have also aided racial iniquities as evidenced by segregated housing and

spatial layout. It is not by chance that millions of Americans have been socially isolated to economically depressed central cities and that transportation apartheid has been created.

2) Not all Americans have received the same benefits from road and highway spending. People of color are twice as likely to use nonautomotive modes of travel as compared to their white counterparts.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 6, Ohnmacht et al 2009Claim: Failure to address transportation inequality guarantees cycles of povertyWarrants:1) Social inequity is evident in terms of social deprivation that may occur both caused by lack of access to

mobility and as a consequence of mobility-related degradation of living conditions.2) The lack of mobility facilities prevents people from access to education, the labor market, etc.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 7, Bullard, Johnson, and Torres 2004Claim: Change in federal funding is the crucial issueWarrants:1) Many federally subsidized transportation infrastructure projects cut wide paths through low-income and

people of color neighborhoods. They physically isolate residents from their institutions.2) Cutbacks in mass transit subsidies have the potential to further isolate the poor in inner-city neighborhoods

from areas experiencing job growth.

154

Week 3The third week of novice practices will focus on understanding the negative files. The activities you’ll find in this section build on the argumentation skills learned in Week 1 while simultaneously teaching the negative evidence. Instead of merely asserting arguments, students will also practice responding to arguments in defensive and offensive ways.

Learning the Negative - Evidence Scavenger Hunt

The Evidence Scavenger Hunt will expose novice debaters to the format and content of the case files. They will become familiar with the layout of a card (a piece of evidence), be able to identify a tagline (the bolded summary at the top of the card), and do more practice with claims and warrants. Evidence Scavenger Hunts are important because they make reading cards a fun activity, and they teach debaters how to scan evidence for important content.




Procedure Hand out the Find the Evidence! worksheet (See page 156). Students should fill in the middle column (“Identify the card…”) with

the page number, author’s last name, and date. Students should fill in the rightmost column (“Warrant”) with a

sentence or two that supports the tagline. The first row is completed as an example. An answer key can be found

on page 157.

Note: This activity can also be done in pairs or small groups.

Time 25 minutes.



Materials Find the Evidence! (Mass Transit Neg) Worksheet. See page 156. Core Files

155

Find the Evidence!Mass Transit Neg



The most recent studies indicate that segregation is declining in the US

Pg. 3 – Ariosto, 2012 Segregation of African-Americans in cities and towns across the United States has dropped to its lowest level in more than a century, according to a recent study.

People are moving back into the cities now due to high transport costs.

Lack of education is the main cause of poverty, not transportation.

Mass Transit feeds reduce social welfare – empirically proven.

Mass transit attracts increased crime.

156

Find the Evidence! - Mass Transit Neg – ANSWER KEYTagline Identify the Card it Comes From Warrant (Supporting Statement/Evidence)




Pg. 4 – Kidd, 2012 The exodus of buyers to the outlying suburbs is over. The annual rate of growth in American cities and surrounding urban areas has now surpassed that of the suburbs for the first time in over 20 years.


Pg. 5 – Bailey, 2003 High school dropouts suffer a long-term poverty rate of 14.2 percent, while high school grads have only a 3.8 percent long-term poverty rate.

Mass Transit feeds reduce social welfare – empirically proven.

Pg. 6 – Maheshri, 2006 Every US transit system actually reduces social welfare. Worse, we cannot identify an optimal pricing policy or physical restructuring of the rail network that would enhance any system’s social desirability without effectively eliminating its service.

Mass transit attracts increased crime.

Pg. 9 – Stoller, 2011 The areas outside airports and central train stations have a higher likelihood of crime

157

Learning the Negative - Round Robin Debate

SWBAT Use particular pieces of negative evidence to attack the affirmative. Defend against negative attacks.

Claims/ Warrants The most recent studies indicate that segregation is declining in the US (Mass Transit Negative, pg. 3)

People are moving back into the cities now due to high transport costs. (Mass Transit Negative, pg. 4)

Mass transit attracts increased crime(Mass Transit Negative, pg. 9)

Activity Round Robin Debate. See page 125.

Procedure This is a modified Round Robin Debate activity:

1) Person A is assigned a particular piece of negative evidence. In her first speech, all she does is read this card.

2) Person B makes affirmative responses to that piece of evidence.3) Prep time.4) Person A answers person B’s points, using as much information from

the original piece of text as possible.5) Person B delivers a rebuttal.6) Person C acts as a judge and gives feedback on all the speeches.7) The roles rotate and a new piece of evidence becomes the focus of the

debate.

Time 15-25 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with developing warrants for their claim.

During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later.

Debriefing: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a teachable manner.

Materials Round Robin Debate worksheet. See page 129. Core Files.

158

Preparing for the First Tournament - Shortened Debate Round

SWBAT Practice the motions and procedures of a debate round.

Claims/ Warrants N/A

Activity Shortened Debate Round

Procedure Note: Speech times and a diagram of “tournament configuration” desks are on the handout following this page.

1) Put the desks in tournament configuration.2) Assign experienced debaters and student leaders/mentors to serve

as judges.3) Have students deliver shortened speeches based on the novice

case files. There might be multiple shortened debate rounds happening at once, depending on how many novice debaters are on your team.

4) Circulate around the room as the speeches are delivered. Remember to keep time and give verbal warnings as the clock runs down. Instead of students requesting prep time (as they would in a typical round), give one minute of prep time before the 2AC, the 2NC, the 2NR, and the 2AR. Use the words “prep time” so debaters get familiar with the concept.

5) Group debrief. Do a Four Corners Activity to understand the debaters’ reactions. Some prompts are: “I felt confident about giving my speech, I felt nervous about reading in front of the judge, Cross-X was my favorite part, I am worried about giving an 8 minute speech.”

6) Give positive feedback based on what you, the judges, and the student leaders/mentors heard during the speeches.

Time 35 minutes


During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening to students’ answers and assisting with any struggles OR serve as a judge and prepare to give feedback to the students.

Debriefing: Share out positive things you saw during the round and explain why they were good things to say/do.

Materials Novice Case Files “This is a Debate Round!” Handout. See page 160.

159

This is a Debate Round!

Full Speech Times

1AC 1NC 2AC 2NC 1NR 1AR 2NR 2AR1st

Affirmative Constructive

1st

Negative Constructive

2nd

Affirmative Constructive

2nd

Negative Constructive

1st

Negative Rebuttal

1st

Affirmative Rebuttal

2nd

Negative Rebuttal

2nd

Affirmative Rebuttal

8 minutes 8 minutes 8 minutes 8 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutesFollowed by:

3 minute CX2NC

cross-examines

1AC

Followed by:

3 minute CX1AC

cross-examines

1NC

Followed by:

3 minute CX1NC

cross-examines

2AC

Followed by:

3 minute CX2AC

cross-examines

2NC

Prep time: 8 minutes per team. Prep time can be used at any time except for before CX.

Shortened Speech Times (For practice rounds. Your coach may adjust these as s/he sees fit!)

1AC 1NC 2AC 2NC 1NR 1AR 2NR 2AR3 minutes 3 minutes 3 minutes 3 minutes 1.5 minutes 1.5 minutes 1.5 minutes 1.5 minutes

1.5 minute

CX

1.5 minute

CX

1.5 minute

CX

1.5 minute

CXPrep time: 4 minutes per team. Prep time can be used at any time except for before CX.

Tournament Desk Configuration

160

JUDGE

1A 2A 1N 2N

Part 5: Practice Lesson Plans

In this Section:The Affirmative Case.................................................................162

Answering the Affirmative Case ..................................................178

Counterplans............................................................................226

Disadvantages..........................................................................196

Kritiks.....................................................................................244

Topicality.................................................................................270

161

The Affirmative CaseLearning the Affirmative Case in the JV-V divisions is much like learning the Affirmative Case in the Novice division. However, starting in JV, debaters learn about the stock issues (the central aspects of a case).

The lessons and activities in this section will deal with the stock issues, and learning the Port Security and Mass Transit cases. As always, these activities can be applied to cases beyond the two that are described here.

162

The Stock Issues

The Stock Issues refer to the central aspects of a case. They are referred to as: Topicality, Harms, Inherency, Significance, and Solvency.

Here is an explanation of The Stock Issues using the Mass Transit Affirmative.

Stock Issue Question it Asks ExampleTopicality How is the plan a resolution of the

topic?Make sure the plan applies to the resolution. Topicality (the idea that the plan applies to the resolution) is taken for granted unless the negative runs a topicality argument against the affirmative. Unless the negative runs topicality, the affirmative does not need to explicitly explain why it is topical.

Harms What is the problem? Homelessness , especially among families with children, is climbing sharply.

Inherency Why isn’t something being done about it?

State and local budgets are tight because of the bad economy, which has caused them to cut their assistance budgets. Assistance budgets fund aid projects, housing shelters, etc.

Significance Why does the problem matter? Homeless youth are vulnerable to a wide array of hazards, including physicalabuse, sexual exploitation, health and mental health problems, drug and alcoholdependency, and even death on the streets.

Solvency How can we solve the problem? Housing First is a strategy that attempts to find permanent housing for homelesspeople even before their underlying problems are resolved. The theory is that oncepeople have some permanent housing to rely upon, they are better positioned todeal with their other issues, like unemployment, mental health, and addictions.

163

The Stock Issues – Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Students will review the Stock Issues while learning the major parts of the Affirmative Case.

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

None

Understand the Stock Issues and be introduced to the Affirmative Case


Procedure Pass out the affirmative case from the Core Files. Pass out the “Find the Evidence! Learning the Stock Issues” worksheet.

(See page 165.) Have students work in pairs to complete the Evidence Scavenger Hunt

worksheet. Share out. Answer keys for Mass Transit and Port Security can be found

on page 165 and page 166.

Time 10-15 minutes


During the activity: Assist students in completing their worksheets. Debriefing: Share one overall positive and address one overall concern in

a teachable manner.

Materials “Find the Evidence! Learning the Stock Issues” worksheet. See page 165.

Core Files

164

Find the Evidence! Learning the Stock Issues

Directions: Take out your affirmative case files. Find evidence that supports each stock issue and record it in the “Case Text” column. (Note: Because topicality only needs to be explicitly stated if the negative runs a topicality argument, it has been left off of this worksheet.)

Stock Issue Question it Asks Case TextHarms What is the problem?


Significance Why does the problem matter?

Solvency How can we solve the problem?

Find the Evidence - Mass Transit – ANSWER KEY165

Stock Issue Question it Asks Case TextHarms What is the problem? Current lack of public transportation creates

communities segregated along racial lines. Transportation directly influences the special layout of communities.

(Pg. 5, Bullard, Johnson, and Torres 2004


Current transportation infrastructure policy spends billions on highways while ignoring public transit. This situation is discriminatory against the poor and communities of color.

(Pg. 4, Rotker 2007)

Significance Why does the problem matter? Failure to address transportation inequality guarantees cycles of poverty.

(Pg. 7, Ohnmacht et al 2009)

And reliance on cars locks in a system of dependence and directly causes many deaths every year.

(Pg. 7, Bly 2011)

Solvency How can we solve the problem? Increasing investment in mass transit is crucial to decrease social inequality and create movements for change.

(Pg. 8, Mann et al 2006)

Find the Evidence – Port Security – ANSWER KEY

166

Stock Issue Question it Asks Case TextHarms What is the problem? The risk of a terror attack involving weapons

of mass destruction is increasing.

(Pg. 6, Galluci 2012)


Congress will not act to improve port security now.

(Pg. 5, Stamford Advocate 2012)

Significance Why does the problem matter? Use of WMD in a port will destroy nearby population centers.

(Pg. 8, Haveman and Shatz 2006)

A successful nuclear terrorist attack would cause a police state.

(Pg. 8, Sid-Ahmed 2004)

Solvency How can we solve the problem? Increasing investment will protect ports

(Pg. 9, Keefer 2008)

Learning the Affirmative - Evidence Scavenger Hunt

167

Prior Knowledge None




Procedure Hand out the Find the Evidence! worksheet (Mass Transit see page 169, Port Security see page 172).

Hand out the affirmative case evidence from the Core Files Have students work in pairs to complete the worksheet Debrief. Answer keys for Mass Transit and Port Security can be found


Time 25 minutes.



Materials Find the Evidence! Worksheet. Mass Transit see page 169, Port Security see page 172.

Core Files

168

Find the Evidence!Mass Transit Aff


Tagline Identify the Card it Comes From

Warrant (Supporting Statement/Evidence)

Current transportation infrastructure policy spends billions on highways while ignoring public transit. This situation is discriminatory against the poor and communities of color.




169

Reliance on cars locks in a system of dependence and directly causes many deaths every year


Investing in mass transit could significantly reduce urban sprawl by reducing reliance on cars.

Road focused transportation leads to air pollution and health problems.

Expanding mass transit substantially decreases obesity and health care costs.

170

Find the Evidence!- Mass Transit Aff – ANSWER KEY






It is not by chance that millions of Americans have been socially isolated to economically depressed central cities and that transportation apartheid has been created.


Pg. 7 – Ohnmacht et al, 2009 The lack of mobility facilities prevents people from access to education, the labour market, etc. Poverty and deprivation structures are thus mutually reinforced.

Reliance on cars locks in a system of dependence and directly causes many deaths every year

Pg. 7 – Bly, 2011 Cars have created and continue to reinforce a system that is almost completely reliant on them. This system externalizes its costs onto the environment and victims of ‘auto accidents’


Pg. 8 – Mann et al, 2006 Transportation affects public health, access to jobs, childcare, housing, medical care, education, and more.

Investing in mass transit could significantly reduce urban sprawl by reducing reliance on cars.

Pg. 9 – Pollard, 2004 The level of investment in various transportation modes is an important influence on land development and transportation patterns.

Road focused transportation leads to air pollution and health problems.

Pg. 11 – Pollard, 2004 Road-centered transportation investment policies have had severe air pollution impacts as well. Motor vehicles are a major source of pollutants such as carbon monoxide and smog-causing nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Expanding mass transit substantially decreases obesity and health care costs.

Pg. 13 – Treasury Department 2012 Increasing the public’s use of light rail transit would benefit health to the extent it causes increased physical activity, a reduction in the incidence of obesity, and a reduction in the odds of becoming obese.

171

Find the Evidence!Port Security Aff




Congress will not act to improve port security now

Pg. 5

Stamford Advocate, 2012

The maritime businesses should not expect any industry-related legislation soon from Congress the impasse will continue.

Undetected entry through US ports is easy now – screening is inadequate

Increasing investment will protect ports

172

Any nuclear attack would devastate the global economy

Department of Homeland Security is not scanning containers

Al Qaeda is still a threat – Complacency about Osama’s death increases the risk al Qaeda will rebound

New advances in screening technology means no delays

173

Find the Evidence! – Port Security Aff – ANSWER KEY



Congress will not act to improve port security now

Pg. 5 - Stamford Advocate, 2012 The maritime businesses should not expect any industry-related legislation soon from Congress the impasse will continue.

Undetected entry through US ports is easy now – screening is inadequate

Pg. 7 - Kouri, 2012 The vast majority of cargo containers entering the U.S. go unchecked.The DHS agency responsible for screening cargo, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), still lacks the ability to check 100% of the containers that enter the U.S. through seaports each day.

Increasing investment will protect ports

Pg. 9 - Keefer, 2008 Priority should be given to effective security solutions that complement and improve the business processes already in place, and which build a foundation for 21st century global trade.

Any nuclear attack would devastate the global economy

Pg. 10 - Weinzierl, 2004 Estimates of the direct economic cost of one potential scenario-a crude nuclear device detonated in lower Manhattan-range well over $ 1 trillion.

Department of Homeland Security is not scanning containers

Pg. 11 - Richardson, 2012 The Department of Homeland Security has been inherently slow in addressing the need to scanning containers before they enter U.S. ports and have not made any substantial efforts to study what is needed to need to keep our ports safe from a terrorist attack.

Al Qaeda is still a threat – Complacency about Osama’s death increases the risk al Qaeda will rebound

Pg. 23 - Boot, 2011 Al Qaeda is not the only terrorist organization we have to worry about. Other Islamist extremists are capable of planning attacks with scant direction or assistance from Al Qaeda Central

New advances in screening technology means no delays

Pg. 26 – Nadler, Markey and, Thompson, 2012

Trials of new, American-made technology have demonstrated that scanning all containers would be feasible at many ports. Cost and technology have never been the primary obstacles to meeting this mandate.

174

Learning the Affirmative - Table Debate





Procedure Hand out the What’s the Best Warrant? worksheet (Mass Transit see page 176, Port Security see page 177).

Put students into pairs. Randomly assign one person to defend “1” and the other person to defend “2.” For each card and claim on the worksheet, they will debate which of the two warrants is the best.

Follow the procedures for a standard Table Debate.







Materials What’s the Best Warrant? Worksheet. Mass Transit see page 176, Port Security see page 177.

175

What’s the Best Warrant?Mass Transit Aff


Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 4, Rotker, 2007Claim: Current transportation infrastructure policy spends billions on highways while ignoring public transit. This situation is discriminatory against the poor and communities of color.Warrants: 3) For decades, the federal government have lavished billions upon billions of dollars on highway construction,

while funding for mass transit lags far behind.4) Governmental disregard of transit strands low-income persons and communities of color, often in inner cities

through also in rural areas, while job growth, economic development, and housing migrate to wealthier, whiter suburbs.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 5, Bullard, Johnson, and Torres 2004Claim: Current lack of public transportation creates communities segregated along racial lines. Transportation directly influences the special layout of communities.Warrants:3) These same transportation policies have also aided racial iniquities as evidenced by segregated housing and

spatial layout. It is not by chance that millions of Americans have been socially isolated to economically depressed central cities and that transportation apartheid has been created.

4) Not all Americans have received the same benefits from road and highway spending. People of color are twice as likely to use nonautomotive modes of travel as compared to their white counterparts.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 8, Bullard, Johnson, and Torres 2004Claim: Change in federal funding is the crucial issueWarrants:3) Many federally subsidized transportation infrastructure projects cut wide paths through low-income and

people of color neighborhoods. They physically isolate residents from their institutions.4) Cutbacks in mass transit subsidies have the potential to further isolate the poor in inner-city neighborhoods

from areas experiencing job growth.

Card: Mass Transit Affirmative, Pg. 10, Grabkowski, 2012Claim: Urban sprawl destroys the environment and causes a variety of social illsWarrants:1) Rapid development can negatively affect wildlife by tearing down, clearing, or building over its habitat,

potentially threatening survival. 2) When residents relocate the city’s poorest residents are left behind. This creates economic disparity and

stratification based upon location. It also creates funding problems for the core, which directly affects the money available for education, crime prevention, and maintenance and upkeep.

176

What’s the Best Warrant?Port Security Aff


Card: Port Security Affirmative, Pg. 6, Lt. Morgan James et al, 2007Claim: And a lack of security means terrorists could detonate a weapon of mass destruction – WMD – in a US portWarrants: 5) Pier-side release or detonation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been identified to be the

prominent land threats to port operations6) The successful deployment of a weapon of mass destruction would result in large economic loss and/or loss of

life.

Card: Port Security Affirmative, Pg. 9, Keefer, 2008Claim: Increasing investment will protect portsWarrants:5) Priority should be given to effective security solutions that complement and improve the business processes

already in place, and which build a foundation for 21st century global trade. 6) Technology plays a particularly important role in providing for screening of cargo at the critical nodes of the

supply chain through data acquisition, delivery, and analysis.

Card: Port Security Affirmative, Pg. 10, Weinzierl, 2004Claim: Any nuclear attack would devastate the global economyWarrants:5) Nuclear terrorism presents an unparalleled threat to the United States.6) Economic impact presents an unparalleled threat to the United States.

Card: Port Security Affirmative, Pg. 17, Lt. Morgan James et al, 2007Claim: WMDs can be moved through shipping containersWarrants:3) It is possible for terrorist to infiltrate a shipping container in the container’s country of origin and travel inside

the container to its destination with WMDs.4) If the terrorists are not detected, they will have unauthorized access to the importing nation, enabling them to

execute malicious intentions.

Card: Port Security Affirmative, Pg. 17, Lt. Morgan James et al, 2007Claim: An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on a port will directly shut it downWarrants:1) If the ports’ cranes lost power, the port would lose ship on-load and off-load capabilities. An attack on a fuel storage location would likely causes severe pollution.

177

Answering the Affirmative CaseWhen you’re answering the affirmative, there are certain techniques you can use. This section will discuss on-case arguments (arguments that specifically answer the Stock Issues). Later, you’ll learn about off-case arguments—like disadvantages, counterplans, and kritiks—which are general arguments that can be applied to a number of different affirmative cases.

The lessons and activities in this section will deal with answering the stock issues, and learning the Port Security and Mass Transit negative cases. As always, these activities can be applied to cases beyond the two that are described here.

178

Attacking the Stock Issues

As the negative, it is your job to prove that the plan is a bad idea. A great place to start is by making on-case arguments against the affirmative’s stock issues, i.e., inherency, harms, and solvency (topicality is also a stock issue but it is discussed elsewhere).

Example Case – Plan: Mandatory counseling for students caught bullying.

On-Case Argument Types Examples of On-Case Arguments

Inherency - There is a lot of school bullying and nothing we are doing now will stop it and it will not stop itself.

Non-Inherent (Inherency is often conceded):a) the problem is already being addressed – portrays the plan as overkill and thus a waste of resources.

b) the problem is understood and we are moving towards a solution – helps portray the negative as strategic and pragmatic and the affirmative as rash.

Non-Inherent:

a) The school system already has an anti-bullying program that is effectively training teachers on how to stop and identify bullying.b) The school districts new anti-bullying program, attacks the school culture at its roots. A permanent shift in the culture will take many years, but will be worth the wait; let’s be patient (this new plan will take the same amount of time, but started later).

Harms - Kids who are bullied hate school Drop Out

No harms – the problem identified by the affirmative is not a big deal.:a) magnitude/size of harm declining; situation improving (potentially because of current programs – simultaneous inherency and harm attack)

b) harm has a low risk or probability of occurring.

c) Weak internal links

No harms:

a) Anti-bullying programs are reducing the number of bullies and minimizing their impact.

b) It is rare that a student drops out of school because of bullying alone.

c) bullying hurts feelings, it does not create drop outs. In fact bullies are more likely to drop out than the bullied.

179

Harm Turn – the harm/problem is actually a good thing.

Harm Turn – More students need to be effected by bullying before our nation commits itself to eliminating bullying in all of its forms. Allowing bullying to continue will eventually result in the motivation for permanent change.

Solvency – Counseling will stop kids from bullying and if students are not bullied they will not drop out of school to avoid being bullied.

No solvency – the plan does not prevent/solve the problem:a) Only sounds good, plan insufficient – the plan may sound good but in reality there are many obstacles to solving the problem.

b) Alternate causality – other causes will cause the problem to continue even with the plan.

Solvency Turn – the affirmative’s plan will increase the harm.

No solvency:

a) Given the time and budget constraints of schools, counseling would not be consistent or long enough to have a lasting impact.

b) Bullies are created by abusive parents. Since, counseling students will not solve parental abuse., it will not stop bullying.

Solvency Turn: Bullies who attend counseling sessions will learn about psychology from working with a counselor which they will use against their victims; transforming physical violence into permanent psychological and emotional damage.

180

Answering Arguments with DR. MO

Answering arguments is hard but, you’re in luck because DR. MO will help you win MOre arguments.

D Deny Argue that the argument is simply untrue

R. Reverse Argue that the opposite of what they said is actually true (example: “They say that colonizing Mars will bring world peace, when in fact it will simply be another fighting ground for resource greedy nations”)

M Minimize Acknowledge that their argument may have some truth to it, but say that it really doesn’t matter as much as they say it does

O Outweigh Acknowledge that their argument may be true but something else matters much more than this tiny argument

Try DR. MO’s techniques by answering the sample arguments.

Sample Arguments Which DR. MO Technique?

D/R/M/O?

Answer

Downloading music for free is wrong.

Schools should regularly drug test their students because America has a drug problem.

181

The US should invade Canada

Owning nuclear weapons makes the US safe.

182

Learning the Negative Evidence by Stock Issue – Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge Students should know the stock issues and should be familiar with the affirmative case that corresponds with the negative evidence being used for this activity.

SWBAT Explain the arguments they would make to attack a particular stock issue, either harms or solvency, within the assigned affirmative’s case.

Claims/ Warrants N/A

Activity Four Speech Table Debate. See page 113.

Procedure In pairs, provide your students with a copy of “Answering Arguments with DR. MO” worksheet (see page 181).

Explain DR. MOs methods to your students and then have the students answer the sample arguments. When answering these sample arguments the students will have to identify which of DR. MOs techniques.

Before the activity begins students should work in pairs to select cards and/or create analytical arguments that address the affirmative’s harms or solvency. The card’s taglines or your analytical arguments should be pre-flowed on the given handout.

Then, in pairs, jot down the key bullet points of each affirmative card below its pre-flowed tag on the worksheet.

Proceed with a standard Four Speech Table Debate that starts in the 1AC. Prompt students to answer arguments through a variety of ways (analytical arguments, extending their evidence, using extensions, etc.).

Time 20 minutes


Before the activity – circulate around the room helping students

Materials “Answering Arguments with DR. MO” worksheet. See page 181.

Port Security Aff. & Neg. See Core Files. Table Debate Flow Sheet. See page 118.

183

Learning the Negative - Evidence Scavenger Hunt





Procedure Hand out the Find the Evidence! worksheet (Mass Transit Neg see page 185, Port Security Neg see page 188).

Hand out the affirmative case evidence from the Core Files Have students work in pairs to complete the worksheet Debrief. Answer keys for Mass Transit and Port Security can be found


Time 25 minutes.



Materials Find the Evidence! Worksheet. Mass Transit Neg see page 185, Port Security Neg see page 188.

Core Files

184

Find the Evidence!Mass Transit Neg








Instead of increasing centralization, mass transit increases emigration out of the city by allowing for short commutes.

185

Mass transit results in more, not less emissions

The harms of obesity are massively overblown – there’s no scientific basis for their claims

New car technology proves trend towards safety measures to prevent car accidents

The problem with racism and poverty is not mobility rather it’s residential segregation

Car culture is too essential to our society – alternatives won’t be taken seriously

186

Find the Evidence! - Mass Transit Neg – ANSWER KEY

Tagline Identify the Card it Comes From Warrant (Supporting Statement/Evidence)The most recent studies indicate that segregation is declining in the US



Pg. 4 – Kidd, 2012 The exodus of buyers to the outlying suburbs is over. The annual rate of growth in American cities and surrounding urban areas has now surpassed that of the suburbs for the first time in over 20 years.


Pg. 5 – Bailey, 2003 High school dropouts suffer a long-term poverty rate of 14.2 percent, while high school grads have only a 3.8 percent long-term poverty rate.

Instead of increasing centralization, mass transit increases emigration out of the city by allowing for short commutes.

Pg. 8 – Kambitsis, 2010 Despite the promise of creating more densely populated urban centers, rail could do quite the opposite by making it easier for people to live far from urban centers.

Mass transit results in more, not less emissions

Pg. 9 – O’Toole, 2009 Transit uses as much energy and generates nearly as much greenhouse gas per passenger mile as urban driving

The harms of obesity are massively overblown – there’s no scientific basis for their claims

Pg. 10 – Basham and Luik, 2006 The obesity epidemic is a myth manufactured by public health officials in concert with assorted academics and special-interest lobbyists.

New car technology proves trend towards safety measures to prevent car accidents

Pg. 12 – Washington Times, 2012 In a line of heavy traffic, the systems issue an alert if a car several vehicles ahead brakes hard even before the vehicle directly in front breaks. And the systems alert drivers when they’re at risk of rear-ending a slower-moving car.

The problem with racism and poverty is not mobility rather it’s residential segregation

Pg. 15 – Turner et al, 2009 Residential segregation continues to put considerable distance between minority workers—especially African Americans—and areas of greatest employment opportunity. Residential segregation also contributes to minorities’ unequal educational attainment, which reinforces their disadvantage in today’s market.

Car culture is too essential to our society – alternatives won’t be taken seriously

Pg. 16 - Vergragt, 2004 So far, each of these solutions has captured only a very small fraction of the market, with the car continuing to be the preferred solution for personal mobility. This is no surprise if we take into account the entrenchment of the car system.

187

Find the Evidence!Port Security Neg




Risks decreasing, alternative transportation methods solve, catastrophic impacts empirically denied

Pg. 4

Leamer and Thornberg, 2006

When added together, these factors mean that the disruption to the flow of goods as a result of a current terrorist attack could be roughly similar in size to the effect of a major port strike in the 1960s

Only a 1 in 80,000 chance of being killed by a terrorist

Al Qaeda has alienated its supporters

188

Military and police security measures have decimated Al Qaeda

No nuclear terror – terrorists cant acquire, build, or deliver a bomb

The risk of nuclear terrorism is low – it is too expensive for terrorist organizations

Enhanced port security leads to serious delays in shipping that harm the economy and national security

Enhanced port security leads to delays in shipping, undermining the economy

189

Find the Evidence! – Port Security Negative – ANSWER KEY



Risks decreasing, alternative transportation methods solve, catastrophic impacts empirically denied

Pg. 4 - Leamer and Thornberg, 2006 When added together, these factors mean that the disruption to the flow of goods as a result of a current terrorist attack could be roughly similar in size to the effect of a major port strike in the 1960s

Only a 1 in 80,000 chance of being killed by a terrorist

Pg. 5 – The New Republic, 2008 Mueller argues, the lifetime probability of any resident of the globe being killed by terrorism is just one in 80,000

Al Qaeda has alienated its supporters Pg. 6 – Riedel, 2011 And by killing thousands of fellow Muslims and blowing up civilians in the streets and markets of Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda has alienated its own constituents by drowning them in blood.

Military and police security measures have decimated Al Qaeda

Pg. 7 – Jenkins, 2011 Al Qaeda’s ranks have been decimated, its capabilities degraded, not only as a result of U.S. intelligence, military, and Special Operations.

No nuclear terror – terrorists cant acquire, build, or deliver a bomb

Pg. 8 – Chapman, 2012 The likelihood that a terrorist will come up with an atomic bomb seems vanishingly small.

The risk of nuclear terrorism is low – it is too expensive for terrorist organizations

Pg. 9 – Mueller, 2008 Financial costs could become monumental. There would be expensive equipment and people to pay.

Enhanced port security leads to serious delays in shipping that harm the economy and national security

Pg. 16 – Conrad et al, 2003 Requiring new security measures can change the time and cost required to import and export goods.

Enhanced port security leads to delays in shipping, undermining the economy

Pg. 17 – Lt. Morgan James et al2007

The port operators are primarily concerned with continued operation with minimal cost while maintaining an efficient and continuous flow of cargo. Since the port operators are profit-conscious, it is desired that the terminals continue to operate with minimal cost

190

Learning the Negative - Table Debate





Procedure Hand out the What’s the Best Warrant? worksheet (Mass Transit see page 192, Port Security see page 193).

Put students into pairs. Randomly assign one person to defend “1” and the other person to defend “2.” For each card and claim on the worksheet, they will debate which of the two warrants is the best.

Follow the procedures for a standard Table Debate.







Materials What’s the Best Warrant? Worksheet. Mass Transit see page 192, Port Security see page 193.

191

What’s the Best Warrant?Mass Transit Neg


Card: Mass Transit Negative, Pg. 9, O’Toole, 2009Claim: Mass transit results in more, not less emissionsWarrants: 1) Transit uses as much energy and generates nearly as much greenhouse gas per passenger mile as

urban driving.2) If auto manufacturers meet the Obama administration’s new fuel-economy standards for 2016, by

2025 the average car on the road will consume only 2,600 BTUs and emit only about 186 grams of C02 per passenger mile—considerably less than most transit systems.

Card: Mass Transit Negative, Pg. 11, Center for Consumer Freedom, 2008Claim: Obesity is a tiny health risk – their evidence is biased exaggerationWarrants:1) Now word comes from experts within the CDC that excess weight is about one-fifteenth as

dangerous as previously thought. 2) It turns out that the 70 million Americans who are technically ‘overweight’ have no

increased mortality risk.

Card: Mass Transit Negative, Pg. 15, Turner et al, 2009Claim: The problem with racism and poverty is not mobility rather it’s residential segregationWarrants:1) More recent evidence confirms that residential segregation continues to separate minorities from

centers of employment opportunity, and that this separation contributes to unequal employment outcomes.

2) Residential segregation also contributes to minorities’ unequal educational attainment, which reinforces their disadvantage in today’s labor market.

Card: Mass Transit Negative, Pg. 23, Hersh and Farrell, 2012Claim: The automobile industry is key to providing jobs, nearly 10% of recent jobs were directly created through the automobile industryWarrants:1) Nearly ten percent of the 120,000 U.S. jobs added in March were a result of strong growth in the

motor vehicles and parts manufacturing sector2) Without the Obama administration’s bold efforts to restructure the American auto industry,

not only would these auto industry jobs not exist, but hundreds of thousands of other jobs upstream and downstream from the auto industry would have disappeared as well

192

What’s the Best Warrant?Port Security Neg


Card: Port Security Negative, Pg. 5, The New Republic, 2008Claim: Only a 1 in 80,000 chance of being killed by a terroristWarrants:1) Americans have overestimated the probability of future terrorist strikes 2) Since September 11, international terrorism has killed only a few hundred people per year

around the globe

Card: Port Security Negative, Pg. 5, The New Republic, 2008Claim: Terrorism is not an existential threatWarrants:1) Existential is a threat that shakes the core of a society's confidence and causes a significant

and long-lasting line of damage to the country.2) Terrorism is merely killing certain numbers of people, then it's not an existential threat

Card: Port Security Negative, Pg. 13 Lt. Morgan James et al, 2007Claim: If a WMD is detected, the port will be shut-downWarrants:1) A detection or activation of a WMD in the port would result in the disruption all port

operations. 2) Importation of a WMD provides terrorists the ability to inflict severe damage in the

importing country.

Card: Port Security Negative, Pg. 13, Lt. Morgan James et al, 2007Claim: Detection devices don’t solve direct ship attacksWarrants: 1) Small boats loaded with explosives can penetrate the waterside of the port and detonate in

the port vicinity. 2) From the military point of view, a small boat attack would elevate the force protection level

of the ship.

193

Attacking the Stock Issues – Multiple Perspective Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

The Stock Issues.

Practice responding to the Stock Issues of the affirmative’s case.

Claims/Warrants

My evidence is the best evidence for answering (inherency/harms/solvency).

Activity Multiple Perspective Debate

Procedure Pick an affirmative case. Review the Stock Issues. Pass out the “Attacking the Stock

Issues” handout (see page 179). Pick a stock issue (inherency, harms, or solvency). Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a piece of

evidence that answers the stock issue you chose. (For example, if you chose the solvency of Mass Transit: Group 1 is assigned “No Solvency - Social Inequality,” Group 2 is assigned “No Solvency – Car Culture,” Group 3 is assigned “No Solvency – No Riders,” and Group 4 is assigned “No Solvency – Not Sustainable.”)

Proceed with a standard Multiple Perspective Debate. Each group is responsible for defending the argument that their assigned piece of evidence is the best for answering the stock issue.

Repeat for the remaining stock issues. Debrief.

Time 35-40 minutes

Mentor/Student Leaders

During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things

you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later.


Materials “Attacking the Stock Issues” handout. See page 179 “Multiple Perspective Debate” worksheet. See page 133.

194

Answering the Affirmative – Defeating the Argument

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

The Stock Issues; Understanding of the negative files.

Form different arguments to defeat the affirmative case.

Claims/Warrants

N/A

Activity Defeating the Argument

Procedure Choose an affirmative case. Divide the class into groups. They will prepare to answer the

affirmative case. Encourage the teams to use a variety of arguments (e.g.: no solvency, no harms, harms turn, etc.). They can refer to the Attacking the Stock Issues handout (see page 179) if they need help.

Proceed with a standard Defeating the Argument activity. Each group will prepare to answer the affirmative case in the most convincing way possible.

Debrief.

Time 35-40 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for

things you want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later.


Materials “Answering a Kritik” hand out. See page 179. “Defeating the Argument” worksheet. See page 111.

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DisadvantagesDisadvantages (also called “disads” or “DAs”) are negative arguments which prove the effects of the plan would be bad. Thus, the disadvantages are compared to the advantages to decide whether the effects of the plan are more advantageous than disadvantageous. There are many different parts to a disad and most disads have some or all of these parts. The three main parts are uniqueness, link, and impact. You can remember them by using the mnemonic device U.L.I pronounced “You Lie!”

Example

Affirmative’s plan: The United States Federal Government should remove all stop signs in the U.S. to help people get to work more quickly.

Disadvantage: The plan will cause more automobile deaths and the increase in car accidents will make traffic worse.

Parts of a Disadvantage ExampleUniqueness - The uniqueness states that this problem will not happen in the future, or is happening now. This is referred to as the status quo, or what is going on right now.

Currently there are more stop signs being placed strategically throughout Boston, making driving safer, reducing the number of accidents, and reducing the number of traffic jams accidents cause.

Link - The link states why the affirmative plan causes this problem to happen. The negative usually reads a piece of evidence saying why the affirmative plan causes the way things are now to change.

If stop signs are removed then there will be more accidents which will cause time-wasting traffic jams.

Impact - The impact describes the problem that will happen and why it is bad. This impact is usually something very large and harmful. The negative uses this impact to say that the affirmative plan should not be done because although the plan might cause something good to happen, the problems the plan causes are worse.

More people are injured/killed in car accidents and traffic time increases.

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Other Parts of Disadvantages

Other components of disadvantages are:

Time Frame

The time frame is how long before the problem the disad presents happens. If there is an especially short time frame, then the problem the plan creates might happen before whatever good things the plan creates. If that happens, then the plan probably isn’t a good one. If there is a long time frame, then the good things the plan creates would happen before the problems it creates. If this is the case, the plan probably is a good idea.

Short Time Frame ExampleThe plan is probably a bad idea.

(The problems the plan creates will happen before the good things.)

Car crashes will happen as soon as the stop signs are removed. Car accident deaths and injuries will spike immediately.

Long time Frame ExampleThe plan is probably a good idea.

(The good things the plan creates will happen before the problems.)

The stop signs will be removed from residential streets first. The drivers will get used to no stop signs before they are removed from major intersections, and travel time to work will improve immediately. Productivity and the economy will boost due to the ease of travel time to work. Deaths and injuries might only occur later on in the plan, when stop signs are removed from major intersections.

Internal Link

Sometimes when the plan changes something, it does not cause a problem right away. This is when an internal link is needed. The internal link states that when the plan causes something to change, which is the link, then that causes the problem, which is the impact.

Link Impact The U.S. removes all stop signs Hundreds of people die

Link Internal Link Impact The U.S. removes all stop signs There is

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an exponential increase in the number of car crashes Hundreds of people die

Answering Disadvantages

When the affirmative team answers a disadvantage, it can attack any or all parts of the argument. They should do this in the 2AC and then extend their answers in later speeches. Remember:

For the negative to win their DA argument they have to demonstrate that the plan does more harm than good by successfully arguing uniqueness, link, and impact. They have to win 3 of 3.

For the affirmative to win the DA argument they only have to defeat 1 of 3.

Here are the arguments the affirmative can use to answer a disad:

Non-unique

The non-unique argument states that the problem the disad presents will happen anyway in the status quo. If it were to happen anyway, it doesn’t matter if the affirmative plan causes the problem or not.

No Link

The “no link” argument states that the affirmative plan doesn’t actually cause the problem the disad presents.

No Impact

The “no impact” argument states that the problem the disad presents is not serious or harmful.

Consider this fight between two brothers:

Disadvantage AnswerUniqueness – Last night I placed a slice of pizza in the refrigerator so I could eat it for lunch the next day.

Non-unique – You are lactose intolerant. Even if the pizza were still in the refrigerator, you couldn’t eat it because you can’t have cheese.

Link – You ate my pizza for breakfast. No link – I didn’t eat the pizza. I had Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

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Impact – Now it’s lunch time and I’m hungry.

No Impact – There is leftover Chinese food. You can eat that and you won’t be hungry or cranky.

Link Turn

The link turn states that when the affirmative plan happens, the problem the disad presents is avoided. This often means that when the affirmative plan happens the exact opposite of the problem happens.

Impact Turn

The impact turn states that the problem the disad presents is actually a good thing.

Disadvantage AnswerLink – You ate my pizza for breakfast. Link turn – It’s a good thing the pizza was

gone by breakfast. If you ate it for lunch, you would have been sick.

Impact – Now it’s lunch time and I’m hungry.

No Impact – It’s a good thing you’re hungry. We just got invited to a barbeque that starts in an hour.

For Varsity – Straight turn

Anytime you turn the link or impact of a disadvantage always control the uniqueness debate. This means to need to read at least one solid non-unique argument. This way you claim the disadvantage as an advantage to implementing the plan, giving the judge another reason to vote for your case.

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Impact Analysis

Simply defending your disadvantage in the 2NC or 1NR (negative block) by answering the affirmative’s responses line-by-line does not truly maximize the power of the disadvantage as an offensive argument. Instead, it is important to use impact analysis to explain how the disadvantage’s impact is more important than the affirmative case’s harms. Impact analysis directly compares the disadvantage and harms using three key criteria: magnitude, risk, and timeframe. You can remember these criteria by using the mnemonic device “Mr. T.”

Mr. T:

[M]agnitude – How big is the impact?

“Millions of people will die from starvation as a result of this plan! Your claim that everyone will be exterminated from a nuclear war caused by economic crisis is overstated—millions may die from a nuclear attack but not everyone.”

[R]isk (Probability) – How likely is the impact?

“Prefer the risk of our impact; if this plan passes it is 90% likely that millions of people will die versus a 1% chance that anyone will die from a nuclear weapon.”

[T]imeframe – How soon will the impact occur?

“Prefer our timeframe; people can and do starve to death every day. A nuclear bomb has not killed anyone since 1945.”

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Intro to Disadvantages

Disadvantages (also called “disads” or “DAs”) are negative arguments which prove the effects of the plan would be bad. Thus, the disadvantages are compared to the advantages to decide whether the effects of the plan are more advantageous than disadvantageous. Disadvantages have a specific structure, but before you even begin to get your students familiar with the different parts of the DA, get them thinking about the concept of a disadvantage. You can do this with the following Four Corners activity.

Intro to Disadvantages - Four Corners

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

None

Understand the concept of a disadvantage by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of everyday plans.

Claim ______________ is a good plan. For example:

Doubling the amount of math homework all BPS students get is a good plan.

Increasing the number of amusement parks in Massachusetts is good plan.

Lowering the driving age is a good plan.


Procedure Read out a __________ is a good plan claim. Students should migrate to the corner that best corresponds to their opinion about whether the plan is good.

Have the students discuss their reasons in the corners. Then they should share out one or two reasons per corner.

Introduce the “advantage” and “disadvantage” language. For example, if someone says “I strongly disagree. Doubling the amount of math homework is a bad plan because it takes away time from students’ after-school jobs” help them rephrase that to “Diminished after-school job time is a disadvantage of the plan.”

Repeat the activity with a new __________ is a good plan claim. This time, have the students discuss their reasons in “advantage” and “disadvantage” language.

Time 10 minutes

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During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the share-out: Circulate around the room, listening for things you

want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later. Debriefing: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

teachable manner.Materials Four Corners signs. See page 100.

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Parts of a Disadvantage

Disadvantages have three main parts: uniqueness (uniqueness states that this problem will not happen in the future, or is happening now. This is referred to as the status quo, or what is going on right now), link (the link states why the affirmative plan causes this problem to happen. The negative usually reads a piece of evidence saying why the affirmative plan causes the way things are now to change), and impact (the impact describes the problem that will happen and why it is bad). This impact is usually something very large and harmful. The negative uses this impact to say that the affirmative plan should not be done because although the plan might cause something good to happen, the problems the plan causes are worse).

Remember, a good mnemonic for remembering the parts of a disadvantage is “U.L.I.” which is pronounced “You lie!” For more information about the parts of a disadvantage, refer back to page 196.

Parts of a Disadvantage – Three Person Warrant Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Conceptual understanding of disadvantages.

Identify the parts of a disadvantage and explain their purposes.

Claims Note: Make these claims concrete by using an actual disadvantage. Do not have the students debate abstractly; that is, instead of debating whether a link is the most important part of a DA, have them debate whether a specific link is the most important part of a specific DA. For example, read ______________ is the most difficult part of this disadvantage to defend as “The uniqueness—that there are no tax increases now—is the most difficult part of the Taxes Bad DA to defend.” You can use the shell of any disadvantage as a handout that will guide these claims.

______________ is the most important part of this disadvantage. ______________ is the most difficult part of this disadvantage to defend. ______________ is the easiest part of this disadvantage to answer. ______________ is the easiest part of this disadvantage to find evidence

for.

Activity Three Person Warrant Debate

Procedure Hand out the shell of the disadvantage you are teaching. (This can be found in the Core Files.)

Students will participate in a standard Three Person Warrant Debate. Student A will defend Uniqueness, Student B will defend Link, and

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Student C will defend Impact. Before you announce each claim, give 2-3 minutes of preparation time

so students can form their arguments. Be sure to make each claim specific. For example, read ______________ is the most difficult part of this disadvantage to defend as “The uniqueness—that there are no tax increases now—is the most difficult part of the Taxes Bad DA to defend.”

As a debrief, ask students to share a strong argument made by their opponent.

Time 20-25 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things you


teachable manner.

Materials “Three Person Warrant Debate” Worksheet. See page 121. “Disadvantages” Worksheet. See page 196. Core Files (Taxes Bad DA, Federalism DA, or Oil DA).

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Parts of a Disadvantage - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a disadvantage.

Identify the parts of a disadvantage and explain their purposes.

Claims N/A

Activity Four Speech Table Debate

Procedure Choose a DA from the core files. Make sure the students have their evidence in front of them.

Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on the disadvantage they are learning. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on 206.

Debrief.

Time 20-25 minutes



want to reinforce later and things that need to be corrected later. Debriefing: Share one overall positive and address one overall concern in a

teachable manner.

Materials Core Files (Taxes Bad DA, Federalism DA, or Oil DA) Guided Flow Sheet. See page 206.

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Parts of a DA – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet

Directions: Use this worksheet to prepare and flow as you debate about the disadvantage.

1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARUniqueness:

Link:

Impact:

Answer to Uniqueness:

Answer to Link:

Answer to Impact:

Uniqueness (Answer 2AC argument):

Link(Answer 2AC argument):

Impact(Answer 2AC argument):

Answer to Uniqueness (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Link(Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Impact (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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Answering a Disadvantage

When the affirmative team responds to a disadvantage, it can attack any or all parts of the argument. For example, the affirmative might argue that the disadvantage is non-unique, that there is no link, that there is no impact, or they might turn the link or impact. They should answer the DA in the 2AC and remember to extend their answers in later speeches. Refer back to page 198 for descriptions of the specific strategies for answering a disadvantage.

Answering Disadvantages - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a disadvantage.

Discuss and compare different types of affirmative answers to a disadvantage.

Claims/Warrants

N/A


Procedure Note: The Answering a DA worksheet focuses on made-up DAs. Similar prep sheets for the Taxes Bad DA can be found on page 211; one about answering the Federalism DA can be found on page 212.

You can decide if doing both the worksheet and prep sheet will be beneficial to your students. If you want, they can just skip to doing a prep sheet for the DA they will be debating.

Review the strategies for answering a disadvantage. You can use page 198 as a handout.

In pairs, have students complete the “Answering a DA Table Debate” worksheet (see page 209).

Hand out the “Answering a DA Table Debate” prep sheet for the DA they are working on. (Taxes Bad DA see page 211; Federalism DA see page 212.)

Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on one of the DA they are learning. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on page 213.

Debrief.

Time 20 minutes

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teachable manner.

Materials “Answering a DA” worksheet. See page 209. “Answering a DA Table Debate” prep sheet. Taxes Bad DA see page 211;

Federalism DA see page 212. “Answering a DA Table Debate” guided flow. See page 213.

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Answering a DA Worksheet

Directions: Create arguments against every part of the following disadvantages. The first one is done for you!

Plan Disadvantage Arguments against the DisadvantageExampleEvery adult must get a flu shot.

[U]niqueness – There are no mandatory requirements for people to get a flu shot; it is done on a voluntary basis.

Non-unique – Doctors compel most of the population to get the flu shot.

[L]ink – The shot injects the flu virus into the person receiving the vaccine. The plan will cause people who would not otherwise get the flu shot to be exposed to the flu.

No link – Without the shot, these people would still be exposed to the flu in all of the public places they frequent during their daily lives.

[I]mpact – Your plan will give 10,000 people the flu this year.

No impact – Small magnitude in terms of numbers affected and the effect of a controlled flu virus.

Case outweighs – Typically millions of people get the flu during the winter. The plan only causes 10,000 people to get the flu.

1) Schools must have up-to-date textbooks.

[U]niqueness – Currently schools are moving towards electronic copies of textbooks and are trying to use textbooks for longer because these two options are more eco-friendly.

[L]ink – This plan will cause schools to purchase textbooks which will kill trees.

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[I]mpact – Your plan will destroy the rainforest within 100 years.

3) Build a huge radio dish in order to contact aliens.

[U]niqueness – Right now there are small radio dishes that have been ineffective at contacting aliens.

[L]ink – A larger radio dish would increase the likelihood that we would receive a message.

[I]mpact – Violent aliens will enslave and kill us.

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Answering the Taxes Bad DA Table Debate Prep Sheet

Directions: Create arguments against every part of the following disadvantages. Use the disadvantage shell in the core files to help you.

Plan: The United States Federal Government should spend more money on infrastructure.

Disadvantage: The plan will cause an increase in taxes, which will slow growth and cause unemployment.

[U]niqueness – There are no tax increases right now.

[L]ink – Infrastructure spending is paid for out of general tax revenues. Since there is no money in the coffers, the plan would result in a tax increase.

[I]mpact – Taxes will slow growth and cause unemployment.

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Answering the Federalism DA Table Debate Prep Sheet

Directions: Create arguments against every part of the following disadvantages. Use the disadvantage shell in the core files to help you.

Plan: The United States Federal Government should spend more money on infrastructure.

Disadvantage: Allowing the federal government this power over infrastructure disrupts federalism, which is the balance of power between the state governments and the federal government.

[U]niqueness – Obama has given authority over transportation infrastructure to the states now, enabling a strong balance of federalism.

[L]ink – Growth in federal power and taking over of jurisdiction undermines state power.

[I]mpact – Federalism is crucial to prevent tyranny and to preserve liberty.

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Answering a DA – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet


1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARUniqueness:

Link:

Impact:

Answer to Uniqueness:

Answer to Link:

Answer to Impact:

Uniqueness (Answer 2AC argument):

Link(Answer 2AC argument):

Impact(Answer 2AC argument):

Answer to Uniqueness (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Link(Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Impact (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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Impact Analysis – Three Person Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Understanding of DAs and their structure

Gain a conceptual understanding of impact analysis.

Claims _______________ is the most important part of impact analysis. _______________ is the hardest component to defend. _______________ is the easiest component to defend.

Activity Three Person Table Debate. See page 113.

Procedure Introduce students to Impact Analysis. Page 200 can be used as a handout.

Have students work individually to complete the Impact Analysis Table Debate prep sheet (See page 215.)

Hold a Three Person Table Debate. The students will debate the statements in the “Claims” box. Person A will defend Magnitude, Person B will defend Risk, and Person C will defend Timeframe.

Time 10-15 minutes


Circulate the room and aid students in completing their worksheets.

Materials Intro to Impact Analysis worksheet. See page 200. Impact Analysis Prep sheet. See page 215. Three Person Table Debate worksheet. See page 121.

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Impact Analysis Prep Sheet

Directions: Create magnitude, risk, and timeframe arguments for each DISADVANTAGE.

Plan Disadvantage Impact AnalysisSchool uniforms should be worn by all BPS students.

Uniforms cost money and hurt family budgets.

Magnitude (How big is the impact?):

Risk (How likely is the impact?):

Timeframe (How soon will the impact occur?):

The government should charge people a fine for illegal downloads.

Our rights to privacy will be violated in the search for illegal downloads.

Magnitude:

Risk:

Timeframe:

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Practicing with Disadvantages - Evidence Scavenger Hunt

SWBAT 1) Familiarize themselves with the disadvantage files and 2) understand which pieces of text support which part of the disadvantage.

Claims N/A


Procedure Hand out the Find the Evidence! worksheet. (Taxes Bad is on page 217 and Federalism is on page 221.)

Have students find the card where quoted text comes from. Then have them identify which part of the DA the quote falls under. (Answer Keys are provided on page 220 and page 223.)

As a whole group, share out your answers and discuss why the debaters chose the answers they did. Some parts have multiple answers, so the discussion will be good to get students engaging with one another and thinking deeply about the DA.

Time 25-30 minutes


Assist students with filling out the worksheets. Ask guiding questions to help them determine which part of the DA the quoted case text falls under.

Materials Find the Evidence! worksheet for the appropriate DA. (Taxes Bad see page 217 ; Federalism see page 221.)

Core Files.

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Find the Evidence!Taxes Bad DA

Directions: Read the quoted Case Text. First, identify which card the text comes from. Second, decide where it best falls in the disadvantage—does it best support uniqueness, link, or impact? If it is an impact card, label it magnitude, risk, or time frame.

Note that some parts of the disadvantage will have multiple quotes, and some quotes can be used for multiple parts of the disadvantage.

Case Text Identify the Card it Comes From What part of the DA? Why?

“Traditionally, transportation infrastructure has been financed primarily through a combination of state and local taxes and fees and—for many major projects—Federal grants funded by national motor fuels taxes.”

“Center for Data Analysis economists estimated the likely economic and fiscal effects of the Obama tax plan by introducing it into a model of the U.S. economy that leading government agencies and Fortune 500 companies use to produce economic forecasts.”

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“Economic stagnation frequently results from just this ‘unseen’ event…”

“no Congress has voted to raise significant sums of new tax revenues since 1996…”

“the economic harm is significant and widespread. Individuals and households throughout the income distribution will bear the brunt of the economic slowdown, resulting in fewer employment opportunities, lower wages, lost consumption, and lower savings.”

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“GDP will be, on average, $111 billion lower over the 2011 to 2020 forecast horizon.

“If we don’t act fast, a plunge into depression is a growing risk in…the U.S. The…Bush tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, should be extended as soon as possible.”

“Total employment would decrease by an average of 693,000 jobs over the 2011 to 2020 forecast horizon.”

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Find the Evidence! – Taxes Bad DA – ANSWER KEY


“Traditionally, transportation infrastructure has been financed primarily through a combination of state and local taxes and fees and—for many major projects—Federal grants funded by national motor fuels taxes.”

Pg. 7, Transportation Finance.org, 2012, “Transportation infrastructure spending paid for with taxes”

Link - Links the plan to the impact because the plan involves financing transportation infrastructure.

“Center for Data Analysis economists estimated the likely economic and fiscal effects of the Obama tax plan by introducing it into a model of the U.S. economy that leading government agencies and Fortune 500 companies use to produce economic forecasts.”

Pg. 5, Beach 2010, “Tax increases will slow growth and cause unemployment”

Impact – Risk - Discusses the “likely economic and fiscal effects” of increases taxes; therefore, one can argue the risk is “likely.”

“Economic stagnation frequently results from just this ‘unseen’ event…”

Pg. 9, Beach 2010, “Taxing capital causes stagnation”

Impact – Risk - Economic stagnation “frequently” occurs when this happens, so the risk of the impact is high.

“no Congress has voted to raise significant sums of new tax revenues since 1996…”

Pg.6, Beach, 2010, “The increase would be unique – no tax increases now”

Uniqueness - Significant tax raises are not happening in the status quo.

“the economic harm is significant and widespread. Individuals and households throughout the income distribution will bear the brunt of the economic slowdown, resulting in fewer employment opportunities, lower wages, lost consumption, and lower savings.”

Pg. 8, Beach 2010, “Tax increase will cause substantial economic harm”

Impact – Magnitude - The impact will be “significant and widespread.”

“GDP will be, on average, $111 billion lower over the 2011 to 2020 forecast horizon.

Pg. 8, Beach 2010, “Tax increase will result in lower economic output”

Impact – Magnitude - The impact will significantly decrease the GDP. AND Impact - Timeframe - “over the 2011 to 2020 forecast” means a short timeframe.

“If we don’t act fast, a plunge into depression is a growing risk in…the U.S. The…Bush tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, should be extended as soon as possible.”

Pg. 11, Bloomberg 2010, “Maintaining low tax rates critical to stop an economic downturn”

Impact – Timeframe - “Act fast…growing risk…” The timeframe is short.

“Total employment would decrease by an average of 693,000 jobs over the 2011 to 2020 forecast horizon.”

Pg. 10, Beach 2010, “Higher taxes reduce employment”

Impact - Magnitude - The impact will significantly decrease total employment. AND Impact - Timeframe (“over the 2011 to 2020 forecast horizon”) - “over the 2011 to 2020 forecast” means a short timeframe.

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Find the Evidence!Federalism DA

Directions: Read the quoted Case Text. First, identify which card the text comes from. Second, decide where it best falls in the disadvantage—does it best support uniqueness, link, impact, magnitude, risk, or timeframe?

Note that some parts of the disadvantage will have multiple quotes, and some quotes can be used for multiple parts of the disadvantage.


“From the mid-1990s through the present, we have been in a period of ‘coercive federalism,’ where the federal government more often just tells the states what to do.”

“To date, President Obama’s approach to economic restructuring has tended toward the more permissive, enabling end of the federalist spectrum.”

“Of course, no one expects Congress to obliterate the states, at least in one fell swoop. If there is any danger, it lies in the tyranny of small decisions in the prospect that Congress will nibble away at state sovereignty, bit by bit, until someday essentially nothing is left but a gutted shell.”

“President Obama has worked to enable states and localities to tackle structural

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challenges in integrated ways.”

“In any contest between Congress and the states, a decision that favors expanded federal powers necessarily disfavors the states and the people.”“The potential tyranny of survival as a value is…capable…of wiping out all other values. Survival can become an obsession and a disease, provoking a destructive singlemindedness that will stop at nothing.”“federalism has always been justified as a bulwark against tyranny.”

“it is unacceptable to say that the invasion of one aspect of freedom is of no import because there have been invasions of so many other aspects… every invasion of freedom must be emphatically identified and resisted with undying spirit.”

“Federalism…is crucial to preservation of individual liberty and a valuable device to preserve a healthy balance of power among governmental institutions.”

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Find the Evidence! - Federalism Disadvantage –ANSWER KEY

Case Text Identify the Card it Comes From What part of the DA? Why?“From the mid-1990s through the present, we have been in a period of ‘coercive federalism,’ where the federal government more often just tells the states what to do.”

Pg. 9, Scheppah 2006, “Empirically, states have control over transportation and domestic issues. The plan is a form of coercive federalism in which the federal government does not consult with the states.”

Impact – Timeframe Since coercive federalism has been happening since the 1990s, federalism is already under threat so the timeframe is very short. (Note: this might be turned against the negative and used as a non-uniqueness argument.)

“To date, President Obama’s approach to economic restructuring has tended toward the more permissive, enabling end of the federalist spectrum.”

Pg. 4, Katz 2012, “Obama has given authority over transportation infrastructure to the states now, enabling a strong balance of federalism.”

Uniqueness Obama is permissive in the status quo; states have authority over infrastructure right now

“Of course, no one expects Congress to obliterate the states, at least in one fell swoop. If there is any danger, it lies in the tyranny of small decisions in the prospect that Congress will nibble away at state sovereignty, bit by bit, until someday essentially nothing is left but a gutted shell.”

Pg. 7, Lebow 1997, “Small policy decisions are the greatest threat to federalism”

Impact – Risk Even small decisions make a big impact, so the risk is very high.

“President Obama has worked to enable states and localities to tackle structural challenges in integrated ways.”

Pg. 4, Katz 2012, “Obama has given authority over transportation infrastructure to the states now, enabling a strong balance of federalism.”

Uniqueness – States and localities are currently involved in decision-making, etc.

“In any contest between Congress and the states, a decision that favors expanded federal powers necessarily disfavors the states and the people.”

Pg. 5, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 2000, “Growth in federal power and taking over of jurisdiction undermines state power.”

Link – Links the impact to the plan because the plan suggests expanding federal powers over infrastructure

“The potential tyranny of survival as a value is…capable…of wiping out all other values. Survival can become an obsession and a disease, provoking a destructive singlemindedness that will stop at nothing.”

Pg. 16, Petro 1974, “Every violation of liberty must be rejected at all costs.”

Impact - Magnitude – The impact can be so big that it will wipe out all values and promote a harmful singlemindedness

“federalism has always been justified as a bulwark against tyranny.”

Pg. 5, Young 2004, “Federalism is crucial to prevent tyranny.”

Impact – Magnitude – An impact is tyranny, which has a large magnitude

“it is unacceptable to say that the invasion of one aspect of freedom is of no import because there have been invasions of so many other aspects… every invasion of freedom must be emphatically identified and resisted with undying spirit.”

Pg. 16, Petro 1974, “Every violation of liberty must be rejected at all costs.”

Impact - Magnitude – The impact is a violation of freedom. Freedom is important so the magnitude is big.

“Federalism…is crucial to preservation of individual liberty and a valuable device to preserve a healthy balance of power among governmental institutions.”

Pg. 15, Hastings Law Journal 2002, “Federalism is important to preserve liberty and prevent the concentration of power”

Impact - Magnitude – The impact will destroy individual liberty and the balance of power. They are important so the magnitude is big.

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Practicing with Disadvantages - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Structure of DAs, Impact Analysis

1) Understand the disadvantage they are learning and 2) practice debating disadvantages.

Claims N/A

Activity Four Speech Table Debate. See page 113.

Procedure Doing one or both of the preceding activities (Impact Analysis Prep on page 214 and Disadvantage Evidence Scavenger Hunt on page 216 can be a good, preparatory lead-ins to this table debate.)

Hand out the Guided Flow sheet. See page 225. Make sure students have the relevant disadvantage files. Proceed with a standard Four Speech Table Debate.

Note: Encourage students to compare the impacts in their table debates. For example, instead of saying, “this harm will occur within the next five years” they should say, “this harm will occur within the next five years, which is substantially sooner than the impact of the disadvantage, which will take at least fifty years to happen.”

Time 40-50 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with preparing their speeches. During the speeches: Circulate around the room, listening for things you


teachable manner.

Materials Four Speech Table Debate guided flow. See page 225. Core Files (Taxes Bad DA, Federalism DA, or Oil DA)

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DA Four Speech Table Debate – Flow Sheet

Directions: Use this worksheet to prepare and flow as you debate about the disadvantage.1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARUniqueness:

Link:

Impact:

Non-Unique:

No Link or Link Turn:

No Impact or Impact Turn:

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CounterplansA counterplan is an alternative to the affirmative plan that is presented by the negative team. Sometimes the negative will not only argue that the affirmative plan is a bad idea, but it will also present a different way to solve the problems cited by the affirmative team. This can be beneficial because it allows the negative team to agree with the affirmative team’s harms, while still arguing against the plan itself.

Like the affirmative team, the negative team must prove the counterplan is fair and a good idea. To do so, counterplans have to meet three burdens:

1. Counterplans should be different from the plan.

Counterplans can be very similar to the plan, or they can be completely different from the plan. Most counterplans advocate certain parts of the plan but not all of the plan. For example- they might argue it is a good idea to build high speed rail, but it should be done by private companies or state governments instead of the federal government, or they might agree that the federal government should invest in infrastructure, but should focus on bike paths instead of high speed rail. The point is that you must be able to explain how the counterplan is not exactly the same as the plan.

2. Counterplans must show they are better than the affirmative plan.

Proposing a counterplan by itself will not be a winning strategy unless the negative team can show that the counterplan produces a benefit that is more important than the benefit or advantage to the affirmative. Often they will claim to both solve for the harms in the affirmative plan BUT does not link to the disadvantage in a debate round.

Example: Running the Federalism DA along with the States CP can be a very effective strategy. The federalism DA argues that the federal government doing the affirmative plan is bad because it undermines the states. The states counterplan would be able to solve for the plan, while avoiding the negative impacts of the federalism DA because it mandates that the states do the plan instead of the federal government. This means that the negative team can solve for the affirmative plans harms, while also avoiding the impacts of Federalism, which is something the affirmative team cannot claim.

3. The Counterplan must be better by itself than a combination of the Affirmative plan and all or part of the counterplan.

This is a rule that exists to prove that the counterplan is fair. Would it be fair for the affirmative to argue we should improve mass transit, and the negative to run a counterplan to get rid of all nuclear weapons and say vote negative because the advantages to getting rid of nuclear weapons are bigger than investing in mass transit? If the negative could run any counterplan

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they wanted, not only would the advantages likely be bigger, but the affirmative could never be prepare to debate against an unlimited number of options. Therefore, it is understood the negative needs to prove doing the counterplan is not only better than the plan, but that it is also better than doing both- also called a permutation.

Generally, the way negatives do this is by arguing that the permutation is bad for the same reason the plan is bad- a disadvantage. In the example above where the Affirmative plan is to have the federal government invest in mass transit and the counterplan is to have the States do the same, the CP was better because it solved for the reasons why mass transit was good (the affirmative harms) but didn’t link to the federalism DA (because the federal government didn’t do anything).

The negative could also argue that the CP is also better than doing both plan and the CP, or the permutation, which would have the federal government and state government do the plan both do the plan. The permutation still has the federal government act so still links to the federalism DA. While both solve the harms of the affirmative, both the plan and the permutation link to the federalism DA so the negative would argue the counterplan is the best option.

Parts of a Counterplan

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A counterplan doesn’t have specific parts the way a disadvantage or critique does. However, there is a checklist a debater can use to make sure he or she is running a counterplan well.

Example plan: The United States federal government should direct NASA to develop and implement a strategy to send humans to Mars, in order to establish a permanent human presence in space.

Counterplan Components ExampleCounterplan text – Read the text of the counterplan.

The United States Federal Government should establish tax incentives for private companies to develop and implement a strategy to send humans to Mars, in order to establish a permanent human presence in space.

Difference from affirmative plan – The counterplan might be similar to the plan; it might even support some elements of the plan. However, there should be at least one key difference that will make the judge prefer the counterplan over the plan. Make sure you highlight that difference.

The counterplan differs from the plan because it has private companies—rather than NASA, an agency of the federal government—support sending humans to Mars.

Solvency – The counterplan should generally solve for the same harms the affirmative’s plan solves. Explain the counterplan’s solvency.

Private companies can explore space and set up a permanent presence there more efficiently and effectively than NASA can.

The counterplan should not be done at the same time as the affirmative plan – The affirmative might argue that the judge should vote to do both the counterplan and the plan (this is called a permutation). To prepare against this, explain why the counterplan cannot or should not be done in conjunction with the plan.

An easy way to do this is to show that the counterplan avoids a disadvantage that the affirmative’s plan will cause (this is called a net benefits argument). To present a net benefits argument, the negative will need to run a disadvantage against the affirmative. Then it will need to show how its counterplan avoids that disadvantage.

The counterplan avoids the Spending Disadvantage; under the affirmative’s plan, the federal government would have to spend money on space exploration which would increase the deficit and harm the economy. The counterplan moves space exploration to private companies, so the federal government will not have to spend any money, and any combination, or permutation, the affirmative would offer would still have the federal government act and save money, so the negative would argue using private companies alone would be better.

Answering Counterplans

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Counterplans must meet certain burdens in order to beat the Affirmative plan. Therefore, it is the job of the affirmative to show how the counterplan does not meet these burdens. Affirmative answers should expose the flaws in the counterplan and show why it is a bad idea. Affirmative answers can be found while looking at different parts of the counterplan.

1. Permutation

The affirmative might argue that the counterplan is not a true alternative to the affirmative’s plan—instead, both the affirmative plan and counterplan can be done together. This type of argument is called a permutation (or perm for short). When the affirmative argues a permutation, it might say that the plan and counterplan should be done at the same time. It might also pick certain parts of the counterplan to do along with the plan.

If the affirmative wins the permutation, it should win the counterplan argument. Remember, this is an issue of fairness. If the negative could run any counterplan they wanted, not only would the advantages likely be bigger, but the affirmative could never be prepare to debate against an unlimited number of options. Therefore, it is understood the negative needs to prove doing the counterplan is not only better than the plan, but that it is also better than doing both. If it’s not, the affirmative wins the argument.

2. Solvency

Affirmatives can argue that the counterplan does not solve. The affirmative should look to see if the counterplan solves the affirmative advantage, the advantages of the counterplan, and avoids the disadvantages.

3. Disadvantages

Counterplans, like affirmative plans can have disadvantages. The affirmative should argue that if the counterplan is done something bad will happen that wouldn’t otherwise happen if the affirmative plan is done. Just be careful to make sure that the disadvantage does not also apply to the affirmative plan!

Defending CounterplansAnswering the Permutation

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A permutation is one of the answers an affirmative team can make to a counterplan. A permutation basically argues that there is a way to combine the affirmative plan and the counterplan together in order to get the benefits of both. Unless handled properly, this argument can be potentially devastating to a counterplan. As such it is important to make good arguments against the permutation.

1. Perm doesn’t solve the net benefit

The term net benefit refers to the additional things the counterplan solves for which the affirmative plan does not. If the negative can prove that the permutation also does not solve for the net benefit, it would mean that the counterplan alone is still the best option in the round.

Example: Take the States Counterplan with the Federalism DA as a net benefit. If the affirmative were to permute this to say that the federal government and states should act together, the negative team could argue this plan would link to the Federalism DA. The negative could claim that ANY federal action would infringe on the states’ rights to transportation policy, which means the permutation would have a disadvantage. However, doing the counterplan alone would avoid the Federalism DA, which is the net benefit.

2. Perm links to the DA more than the affirmative’s plan links alone

The negative team could not only argue that the perm does not have the net benefit, but they could also argue that the perm links to the DA more than the affirmative’s plan does. Since the negative team is already arguing that the aff plan is a bad policy option, proving that the perm is worse than the aff plan would mean that the affirmative team is presenting two plans which are both inferior to the negative team’s counterplan.

Example: Sticking with the States CP example from above, the negative team could argue that the federal government’s version of working with the states would be to simply dictate what they want to the states. This would be worse than the federal government doing the plan alone.

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Intro to Counterplans

A counterplan (CP) is an alternative to the affirmative plan that is presented by the negative team. Sometimes the negative will not only argue that the affirmative plan is a bad idea, but it will also present its own way of solving the problems cited by the affirmative team. This can be beneficial because it allows the negative team to agree with the affirmative team’s harms, while still arguing against the plan itself.

Intro to Critiques – Four Corners

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

None

Understand the concept of a counterplan.

Claims Sample plan: The United States Federal Government should ban the sale of soda drinks that come in sizes larger than 8 oz.

Harm it solves: Obesity.

Sample plan: The United States Federal Government should place a tax on Styrofoam, plastic, and other materials that are harmful to the environment.

Harm it solves: Global warming.

Sample plan: The United States Federal Government should instate a draft to recruit women to the Armed Forces.

Harm it solves: Sexism.

Activity Four Corners (modified). See page 97.

Procedure Read out a sample plan and the harm it solves. (Reading the harm is important for step two of this activity.) Have the students choose a corner depending on whether they agree/strongly agree/disagree/strongly disagree with the plan.

Those in the “strongly disagree” corner must come up with an alternative to the plan. The alternative should solve for the same harm that the sample plan solves for. What would they have the government do instead?

Have the students choose corners based on the newly proposed alternative plan. Repeat the cycle (those who strongly disagree with the new proposal must come up with a new alternative, and then the students will choose corners again).

If the topic becomes stale or if the students have trouble coming up with alternatives, start the cycle again with a new claim.

Time 10-15 minutes

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During the activity: Help students in the “strongly disagree” corner formulate an alternative plan.


Materials Four Corners signs. See page 100.

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Parts of a Counterplan

A counterplan doesn’t have specific parts the way a disadvantage or critique does. However, there is a checklist a debater can use to make sure he or she is running a counterplan well. This checklist includes: the counterplan text, a difference from the affirmative plan, solvency, and an argument that the counterplan should not be done at the same time as the affirmative plan.

Parts of a Counterplan – Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Conceptual understanding of counterplans.

Understand the parts of a counterplan by reading excerpts from the States Counterplan and discussing their functions.

Claims See Worksheet

Activity Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Procedure Hand out the “States Counterplan Overview” (see page 234). Have the students read and briefly discuss the overview before they begin the Evidence Scavenger Hunt. The scavenger hunt will be easier and more beneficial if they have a basic understanding of the States Counterplan first.

Hand out the “Parts of a Counterplan” worksheet (see page 227). This will model what the students should do during the Evidence Scavenger Hunt.

Hand out the “Find the Evidence! Parts of a Counterplan” worksheet (see page 235). Have the students work in pairs to complete it. (An answer key can be found on page 237).

Share out.

Time 15-20 minutes


During the activity: Assist students with their worksheets. During the share out: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

teachable manner.

Materials “Parts of a Counterplan” worksheet. See page 227. “Find the Evidence! Parts of a Counterplan” worksheet. See page 235.

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The States Counterplan Overview

The States Counterplan argues that instead of the federal government doing the plan, the state and local governments should do it. For example, instead of saying that the United States federal government should substantially increase its investment in urban mass transit transportation infrastructure, the counterplan says that the 50 states of the United States of America should substantially increase their investment in urban mass transit transportation infrastructure.

Here are some of the benefits of the States Counterplan:

State governments are more flexible and more responsive to local needs. Having the state governments do the plan eliminates the possibility that mistakes will be

replicated throughout the nation. (If California is in charge of California’s infrastructure, and they make a mistake, Massachusetts can learn from that mistake before they change their infrastructure. But, if the federal government is in charge in all states, it will try to do everything at the same time, and there will be mistakes all across the nation.)

No Spending DA – The Spending Disadvantage says that, to increase infrastructure investment, the federal government will have to spend money that will put it further into debt. However, if the state governments are in charge, the federal government does not have to spend.

No Federalism DA – The Federalism Disadvantage argues that giving the federal government power over infrastructure disrupts federalism, which is the balance of power between states’ rights and federal rights The States CP does not give the federal government power over infrastructure, so states’ rights are not infringed, and the Federalism DA cannot be run.

Of course, there are disadvantages, too:

No solvency (funding) – State funding is not stable and might not be able to support infrastructure projects as well as federal funding can.

No solvency (uniformity) – If the states are given power, each state will want to do something different. That means there will be 50 different systems in the country. Different (and sometimes conflicting) rules and laws can make both building and using the systems complex.

Spending DA – While the Spending DA can’t be applied to the federal government, the counterplan could cause 50 Spending DAs—one for every state whose budget is too tight to take on this project. When the states spend money on infrastructure, they will have to take away funding from other areas, like education.

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Find the Evidence!States Counterplan

Directions: Read the Quoted Counterplan Evidence. Then decide which part of the counterplan it supports: A) counterplan text, B) an statement about the difference between the plan and counterplan, C) solvency, or D) an argument about why the plan and counterplan should not be done at the same time.

Quoted Counterplan Evidence Part of the Counterplan Why?

“State infrastructure spending is more efficient and does not contribute to the federal deficit.”

“The 50 states of the United States of America should substantially increase their investment in urban mass transit transportation infrastructure.”

“But at least state-level mistakes aren’t automatically repeated across the country.”

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“The state should be the ‘laboratories of democracy’ for infrastructure, and they should be able to innovate freely with new ways of financing and managing their roads, bridges, airports, seaports, and other facilities.”

“The existence of areas of exclusive state power is a necessary condition of constitutional federalism: in order for federalism to operate as a principle of constitutional law, there must in practice be areas of regulatory authority reserved exclusively to the states.”

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Find the Evidence! - States Counterplan – ANSWER KEYDirections: Read the Quoted Counterplan Evidence. Then decide which part of the counterplan it supports: A) counterplan text, B) an statement about the difference between the plan and counterplan, C) solvency, or D) an argument about why the plan and counterplan should not be done at the same time.

Quoted Counterplan Evidence Part of the Counterplan Why?

“State infrastructure spending is more efficient and does not contribute to the federal deficit.”

An argument about why the plan and counterplan should not be done at the same time.

This is a Net Benefit argument. The counterplan avoids the Spending DA. Since the counterplan makes the state governments the actors, the federal government does not have to spend money.

“The 50 states of the United States of America should increase transportation infrastructure investment by investing in a national high-speed rail network.”

Counterplan Text This is the counterplan text.

“But at least state-level mistakes aren’t automatically repeated across the country.”

Solvency The counterplan solves better than the plan. Federal action could replicate mistakes all over the nation, but state-by-state action allows time for improving any mistakes.

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“The state should be the ‘laboratories of democracy’ for infrastructure, and they should be able to innovate freely with new ways of financing and managing their roads, bridges, airports, seaports, and other facilities.”

Difference between the plan and counterplan

The main difference between the counterplan and the affirmative plan is that, in the counterplan, the state governments are responsible for infrastructure investment rather than the federal government.

“The existence of areas of exclusive state power is a necessary condition of constitutional federalism: in order for federalism to operate as a principle of constitutional law, there must in practice be areas of regulatory authority reserved exclusively to the states.”

An argument about why the plan and counterplan should not be done at the same time.

This is a Net Benefit argument. The counterplan avoids the Federalism DA. Under the counterplan, power over infrastructure will not be given to the federal government.

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Answering a Counterplan

Affirmative answers should expose the flaws in the counterplan and show why it is a bad idea. There are three main kinds of arguments the affirmative can use to answer the counterplan: permutations, no solvency, and disadvantages. For more information about answering counterplans, refer back to page 228.

Answering a Counterplan – Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a counterplan.

Understand and utilize the different kinds of answers to counterplans.

Claims N/A

Activity Table Debate

Procedure Choose an affirmative plan. This will be the basis for responding to the counterplan.

Hand out the counterplan files (make sure the students have the affirmative answers to the counterplan).

Hand out the “Answering a Counterplan Table Debate” prep sheet. Have students use the States Counterplan files to complete the prep sheet. Proceed with a standard Table Debate. The table debate should be about the

States Counterplan.

Time 30-35 minutes


During prep time: Assist students with their worksheets. During the speeches: Circulate the room, listening for things you want to reinforce

later and things that need to be corrected later. During the share out: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

teachable manner.

Materials “Answering a Counterplan Table Debate” prep sheet. See page 240. Standard Flow Sheet. See page 118. States Counterplan files (Core Files)

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Answering the States Counterplan Table Debate Prep Sheet

Directions: Create these different kinds of arguments against the States Counterplan. Use the counterplan shell in the core files to help you.

Kind of Counterplan Answer Argument

Plan: ________________

_____________________

_____________________

Counterplan: The 50 states of the United States of America should increase transportation infrastructure investment

by __________________

Permutation – Argue that both the plan and counterplan can be done together. This can mean that they’re done at the same time or one after the other. This can also mean that you’ll choose to do only specific parts of the counterplan along with the plan.

Solvency – Attack the counterplan’s solvency. Argue that it doesn’t solve the harms that the affirmative’s plan solves, or argue that it does not have the same solvency advantages as the affirmative has.

Disadvantages – Argue that if the counterplan is done something bad will happen that wouldn’t otherwise happen under the affirmative plan. Just be careful to make sure that the disadvantage does not also apply to the affirmative plan.

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Answering a Counterplan – Multiple Perspective Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a counterplan.

Understand and utilize the different kinds of answers to counterplans.

Claims My piece of evidence is the best evidence for answering the States Counterplan.

Activity Multiple Perspective

Procedure Break the students into groups. Assign each group a piece of evidence from the States Counterplan files. (For

example, one group covers “No Solvency – State Funding Not Stable,” another group covers “No Solvency – Uniformity,” another group covers “No Solvency – Federal Government Key,” et cetera.

Proceed with a standard Multiple Perspective Debate. Each group is responsible for defending the argument that their assigned piece of evidence is the best for answering the States Counterplan.

Debrief.

Time 30-35 minutes


During prep time: Assist students in preparing their speeches. During the speeches: Circulate the room, listening for things you want to reinforce


teachable manner.

Materials States Counterplan files (Core Files) Multiple Perspective Debate worksheet. See page 133.

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Defending a Counterplan

Defending a counterplan in the negative block involves not only extending your net benefit, e.g., a DA that the CP does not link to, and your counterplan’s solvency. It also involves responding to the affirmative’s arguments against your counterplan. Thus, you must be able to convince the judge of three things: 1) That your plan is a legitimate policy alternative and not to similar to the plan, 2) that you cannot or should not do both the counterplan and the plans (the permutation), and 3) that your counterplan alone is more net beneficial than doing the plan/a permutation of the plan and the counterplan.

Defending a Counterplan – Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

1) Running counterplans and 2) Conceptual understanding of permutations.

Extend and defend a counterplan in the negative block.

Claims N/A


Procedure Choose an affirmative plan to run the States Counterplan against. Hand out the “Defending Counterplans Table Debate” prep sheet. Have students work in pairs and use the States Counterplan files to complete

the prep sheet. Proceed with a standard Four Speech Table Debate. The table debate should be

about the States Counterplan.

Time 30-35 minutes


During prep time: Assist students with their worksheets. During the speeches: Circulate the room, listening for things you want to reinforce


teachable manner.

Materials States Counterplan files (Core Files) “Defending Counterplans Table Debate” flow sheet. See page 243.

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Defending a Counterplan – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet

Directions: Use this worksheet to prepare and flow as you debate about the counterplan.

1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1AR

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KritiksThe kritik—a.k.a. the kritik or the K—is an argument usually used by the negative to criticize the fundamental assumptions an affirmative makes or the language debaters use to make their arguments. Kritik arguments are modeled on the objections of philosophers, rhetorical critics, and other scholars. When the negative runs a kritik, it focuses on what the other team says in the round, not necessarily what they propose to do outside the round.

One of the simplest examples of a kritik might be an argument that the language the affirmative uses is racist. For example, some scholars argue that certain kinds of policy language contain hidden racism, such as some of the arguments made against welfare. If the affirmative were to make one of these arguments, the negative might use a kritik to point out the hidden racism in the case as a reason to vote against the affirmative.

Kritiks are valuable arguments for several reasons.

1) Kritiks are highly generic—that is, they can be applied to a large variety of cases. The resolution always makes critical assumptions, such as who should act, how the policy should be implemented, why a particular area is important, etc. The kritik provides a general argument that can be used to attack those critical assumptions.

2) Kritiks have multiple consequences—that is, they can minimize the affirmative advantage while also providing an argument to weigh against whatever advantage the affirmative can claim.

3) Kritiks integrate many arguments into one position. Because the case arguments frequently stem from the kritik, the negative has a position in the debate that is coherent.

4) Kritiks frequently have philosophical and real-world implications. Kritiks often present philosophical arguments that must be resolved first, usually before the substantive issues of the debate are resolved. In the example of state testing, the negative could argue that policies that reinforce racism or sexism are so noxious that they need to be avoided absolutely. If state testing is racist or sexist, it should be rejected regardless of the benefits that might result from increased testing.

5) Kritiks frequently avoid uniqueness problems. Kritiks are often found in the writings of those who criticize current policies. Affirmative debaters frequently rely on some element of the current system to implement their plans or to prove why new policies would better achieve the goals of the present system. Kritik writers frequently argue, in effect, that the goals of the present system should be rejected at every opportunity. In addition, many kritik writers argue

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that the most important place to reject accepted ideas is in individual settings, thus making the kritik unique each time a judge has the opportunity to reject the affirmative.

6) Kritiks shift the debate to negative ground. Affirmatives are used to debating on THEIR ground: the case evidence and the implications of the plan. Kritiks offer negatives the opportunity to shift the focus of the debate to an issue they are more familiar with: the intricacies of the kritik. This can give the negative a sort of “home.”

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Parts of Kritik

To run a kritik, the negative must explain how the affirmative’s plan rests on an assumption it is going to critique. Second, the negative must explain the implications of the kritik—it must state why relying on that assumption is a bad thing. Third, the negative must offer an alternative way to think about the issue.

Note: The structure of a kritik is very similar to a disadvantage, but there is no uniqueness in a kritik, and a kritik must offer an alternative.

Example Plan: High school sports coaches should play their top players for as much of the game as possible.

Kritik: Hyper-competitiveness K.

Parts of a Kritik ExampleLink - The link shows how the affirmative’s assumption links to the kritik.

Playing the top players for as much of the game as possible promotes hyper-competitive high school sports where the focus of playing sports becomes winning and the value of players on a team relates to their ability to win.

Impact – The impact describes the implications of accepting the affirmative’s assumption. The impact can be argued in a way that justifies voting against the affirmative altogether in order to reject the assumptions the affirmative makes.

A hyper-competitive focus on winning takes away from the lessons learned in sports such as teamwork, leadership, community, hard work, and perseverance and instead promotes a negative culture where winners/leaders are individualistic, entitled, arrogant, and abusive towards “losers,” the majority. This will create a terrible school environment that will hurt learning.

Alternative – To win a kritik, the negative offers an alternative that avoids the assumptions the affirmative makes.

We should reject the plan and instead high school sports coaches should play everyone, every game to ensure that the whole team learns the lessons of teamwork, leadership, community, hard work, and perseverance; values that will improve the school environment and thus learning.

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Answering a Kritik

Parts of a Kritik AnswersLink - The link shows how the affirmative’s assumption links to the kritik.

No link – Argue that the link between the kritik and the affirmative does not exist.

Link turn – Instead of arguing that the affirmative links to the bad thing, argue that it will help fight against the bad thing. (For example, if the negative argues that the plan links to racism, show how the plan will fight against racism.)

No link – Playing the top players does not promote hyper-competitiveness, rather it promotes hard work. If you want to play, you have to train harder than everyone else.

Link turn – Playing the top players will actually prevent the impacts of hyper-competitiveness as hard work breaks feelings of entitlement and arrogance and instead focuses the game back on the value of hard work, which can be cross-applied to increase learning in the classroom.

Impact – The impact describes the implications of accepting the affirmative’s assumption. The impact can be argued in a way that justifies voting against the affirmative altogether in order to reject the assumptions the affirmative makes.

No impact – Argue that there is no impact to the kritik.

Impact turn - Instead of arguing that impact makes the bad thing worse, argue that it will make the bad thing better. (For example, if the negative argues that the impact will make racism worse, show how the impact will help alleviate racism.)

No impact – hyper-competitive qualities (learned in sports) that are inappropriate in everyday activities, do not continue in day-to-day life as students realize the difference between the playing field and the classroom and therefore do not hurt learning.

Impact turn – A hyper-competitive focus on winning (getting good grades) in school would create a better school environment where students, through increased effort motivated by competition, rise the average level of academic performance in their school.

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Alternative – To win a kritik, the negative offers an alternative that avoids the assumptions the affirmative makes.

Alternative does not solve – Argue that the alternative does not solve the problems in the status quo that the affirmative’s plan solves.

Alternative harmful – Argue that the alternative has harms that the alternative’s plan does not have.

Alternative does not solve – Letting everyone play, every game regardless of effort, does not improve learning, it diminishes it by giving everyone a reward without having to work for it. It would be like giving out As and Bs to everyone for just showing up to class.

Alternate harmful - The alternate would promote a world where people will feel entitled to equal benefits, without equal effort which promotes laziness that will further make our country non-competitive with harder-working countries, leading to our country’s downfall.

General argument Permutation – Accept the kritik and modify the plan so you can both do the plan and avoid the assumption that the negative is critiquing. For example, if your plan uses the word “welfare” and the negative kritiks your classist language, keep the plan but change the “welfare” language to “TANF – Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.”

Permutation – We accept that hyper-competitiveness is bad. We will substitute the hierarchical phrase “top players” with “players that best exemplify the values of teamwork, leadership, community, hard work, and perseverance.” Thus, we will directly reward the behaviors that we want reinforced in our schools, which will promote student learning while maintaining and incentive to work hard.

General argument Respond to the kritik – Read evidence from scholars who disagree with the philosophy behind the kritik itself.

Respond to the K – “The idea that a “good” school environment impacts learning is wrong. Many of the nation’s top schools exemplify the worst hyper-competitive values. Instead what impacts learning is motivation and engagement. Nothing motivates or engages our nature more than competition.”

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Intro to Kritiks

Kritiks (also called “kritiks” or “Ks”) are negative arguments that criticize the fundamental assumptions an affirmative makes or the language the debaters use to make their arguments. One of the simplest examples of a kritik might be an argument that the affirmative’s plan either uses racist language or promotes a racist system. This Intro to Kritiks lesson introduces other kinds of fundamental assumptions that might be kritikd in this year’s evidence.

Intro to Kritiks – Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

None

Understand the concept of a kritik by reading common “assumptions” made in debates and finding evidence that demonstrate those assumptions.

Claims See Worksheet


Procedure Hand out the “Find the Evidence! Intro to Kritiks” worksheet (see page 250).

Have students match the provided cards to the common assumptions listed on the worksheet. An Answer Key is provided on page 251.

Debrief using a Four Corners activity. For each claim, have students agree/strongly agree/disagree/strongly disagree with whether they think the card supports the assumption it has been paired with.

(The point of this Four Corners debrief is to get the debaters thinking about how they will weigh kritik arguments—how subtle or explicit they think the assumptions are, and later, how important or pressing the kritik’s implications are.)

Time 15-20 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with their worksheets. During the debrief: Help students in each corner prepare an argument to

share out and help them choose a debater to present that argument. Debriefing: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

teachable manner.

Materials “Find the Evidence! Intro to Kritiks” worksheet. See page 250. Four Corners signs. See page 100.

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Find the Evidence!Intro to Kritiks

Directions: Read the common assumptions. Then read the quoted case text. Match the case text to the assumption it supports by drawing a line to connect them.

Assumption Case Text

Human life should be valued over all other things.

Eventually, though, income tax rates need to return across the board to the Clinton-era levels. "I don't want to raise taxes on the middle class," Obama says. But if he doesn't, he can forget about achieving meaningful deficit reduction. Taxes need to rise for the rich — and I'd argue they should rise a lot higher than to a top marginal rate of 39.6 percent. (I'd create three additional brackets for incomes above $1 million, $10 million, and $20 million, and have the marginal tax rate rise gradually from 39.6 percent to 70 percent, which is what it was when Ronald Reagan came into office.) But once it's established that the rich will pay their fair share, taxes on the middle class ought to rise, too. It would be political suicide for Obama to say any of this right now, because voters think taxes are already too high.

Natural rights fundamentally exist.

If congestion becomes too severe, the economy begins to fragment, which means that businesses drawing on a large metropolitan labor pool will be forced to tap into only those who live within a certain time and distance to the job. A fragmented economy hurts productivity. It’s already happening in the region. The Partnership for New York City, a business group, estimates that eliminating excess traffic congestion would add as much as $4 billion and 52,000 jobs to the regional economy. Congestion drains the region’s manufacturing sector of $2 billion in revenue and 8,674 jobs. Wholesale trade takes a congestion hit worth $1.3 billion in increased operating costs.

The ends justify the means.

As the Stern Review stated: “Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world, access to water, food production, health and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms”, and around 15-40% of species face extinction with 2 degrees C of warming.

Money and capital should be valued over all other things.

The new term actually gives us a new perspective on the enumerated powers. No power granted to Congress - think of the Commerce Clause - may be so construed as to preempt entirely the states' power over the people. I employ the phrase "power over the people" for two reasons. First, this phrase emphasizes that the reserved powers of the states must somehow reflect general sovereign powers, which are powers over people. The "States qua States" cases preserve the states' power over some people - those who are state employees. A state that may resist commandeering so as to retain only the power to exist in name possesses no meaningful powers.

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Find the Evidence! - Intro to Kritiks – ANSWER KEY

Assumption Case Text

Human life should be valued over all other things.

Eventually, though, income tax rates need to return across the board to the Clinton-era levels. "I don't want to raise taxes on the middle class ," Obama says. But if he doesn't, he can forget about achieving meaningful deficit reduction. The tax raises are necessary to reduce the current spending deficit. If we do not increase taxes now, the deficit will only increase and our economic climate will get worse.

Natural rights fundamentally exist.

It is true that the proposed project will harm the environment. It will cause complete deforestation of the area, which will hurt the species who live there. The work will also increase harmful emissions and eventually pollute nearby waters and land. However, the project will lead to billions of dollars in revenue. This revenue greatly outweighs the environmental impacts. The revenue will improve our economy overall, leading to a happier society and improving our economic power over other nations.

The ends justify the means.

As the Stern Review stated: “Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world, access to water, food production, health and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms”, and around 15-40% of species face extinction with 2 degrees C of warming.

Money and capital should be valued over all other things.

The new term actually gives us a new perspective on the enumerated powers. No power granted to Congress - think of the Commerce Clause - may be so construed as to preempt entirely the states' power over the people. The states’ rights are inherent, and they are important to preserving liberty and freedom in our nation. The power the states have should not be compromised by federal action—this is reprehensible and will lead to tyranny.

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Intro to Capitalism

This year’s kritik focuses on the negative implications of capitalist systems. In general, the kritik argues that, by improving transportation infrastructure, the affirmative reinforces an unequal capitalist system by making it easier for corporation to transport their goods, furthering the divide between the rich and the poor. This intro to capitalism activity will get students thinking about the principles of capitalism before they begin to dissect the kritik itself.

Intro to Capitalism – Multiple Perspective Debate

SWBAT Understand and discuss the basic principles of capitalism.

Claims Capitalism leads to extreme inequality, where goods and wealth are unevenly divided.

Capitalism encourages monopolies, which lets certain firms gain power in the free market, charge higher prices, and pay low wages.

Capitalism diminishes the dignity of workers because profit matters more than workers’ skills and expertise do.

Capitalism decreases responsibility; firms are more likely to shirk health, safety, and environmental regulations if those regulations interfere with making a profit.

Activity Multiple Perspective Debate. See page 130.

Procedure Hand out the “Capitalism Overview” and “The Morality of Capitalism” articles. Have the students read the article in pairs.

Divide the class into four groups. They will participate in a Multiple Perspective Debate based on the information they just read. Each group will defend one of the above claims. The topic is: our argument is the best argument against capitalism.

Debrief, making sure to reinforce important points and clear up any confusions that were revealed during the activity.

Time 20-25 minutes




teachable manner.

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Materials “Capitalism Overview” and “The Morality of Capitalism” Articles (see page 253 and see page 254)

“Multiple Perspective Debate” Worksheet. See page 133.

Capitalism Overview

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Capitalism is an economic system in which capital, or wealth, is put to use in order to create more capital. The system is characterized by private ownership of land and the means of production and distribution, which are used to make a profit with little or no government control. Capitalism provides the freedom to engage in economic activities based on the supply of resources and the market demand for goods; it promotes ingenuity and entrepreneurship. A capitalistic economy is also distinguished by a high degree of technological innovation due to several factors: competition, wages, and prices are based on market conditions; profit is the key consideration when making economic decisions; banking, insurance and credit systems are well-developed. Because of the element of competition, capitalism also results in the creation of wealth by the most cost-effective method, which lowers costs and prices, increases demand and production, and creates further economic opportunities.

Capitalism had its start in Western Europe in the seventeenth century with the discovery of new lands and colonization. Early capitalists were primarily merchants who dramatically increased their wealth through overseas trade. By the eighteenth century capitalism was the dominant economic system in England and the United States. Vast amounts of capital were being invested in machinery for factories, which eventually resulted in the Industrial Revolution. Industrialists replaced merchants as the primary figures in capitalistic societies. One of the greatest advocates of capitalism at the time was British economist Adam Smith (1723–90). In his work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Smith reasoned that economies operated best under a "natural law," which was primarily competition, and that they would be disrupted by government intervention. In the last decades of the nineteenth century and through the twentieth century, capitalism has taken another turn with a shift from ownership and management of industry by individuals to corporations.

"Capitalism." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 138. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Aug. 2012.

The Morality of Capitalism: Where to Start the DebateJedediah Purdy, Professor, Duke Law School; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jedediah-purdy/morality-of-capitalism_b_1679945.html; 07/17/2012

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jedediah-purdy/morality-of-capitalism_b_1679945.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jedediah-purdy

Despite what David Brooks thinks, it is not true that Barack Obama has forced Mitt Romney into a debate about the morality of capitalism. Too bad. But with Bain, LIBOR, and offshoring all in the campaign mix, it's just possible that that the debate might happen. If we manage to have it, a few points should come into focus.

First, there are some good moral defenses of capitalism. They appeal to freedom, dignity, responsibility, and humanitarianism.

Second, these arguments are weakest as defenses of the kind of finance capitalism that Bain Capital and much of Wall Street practice these days. This hyper-capitalism borrows the traditional defenses of the system, but it doesn't much deserve their support.

Third, all the good defenses of capitalism are equivocal. They don't say that it produces the best imaginable world, but that, all things considered, it's the best we can do. This is the basis for a mixed economy of intelligent regulation, a strong public sector, and responsible capitalism. How to create that balance should be the question, not a for-or-against punching contest between blow-up caricatures.

Why a moral conversation? Why not just talk about the economists' go-to, efficiency? Well, partly because efficiency is itself a value, not a neutral and objective principle, and partly because, as Brooks admits in the New York Times today, it isn't enough. I will come back to it.

So, what are the moral defenses of capitalism? They belong to a tradition that goes back to Adam Smith and earlier.

1. Freedom. This has always been the first appeal. Smith called "natural liberty" the power to buy and sell, take or leave a job, make a deal with whomever you like. This was urgent for Smith because he saw markets as the best of three ways to organize economic life, the others being feudal hierarchy and slavery. Those alternatives assigned people to work based on unequal status and obligation, while markets let them sort themselves by choice. Today it is part of the American ideal to be able to start a business, a new career, or a new life, by pulling up stakes and trying something new. People who complain about the regimented life in, for instance, Cuba, talk about lacking this kind of freedom,

But freedom to design and market complex derivatives instruments, do proprietary trading with little oversight, or make opportunistic raids on temporarily weak companies does not necessarily promote this value. As conservatives are generally better than liberals at remembering, freedom needs to be limited to maintain social order and security -- including security against financial crisis and predatory market practices.

Also, freedom is at least a two-part thing: it can be limited by someone's preventing you from making the choice you want -- which happens a lot in Cuba -- or by economic circumstances' denying you any attractive alternatives -- which happens to plenty of people in the United States. Capitalism is generally good at protecting the first aspect of freedom, but mixed on the second. That's part of the reason good education, labor regulation, health care, and other aspects of security have been core parts of North Atlantic models, from the relatively libertarian U.S. to the relatively socialist Sweden. These are compromises from the point of view of dogmatic capitalism, but -- if they are done competently -- they are gains from the point of view of promoting freedom.

2. Dignity. Adam Smith thought markets promoted a kind of community that people should aspire to have: one based on mutual respect for others' talent, energy, and hard work.

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Anyone who has worked with, or been, a craftsperson, tradesman, or professional with a small practice has some idea of what this is about. These relationships are not the love of a family or the solidarity of a band of firefighting volunteers; but neither are they the selfish stratagems of heartless, caricatured capitalism.

Finance capitalism helps create an economy that is pretty far from Smith's ideal. People who have worked for Bain-style outfits talk in private about firing low-level employees of newly acquired companies at random, with a keystroke, because eliminating every third person on the payroll was a cheaper way of improving short-term profits (before unloading the company) than looking into each one's performance. I might not believe it if I had not heard it first-hand (and on background).

These grotesque incidents aside, the last fifteen years of finance capitalism have hardly been about producing respectful bonds among competent, hard-working people. They have mostly rewarded esoteric cleverness, the knack for taking advantage of tiny margins and subtle loopholes, and -- it is more and more clear -- political connections, not least the kind that can be purchased. This kind of capitalism is at best devoid of any concern for the individuals whose jobs and businesses it upends.

Respectful, mutual relations, where people have some sense of getting what they have earned, do best in moderately stable and secure economies. There has to be room for innovation and competition, but the constant churn of speculative finance and consolidating mega-companies has actually reduced the share of Americans who own their own businesses -- the paradigm of capitalism dignity.

3. Responsibility. Giving people what they earn, and not what they don't, is close to the core of American economic culture. Our capitalism is always defined against people who take advantage of some system to get what they don't deserve -- for instance, gaming disability benefits, enjoying a subsidy or a coddled union job. The sentiment is just as intelligible as resentment of sneaky Wall Street traders and those who fool around all their lives with inherited wealth. Since, psychologically, most people compare themselves with those down the street or in the next income bracket, rather than remoter contrasts, these responses should not be surprising.

The problem is that our finance capitalism doesn't reliably reward hard work and talent. It does so pretty much to the extent that it secures freedom (because you can't take responsibility for what you never had the opportunity to do) and dignity (which, in this context, means "how it feels when people appreciate your responsibility"). Like the other values, this is a double-edged blade, defending markets against some alternatives on the one hand, but showing their shortcomings on the other.

4. Humanitarianism. The real appeal of efficiency, the touchstone capitalism value, is that it fulfills more human needs and wants with the limited resources we have. Drawn in crayon strokes, the general theory of market efficiency is that every transaction is mutually beneficial (or else it wouldn't happen), which adds up to a vast system of mutual benefit. Wasted money ultimately comes out of someone's pocket, someone's education, someone's health care. If we lavished our money on idle social programs and failed collective quests (the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind), the cost would come in lives unsaved and needs unserved.

Again, finance capitalism is not exactly a poster baby for humanitarian efficiency. As mentioned, it often makes profit out of what amounts to complicated accounting tricks -- even when the tricks don't include manipulating the numbers or trading on inside information. Wall Street does not generally produce better medicines, prosthetic limbs, or

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good schools. If Bain Capital had, we would have heard about it before now. Private, profit-seeking companies do produce these things -- though not so much schools; but whether the constant churn and speculative pressure that finance capitalism puts on the whole economy really improves these processes is open to debate. It is especially unsure considering the humanitarian cost of speculation-driven crises like the one whose effects we are still feeling, and which, despite the lull in bad news from Europe, may not be over yet.

As anyone who has made it to week two of an introductory economics class knows, even steel-and-brick capitalism doesn't automatically produce efficiency. Often the best way to make money is by unloading costs on other people. Polluting industries know this, which is why they try to avoid environmental regulation. Consumer finance companies know it too, which is why people who have worked for efficiency specialists like Bain Capital and McKinsey talk -- again, on background -- about designing deposit, lending, and checking fees that will maximize credit-card companies' take from poor and unsophisticated clients. This is why an "efficient" economy that serves real humanitarian needs must have intelligent regulation to direct creativity in ways that produce actual benefit.

5. Dispersing Power: One of the better arguments against heavy regulation, and especially against political control of the economy, is the power it concentrates in one set of decision-makers. Dispersing control of the economy among many holders of capital spreads around this power.

The consideration on the other side is that capitalism also concentrates power, by concentrating wealth, and can turn that wealth back into political power through the kinds of corruption that are now constitutionally protected as First Amendment "free speech." Finance capitalism, with its huge concentration of rewards at the top of the income scale, is especially bad on this count.

Dispersing power is not so much a way of achieving a good thing as of avoiding evils, and in that case it is best not to imagine that either side of the balance is altogether good. This brings us to a different kind of general defense:

6. Pragmatism/Lesser Evil: When the utopian arguments of market fundamentalists are exhausted, capitalism does pretty well by fallback that it is the "least worst" system available. "What else you got?" is a reasonable response to critics, at least when the topic is what to do next. (It's also important to be able to have a clear discussion about the harms and benefits of our economic system, regardless of immediate practicality; but that's a different topic.) Pointing to the anarchists of the Occupy encampments is not much of an answer, and the authoritarian socialist regimes of Eastern Europe failed their people pretty badly even when not violating basic principles of democracy and human rights.

But, again, defending a lesser evil is very different from praising a prefect good. There is no reason that accepting the lesser-evil argument should mean embracing market fundamentalism or the excesses of finance capitalism.

The only serious lesser-evil capitalism is a mixed economy, intelligently regulated to reward real entrepreneurs and responsible managers while discouraging predators and opportunists. Yes, these are moral terms, and there will be debates about how to define them, but if we are going to have a moral argument about capitalism, we will have to have to use them, or words like them. The discussion has to be about how to secure freedom, dignity, responsibility, and humanitarian efficiency, given the dangers of concentrated power and the limited cogency of any alternatives. That is where any debate should point.

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The deepest concern about the way American capitalism has developed in the last fifteen years is that it has concentrated so much wealth and power in a few hands -- and arguably the wrong ones -- that it has become a major barrier to intelligent public conversation about its own strengths and limits, and about the direction reform should take. Supreme Court decisions protecting wealth as speech make this worse, but money collects political power in any case, especially when money benefits so much from absent, weak, or misplaced regulations. The right-wing attack on government itself has both polluted the debate and weakened governing institutions, making it hard to stage a useful conversation and maybe even harder to act on intelligent judgments about reform.

Since Teddy Roosevelt, the steady refrain of American reformers has been that, in a complex society and economy, unrestrained markets cannot do the good that early Americans expected from them, and which market fundamentalists still expect. Reformers have looked for ways to pursue such uncontroversial values as freedom, dignity, and humanitarian efficiency in a world that demands regulation and a healthy balance of public and private effort. Their reforms have come from coalitions of politicians, professionals, policy thinkers, and enlightened businessmen like Warren Buffett and the Gates family. If our mix of inequality and ideology has disabled us from creating another generation of reform, that would be the strongest and saddest case against American capitalism.

Parts of a Kritik

Kritiks have three main parts: link (the link shows how the affirmative’s assumption links to the kritik), impact (the impact describes the implications of accepting the affirmative’s assumption. The impact can be argued in a way that justifies voting against the affirmative altogether in order to reject the assumptions the affirmative makes), and alternative (the negative offers an alternative that avoids the assumptions the affirmative makes).

Parts of a Kritik – Three Person Table Debate

Prior Knowledge Conceptual understanding of kritiks.

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SWBAT Identify the parts of a kritik and explain their purposes.

Claims Note: Make these claims concrete by using an actual kritik. Do not have the students debate abstractly; that is, instead of debating whether an alternative is the most important part of a K, read “the alternative—to reject the capitalist model and attack the imperialist system at every turn—is the most difficult part of the Capitalism Kritik to defend.”

You can use the shell of any kritik as a handout that will guide these claims.

______________ is the most important part of this kritik. ______________ is the most difficult part of this kritik to defend. ______________ is the easiest part of this kritik to answer. ______________ is the easiest part of this kritik to find evidence for.

Activity Three Person Table Debate. See page 113.

Procedure Hand out the shell of the kritik you are teaching. (This can be found in the Core Files.)

Students will participate in a standard Three Person Table Debate. Student A will defend Link, Student B will defend Impact, and Student C will defend Alternative.

Before you announce each claim, give 2-3 minutes of preparation time so students can form their arguments. Be sure to make each claim specific. For example, read ______________ is the most difficult part of this kritik to defend” as “the alternative—to reject the capitalist model and attack the imperialist system at every turn—is the most difficult part of the Capitalism Kritik to defend.”


Time 20-25 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Three Person Warrant Debate” Worksheet. See page 121. Kritik shell (Core Files)

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Parts of a Kritik hand out. See page 246.

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Parts of a Kritik - Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a kritik.

Identify the parts of a kritik and explain their purposes.

Claims N/A


Procedure Choose an affirmative case. The Capitalism Kritik can be applied to a variety of affirmative cases, but the debaters must know which one they are using for this table debate.

Hand out the kritik shell. Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on

the kritik and the affirmative you’ve chosen. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on page 262.

Debrief.

Time 20-25 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials Core Files (Capitalism Kritik) Parts of a Kritik hand out. See page 246. Guided Flow Sheet. See page 262.

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Parts of a Kritik – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet


1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARLink:

Impact:

Alternative:

Answer to Link:

Answer to Impact:

Answer to Alternative:

Link (Answer 2AC argument):

Impact (Answer 2AC argument):

Alternative (Answer 2AC argument):

Answer to Link (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Impact(Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Alternative (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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Answering a Kritik

When the affirmative team responds to a kritik, it has a number of ways it can attack the negative’s arguments. It might argue against the kritik directly, attack the link, attack the impact, attack the alternative, or run a permutation. For more information about answering a kritik, see page 247.

Answering Kritiks – Defeating the Argument

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a kritik.

Understand and utilize different types of affirmative answers to a kritik.

Claims/Warrants

N/A

Activity Defeating the Argument

Procedure Hand out the “Answering a Kritik” sheet (see page 247). Divide the class into six groups. Each group will try to defeat the kritik

using a different kind of argument; Group 1) No Link, 2) Link Turn, 3) No Impact, 4) Impact Turn, 5) Alternative Does Not Solve, 6) Alternative Harmful

Proceed with a standard Defeating the Argument activity. Each group will prepare to answer the Capitalism Kritik using the strategy they are defending.

Debrief.

Time 35-40 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Answering a Kritik” hand out. See page 247. “Defeating the Argument” worksheet. See page 111.

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Answering Kritiks - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a kritik.


Claims/Warrants

N/A


Procedure Review the strategies for answering a kritik. You can use page 247 as a handout.

Hand out the “Answering the Capitalism Kritik” prep sheet (see page 265). Have students complete the sheets in pairs.

Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on the kritik they are learning. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on page 266.

Debrief.

Time 20 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Answering a Kritik” hand out. See page 247. “Answering the Capitalism Kritik” prep sheet. See page 265. “Answering the Capitalism Kritik” guided flow. See page 266.

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Answering the Capitalism Kritik Table Debate Prep Sheet

Directions: Choose an affirmative case to work with. Using that case, create arguments against every part of the following kritik. Use the kritik shell in the core files to help you.

Affirmative Case:

Link – Federal transportation investment privileges the rich at the expense of the poor, reinforcing the inequalities of capitalism.

Impact – Capitalism makes social inequality, economic turmoil and environmental destruction inevitable.

Alternative – Our alternative is to reject the Aff’s capitalist model of development. Movements against capitalism are possible now; our job is to attack the imperialist system at every turn.

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Answering a Kritik – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet

Directions: Use this worksheet to prepare and flow as you debate about the kritik.


Impact:

Alternative:

Answer to Link:

Answer to Impact:








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Defending a Kritik

Defending a kritik is much like defending other kinds of arguments. The negative team has two major responsibilities: 1) it must extend its arguments from the 1NC and 2) it must answer the affirmative’s arguments from the 2AC. The following “Multiple Perspective” activity will help debaters see how to respond to each type of affirmative answer to a kritik, while the “Four Speech Table Debate” activity will allow them to practice defending a kritik in a more traditional way.

Defending Kritiks – Multiple Perspective Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Running and answering kritiks.


Claims/Warrants

My piece of evidence is the best evidence for answering the Capitalism Critique

Activity Multiple Perspective Debate

Procedure Review the six common answers against kritiks and apply them to the Capitalism Kritik.

Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a piece of evidence from the Capitalism Critique Answers files. (For example, one group covers “Alternative Can’t Solve – Capitalism Inevitable,” another covers “Alternative Can’t Solve – Transition Wars,” et cetera.)

Proceed with a standard Multiple Perspective Debate. Each group is responsible for defending the argument that their assigned piece of evidence is the best for answering the Capitalism Critique.

Debrief.

Time 35-40 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Answering a Kritik” hand out. See page 247. “Multiple Perspective Debate” worksheet. See page 133.

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Defending Kritiks - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Running and answering kritiks.

Run, answer, and defend a kritik.

Claims/Warrants

N/A


Procedure Hand out the Capitalism Kritik files (see Core Files). Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on

the kritik they are learning. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on 269.

Debrief.

Time 30-40 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials Capitalism Kritik files. See Core Files. “Defending Kritiks Four Speech Table Debate” guided flow. See page

269.

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Defending a Kritik – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet

Directions: Use this worksheet to prepare and flow as you debate about the kritik.


Impact:

Alternative:

Answer to Link:

Answer to Impact:








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TopicalityTopicality (“T”) deals with arguments about what words mean. Debate is about making good policy, and you can’t have a good policy unless you know what the key words of the policy mean. You also can’t have a fair debate without knowing what they key words mean.

It’s easy to understand this concept by thinking about a conversation you might have with your parents. Let’s say your parents tell you to be home “at a reasonable hour.” When you show up at 2:00 a.m., you get in big trouble. “But I was home at a reasonable hour,” you complain. “All my friends stay out until 4:00.” Your parents are not impressed by this argument. “Reasonable means midnight,” they say. How were you supposed to know what “reasonable” meant?

Every year there is a different resolution for high school policy debate. It is the affirmative’s job to come up with specific policies (or “plans”) that support the general idea of the resolution. What if the affirmative policy is a good idea, but it doesn’t support the resolution? For example, the affirmative might argue that every hungry child in America should be fed. This may seem like a good idea, but what if the resolution says we ought to make schools better? The plan is fine, but it doesn’t support the resolution. The negative would argue that the affirmative plan is “NOT TOPICAL.” It’s not fair for the affirmative to run an untopical case, because how can a negative team prepare against it? If there’s no limit on what kinds of cases the affirmative can run, the negative will always be at a disadvantage in the debate.

Most affirmative plans seem fairly topical at first. However, if you research different definitions for the words in the resolution, it is easy to find definitions that contradict what the affirmative plan does. For example, what if the resolution says we should increase aid to African nations? The affirmative might offer a plan to increase aid to Egypt. Is Egypt an African nation? Many people might say “yes,” since Egypt is on the continent of Africa. Many experts might say “no,” however, because Egyptian culture might be considered “Middle Eastern” instead of “African.” There is no right or wrong answer for what a word means, but it is possible to make arguments about which definition is better.

Topicality exists to LIMIT what the affirmative may talk about so the negative can have a reasonable chance to argue against the case. If the affirmative could talk about anything, how could the negative prepare for the debate? The negative argues that topicality is a VOTING ISSUE. In other words, they argue that the affirmative should lose the debate if the negative can prove that the affirmative plan does not support the resolution. You can win the debate by talking about definitions!

Topicality is a very powerful argument because the affirmative can lose the debate on topicality even if they are winning every other argument in the debate! After all, if the plan is not an example of the resolution, then who cares what a great idea it is? It is unfair to the negative team, and it is irrelevant. The judge would throw out all the affirmative arguments, just like a judge in a courtroom can throw out a case if it is irrelevant.

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Parts of a Topicality Argument

In general “T” arguments have the following format:

Resolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially improve the treatment of pet animals in the United States. Affirmative’s Plan: The United States Federal Government should create feeding and shelter areas for squirrels in all major cities.

Parts of a Topicality Argument ExampleDefinition - Evidence that defines one or more important words in the resolution.

Dictionary.com defines “pet” as “any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately.”

Violation - An explanation of why the affirmative plan is not an example of the kind of action described by the resolution. Answers the question “why does the plan violate the negative definition(s)?”

Squirrels who live in cities are not domesticated, tamed, or cared for affectionately, so they are not pets. The affirmative’s plan does not fall under the resolution because it does not improve the treatment of pet animals.

Standards - Arguments about why the negative definition is better for debate than other definitions of the word(s) being contested.Common standards:Limits - the definition should limit the number of cases in a way that’s fair for both the affirmative (not over-limiting; not being too strict that the affirmative can only run a few cases) and negative (not under-limiting; not being so broad that the negative can never adequately prepare for the round)Ground – enough literature should exist about the case so the negative is able to prepare off-case arguments like disadvantages and counterplans

Limits - Allowing the affirmative to use this definition makes it difficult for the negative to compete. The affirmative’s interpretation of “pet” under-limits the resolution. Their definition opens up a wide range of cases that could include wild animals, zoo animals, and more. We cannot adequately prepare to argue against such a broad variety of cases.Ground – There is no literature for our off case arguments because no one has written against creating feeding and shelter areas for squirrels, because this is something that hasn’t been tried yet. There is no way we can research the topic and be well prepared.

Voting Issue – Arguments to remind the judge that topicality is an issue that should affect their vote. The negative often argues that topicality is a voting issue because it promotes fairness and keeps the debate educational (if both sides can find good evidence and prepare complex arguments, both sides can learn from the debate.)

Topicality is a voting issue—without it, we won’t have fair and educational debates, which is the point of the activity.

To win a topicality argument, the negative must prove:1. That the negative definition is better.2. That the affirmative definition does not meet the negative definition.3. That the judge should care about topicality as a voting issue.

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Answering Topicality

Negative’s T Argument

Affirmative’s Answer Example

Definition Counter definition – The affirmative reads a different definition of the same word that makes the plan sound topical. Once the aff reads a counter-definition, they must make additional arguments about why their definition is better than the negative definition.

The Oxford American Dictionary says a pet is a “thing one denotes special attention to or feels particularly strongly about.” The North American Squirrel Association, National Flying Squirrel Association, & Squirrels subsection of the Human Society prove squirrels are given special attention in the U.S.Our definition is better because our definition does not over-limit the topic. The negative’s definition is too narrow.

Violation We meet – The affirmative argues that there is no violation because they meet the definition that the negative has offered. In other words, the affirmative offers reasons why the negative’s definition actually describes the plan, instead of excluding it.

We meet the negative’s definition because some squirrels are tamed and cared for affectionately. There is no violation.

StandardsLimits

Ground

Over-limits – The affirmative argues that the negative’s definition over-limits the topic (makes the topic too narrow by restricting what can be read). This is bad for education because limiting the topic limits the amount of things both teams can learn in the round.

Enough ground – The affirmative argues that there is enough ground for the negative. It often names arguments (especially off-case arguments) that the negative can still run against the affirmative’s plan.

The negative’s definition over-limits the topic. It restricts the kinds of cases we can run in a way that is bad for education. How can we learn from the debate if we can only use a very narrow definition of the word “pet”?

There is enough ground. You can still read your Pets Bad DA, your Spending DA, and your ASPCA counterplan.

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Intro to Topicality What is Topicality?

Topicality (also called “T”) is a negative argument that says that the affirmative’s plan does not fall under the resolution, and therefore should not be allowed. It defines a certain word in the resolution and then demonstrates how the affirmative plan does not fit that definition. Topicality arguments have a specific structure, but before you even begin to get your students familiar with the different parts of the T, get them thinking about the concept of topicality. You can do this with the following Four Corners activity.

Intro to Topicality (What is Topicality?) - Four Corners

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

None

Understand the concept of topicality by considering whether sample plans fall under sample resolutions.

Claim Resolution: Boston Public Schools should educate their students about healthy eating habits.

o Plan: Boston Public Schools should ban the consumption of unhealthy snacks, foods, and drinks by removing them from schools and confiscating them from students.

o Plan: Boston Public Schools should place posters of the food triangle in all its cafeterias.

o Plan: Boston Public Schools should make daily physical education classes mandatory for all students.

o Plan: Boston Public Schools should offer free fruits and vegetables to students at all meal and snack times.

o Plan: Boston Public Schools should offer nutrition classes as an elective in its high schools.

Activity Four Corners

Procedure Put the sample resolution on the board. Read out a sample plan. Students should decide if they agree, strongly

agree, disagree, or strongly disagree that the plan falls under the resolution. They should go to the appropriate corner.

Have the students discuss their reasons in the corners. Then they should share out one or two reasons per corner. In your feedback, highlight any arguments the students make about definitions.

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Repeat for the following sample plans.Time 10 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the share-out: Circulate around the room, helping students decide

which arguments they should share out from their corners. Debriefing: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

teachable manner.Materials Four Corners signs. See page 100.

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Intro to Topicality Why is Topicality Important?

Topicality is important because it limits what the affirmative may talk about so the negative can have a reasonable chance to argue against the case. If the affirmative could talk about anything, how could the negative prepare for the debate? When we talk about fairness and limits, we use two key words: under-limits and over-limits. A definition that under-limits the resolution makes it too broad (which is unfair to the negative). A definition that over-limits the resolution makes it too narrow (which is unfair to the affirmative).

Intro to Topicality (Why is Topicality Important?) - Four Corners

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Conceptual understanding of topicality.

Understand why topicality is important by deciding whether certain definitions are fair.

Claim Resolution: The United States Federal Government should provide aid and resources to the poor.

o Poor = a person who has little money or propertyo Poor = a person who is deficient or lacking in somethingo Poor = a person who makes less than $10,000 a yearo Poor = a person who is dependent on charity and public support

Activity Four Corners

Procedure Put the sample resolution on the board. Read out a definition of the word “poor.” Students should go to their

corners depending on if they think it 1) over-limits, 2) strongly over-limits, 3) under-limits, or 4) strongly under-limits the resolution.

Have the students discuss their reasons in the corners. Then they should share out one or two reasons per corner.

Repeat for the following definitions.

Time 10 minutes


During prep-time: Assist students with developing their arguments. During the share-out: Circulate around the room, helping students decide

which arguments they should share out from their corners. Debriefing: Share 1 overall positive and address 1 overall concern in a

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teachable manner.

Materials Modified Four Corners signs. Make four signs with the words “Over-Limits,” “Strongly Over-Limits,” “Under-Limits,” “Strongly Under-Limits” on them.

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Parts of a Topicality Argument

Topicality arguments have four main parts: definition (evidence that defines one or more important words in the resolution), violation (an explanation of why the affirmative plan violates the negative’s definition), standards (arguments about why the negative’s definition is better for the debate), and voting issue (arguments that reminds the judge that topicality is a voting issue. Refer back to page 271 for more information about the parts of a topicality argument.

Parts of a Topicality Argument – Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Conceptual understanding of topicality.

Identify the parts of a topicality argument by reading excerpts from a topicality shell.

Claims N/A

Activity Evidence Scavenger Hunt

Procedure Hand out the “Find the Evidence! Identifying Parts of a Topicality Argument” worksheet (see page 278).

Students will consider each quoted excerpt of evidence and decide what part of a topicality argument it falls under. An answer key can be found on page 280.

Share out using a Four Corners activity. For each question, have students go to a corner to symbolize which answer they chose. Have one or two students explain why they chose the answer. This will get students moving, and (depending on whether the students go to different corners) allow you to see if there is any confusion about the topic.

Time 20-25 minutes


During the activity: Assist students with completing their worksheets.

Materials “Parts of a Topicality Argument” Worksheet. See page 271. “Find the Evidence! Identifying Parts of a Topicality Argument”

Worksheet. See page 278.

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Find the Evidence!Identifying Parts of a Topicality Argument

Directions: Read the quoted Negative Topicality Arguments. Then write in what part of a topicality argument it is (A. Definition, B. Violation, C. Standards, or D. Voting Issue). If it is a standards argument, write in the third column whether the standard is education, fairness, limits, or ground.

Quoted Negative Topicality Arguments Part of the Topicality Argument Standards (Fairness, Limits, or Ground)

The Affirmative doesn’t increase, they create. They create a new program that hasn’t existed before.

There is no literature for our off case arguments because no one has written against things that haven’t been tried yet. So there is no possible way we can research the topic and be well prepared.

History should limit the topic, our interpretation limits debate to making current infrastructure and programs better and stronger. There is not Aff and Neg literature on hypothetical programs. We should limit the topic to an area where literature exists on both sides.

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First, the court said that the ordinary meaning of the word “increase” is “to make something greater,” which it believed should not “be limited to cases in which a company raises the rate that an individual has previously been charged.” 435 F.3d at 1091. Yet the definition offered by the Ninth Circuit compels the opposite conclusion. Because “increase” means “to make something greater,” there must necessarily have been an existing premium, to which Edo’s actual premium may be compared, to determine whether an “increase” occurred.T is a voter for fairness and education, it is critical to preserve the integrity of debate.

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Find the Evidence! – Answer KeyIdentifying Parts of a Topicality Argument

Case Text Part of the Topicality Argument Standards (Fairness, Limits, or Ground)

The Affirmative doesn’t increase, they create. They create a new program that hasn’t existed before.

Violation – Says that the affirmative violates the negative’s definition.

There is no literature for our off case arguments because no one has written against things that haven’t been tried yet. So there is no possible way we can research the topic and be well prepared.

Standards – Ground argument Ground – Says a lack of evidence exists, so the negative cannot write off case arguments, and cannot adequately prepare for the debate

History should limit the topic, our interpretation limits debate to making current infrastructure and programs better and stronger. There is not Aff and Neg literature on hypothetical programs. We should limit the topic to an area where literature exists on both sides.

Standards – Limits argument Limits – Says the affirmative’s definition under-limits the resolution; the topic should be limited to an area where literature exists for both the affirmative and the negative to use

First, the court said that the ordinary meaning of the word “increase” is “to make something greater,” which it believed should not “be limited to cases in which a company raises the rate that an individual has previously been charged.” 435 F.3d at 1091. Yet the definition offered by the Ninth Circuit compels the opposite conclusion. Because “increase” means “to make something greater,” there must necessarily have been an existing premium, to which Edo’s actual premium may be compared, to determine whether an “increase” occurred.

Interpretation – Offers an interpretation (definition) of the word “increase”

T is a voter for fairness and education, it is critical to preserve the integrity of debate.

Voting Issue – States why topicality should be a voting issue for the judge.

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Parts of a Topicality Argument – Three Person Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

Parts of a topicality argument.

Identify the parts of a topicality argument and explain their purposes.

Claims Note: Make these claims concrete by using an actual topicality shell. Do not have the students debate abstractly; that is, instead of debating whether a ground argument is the most important part of a topicality argument, read the claim “The ground argument—that no literature for our off case arguments exist yet and there is no way we can research the topic and be well prepared—is the most important part of the ‘increase doesn’t = create’ topicality argument.”

______________ is the most important part of this T argument. ______________ is the most difficult part of this T argument to defend. ______________ is the easiest part of this T argument to answer. ______________ is the easiest part of this T argument to find evidence

for.

Activity Three Person Table Debate

Procedure Handout the shell of the topicality argument you are teaching. (This can be found in the Core Files.)

Students will participate in a standard Three Person Warrant Debate. Assign each student a part of the T argument to defend. (For example, Student A might defend Interpretation, Student B might defend Limits, and Student C might defend Ground.) Note: there are more parts than students. You can modify the groups to contain more than three students, or you can pick the three most controversial parts of the T argument for them to debate.

Before you announce each claim, give 2-3 minutes of preparation time so students can form their arguments. Be sure to make each claim specific. For example, read ______________ is the most difficult part of this disadvantage to defend as “The ground argument—that no literature for our off case arguments exist yet and there is no way we can research the topic and be well prepared—is the most important part of the ‘increase doesn’t = create’ topicality argument.”


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Time 20-25 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Three Person Table Debate” Worksheet. See page 121. “Parts of a Topicality Argument” Worksheet. See page 271. Topicality Shell of your choosing. See Core Files.

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Answering Topicality

Topicality arguments have four main parts: definition, violation, standards, and voting issue. When an affirmative team is answering a topicality argument, they will respond to each part of the T, often offering counter-definitions and counter-standards. Other common answers are “we meet” the negative’s definition and “no violation.” Refer back to page 272 for more information about answering a topicality argument.

Answering Topicality - Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

How to run a topicality argument.

Answer a topicality argument.

Claims/Warrants

N/A


Procedure Review the strategies for answering topicality. You can use page 272 as a handout.

Hand out the “Answering Topicality – Model” worksheet (see page 285). This will serve as an example of how the debaters will complete their prep sheets.

Hand out the “Answering Topicality” prep sheet for the T they are working on (“Increase Doesn’t = Create” is on page 286, “In = Throughout” is on page 288). Have the students complete this in pairs.

Students will compete in a standard Four Speech Table Debate based on one of the T arguments they are learning. A guided flow worksheet for this activity can be found on page 290.

Debrief.

Time 30-35 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials “Answering Topicality” handout. See page 272.

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“Answering Topicality - Model” worksheet. See page 285. “Answering a T” prep sheet. “Increase Doesn’t = Create” see page 286;

“In = Throughout” see page 288. “Answering a T Table Debate” guided flow. See page 290.

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Answering Topicality – Model Prep Sheet

Directions: This is a model prep sheet for answering a topicality argument. When you complete your own prep sheet, try to follow this example.

Plan Topicality Arguments against Topicality

ExampleResolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially improve the treatment of pet animals in the United States.

Affirmative’s Plan: The United States Federal Government should create feeding and shelter areas for squirrels in all major cities.

Definition – Dictionary.com defines “pet” as “any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately.”

Counter-definition – The Oxford American Dictionary says pet = “thing one denotes special attention to or feels particularly strongly about.” North American Squirrel Association, National Flying Squirrel Association, & Squirrels subsection of the Human Society proves squirrels are given special attention in the U.S.

Our definition is better because our definition does not over-limit the topic. The negative’s definition is too narrow.

Violation – Squirrels who live in cities are not domesticated, tamed, or cared for affectionately, so they are not pets. The affirmative’s plan does not fall under the resolution because it does not improve the treatment of pet animals.

We meet – We meet the negative’s definition because some squirrels are tamed and cared for affectionately. There is no violation.

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Standards –

Limits - Allowing the affirmative to use this definition makes it difficult for the negative to compete. The affirmative’s interpretation of “pet” under-limits the resolution. Their definition opens up a wide range of cases that could include wild animals, zoo animals, and more. We cannot adequately prepare to argue against such a broad variety of cases.

Ground – There is no literature for our off case arguments because no one has written against creating feeding and shelter areas for squirrels, because this is something that hasn’t been tried yet. There is no way we can research the topic and be well prepared.

Counter-standards –

Over-limits - The negative’s definition over-limits the topic. It restricts the kinds of cases we can run in a way that is bad for education. How can we learn from the debate if we can only use a very narrow definition of the word “pet”?

Enough ground - There is enough ground. You can still read your Pets Bad DA, your Spending DA, and your ASPCA counterplan.

Answering the “Increase doesn’t = create” T Argument Prep Sheet

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Directions: Create arguments against every part of the following T argument. Use the topicality shell in the core files to help you.


Resolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.

Plan: Any plan that proposes to invest in a new program.

Interpretation – In order to be topical the Affirmative must increase investment in a pre-existing program. Since the word “increase” requires a pre-existing base line the affirmative cannot topically create a new program.

Violation – The Affirmative doesn’t increase, they create. They create a new program that hasn’t existed before.

Standards – 1. Predictable limits – Our interpretation limits debate to making

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current infrastructure and programs better. There is not Aff and Neg literature on hypothetical programs. We should limit the topic to an area where literature exists on both sides. 2. Ground – There is no literature for our off case arguments because no one has written against things that haven’t been tried yet. So there is no possible way we can research the topic and be well prepared.

Voting Issue - T is a vote for fairness and education; it is critical to preserve the integrity of debate.

Answering the “In = Throughout” T Argument Prep Sheet

Directions: Create arguments against every part of the following T argument. Use the topicality shell in the core files to help you.


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Resolution: The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.

Plan: Any plan that proposes to increase infrastructure in a section of the United States, rather than the entirety of the U.S.

Interpretation – In order to be topical, an affirmative must increase transportation infrastructure across the entirety of the United States, not just a section of it.

Violation – The Affirmative only increases transportation infrastructure in one section of the United States but does not include vast sections of the continental United States or its territories.

Standards – 1. Predictable limits – There are a small number of affirmatives that deal with connecting all of the United States, whereas if the Affirmatives are allowed to select very small parts of the

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country to invest in then the negative will be unable to prepare for the number of miniscule Affirmatives possible. 2. Ground – Our best disadvantage links are to large, national changes in policy—not tiny changes in local monetary allocation. We should discuss the largest thrusts of the literature, not small projects that only affect one sector like barges or airplanes.

Voting Issue - T is a vote for fairness and education; it is critical to preserve the integrity of debate.

Answering Topicality – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet


1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARDefinition: Answer to Definition: Definition

(Answer 2AC argument):Answer to Definition (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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Violation:

Standards:

Voting Issue:

Answer to Violation:

Answer to Standards:

Answer to Voting Issue:

Violation(Answer 2AC argument):

Standards(Answer 2AC argument):

Voting Issue(Answer 2AC argument):

Answer to Violation(Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Standards (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Voting Issue (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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Defending Topicality

To defend topicality, the negative must extend its arguments from the 1NC and answer the affirmative’s arguments from the 2AC. The three most important factors in defending topicality are: 1) proving that the negative’s definition is better, 2) proving that the affirmative’s definition does not meet the negative’s definition, and 3) proving that topicality is a voting issue. It is also important to compare the negative’s standards with the affirmative’s counter-standards.

Defending Topicality – Four Speech Table Debate

Prior Knowledge

SWBAT

How to both run and answer a topicality argument.

Defend a topicality argument in the negative block (2NC/1NR).

Claims/Warrants

N/A


Procedure Choose an affirmative case. This will be the case that the debaters are running topicality against.

Hand out the topicality cards from the Core Files. Hand out the guided flow sheet. Proceed with a standard Four Speech Table Debate. Debrief.

Time 35-40 minutes




teachable manner.

Materials Topicality evidence of your choosing. See Core Files. Four Speech Table Debate guided flow. See page 293.

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Defending Topicality – Four Speech Table Debate Flow Sheet


1NC 2AC 2NC/1NR 1ARDefinition:

Violation:

Standards:

Voting Issue:

Answer to Definition:

Answer to Violation:

Answer to Standards:

Answer to Voting Issue:

Definition (Answer 2AC argument):

Violation(Answer 2AC argument):

Standards(Answer 2AC argument):

Voting Issue(Answer 2AC argument):

Answer to Definition (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Violation(Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Standards (Answer 2NC/1NR):

Answer to Voting Issue (Answer 2NC/1NR):

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