Debate
ALL ROC Debate students are required to attend a summer debate camp before club begins each year.
The goal of ROC debate is to guide, teach, and inspire students in the educational environment of theory, logic and argument. Focus will be on structure, research, analysis, and style of Team Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate. The objective of the debate club is to train and prepare students for listening, responding and thinking skills that will help them through life. We look at NCFCA tournaments as part of the process the students use to develop and refine their skills, it is not the end result. We feel that these skills are part of the process of learning to, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"1 Peter 3:15.
ROC debate is structured similar to a co-op with member families all participating to help our students grow in their communication skills. Meetings take place on Thursdays at Chisholm Baptist Church in Rockwall. LD & TP debate meets 1:00 - 3:00 pm. Please arrive a few minutes early to get settled, so you don’t miss out on important announcements or valuable training time. Our coaches are all participating parent volunteers and we will want to respect their commitment by honoring the times we set for them to be there.
Each Club meeting includes some instruction, practice and critiquing. This is accomplished through active participation from BOTH parents and students. Parents are required to be present with their children at club meetings and must participate in helping coach all member students. This will include teaching time, small group exercises and practice time (with parent coaches), to develop debate skills as well as affirmative and negative arguments for the year’s NCFCA resolutions.
(click on the above link for more information)
Team Policy Debate involves 2 two-student teams debating for or against a topic resolution. Debate research and homework could take 4-8 hours per week at the competitive level.
Team Policy Evidence Ring – There are many different cases each year, making it difficult for one team to research and adequately prepare to refute each one. One of the greatest benefits of the club is to pool the efforts of all students in researching and preparing briefs against known cases. The ROC evidence ring is available for members that are participating in club. Students will be given assignments to find and format evidence and prepare negative briefs on the cases they went negative against at previous tournaments. Briefs and evidence will be shared among teams who contribute to this effort. This approach strengthens and equips our debate teams and provides an atmosphere of serving and encouraging one another.
Partnerships – All team policy students are required to partner with other students within ROC.
Lincoln Douglas debate involves individual students debating for or against a topic resolution. Research and homework can take 3-6 hours per week at the competitive level.
BENEFITS OF DEBATE:
- All the speech skills PLUS...
- History (world and U.S.)
- Civics
- Economics
- Philosophy
- Worldview
- Logic
- Listening skills
- Organization skills
- Research skills
- Persuasive skills
- Analysis skills
