Last program of the summer begins
Photo: Previous international students at the 2002 parliamentary workshop, Alvaro Ferrer (as a student) is in the blue shirt in the front row, now he is an instructor
Posted by: Alfred Snider
Today is arrival day for the last program of the summer, the National College Parliamentary Debate Workshop. People from all over the USA and two other continents are arriving for this high-energy event.
Kate Shuster of the Claremont Colleges is back to direct this program. She directed the middle school one-week program earlier this summer and is now returning after finishing teacing a graduate course in education in between.
Parliamentary debate is the most popular form of debating in the world. From an essay by John Meany and Robert Branham at http://debate.uvm.edu/meanyparli.html they write:
Parliamentary debate differs from other forms of competitive debate in several additional ways. Parliamentary debates are more oratorical, witty, and accessible to general audiences. They are shorter than traditional policy debates, making them well-suited to classroom use. Parliamentary debates have relatively few rules; they feature less jargon and fewer theoretical arguments. The rules of parliamentary debating are primarily designed to ensure that debates are evenly matched and enjoyable. Because parliamentary debating is less technical than other forms of debate and easier to learn, most students are able to begin debating in this format almost immediately.
In competitive parliamentary debating, each round of debate has a different topic announced just before the debate begins. The amount of preparation time varies, allowing from ten minutes to (in British secondary school tournaments) one hour of preparation between the announcement of the topic and the beginning of debate. 3 Fifteen minutes is the most common allotment.
To see a parliamentary debate online in video form click for Part One and then Part Two. To see some parliamentary debate instructional videos go to http://debate.uvm.edu/parlivid.html .
Here is the schedule for the parliamentary workshop.
WDI College Parliamentary Institute – Schedule
Day 1: August 5
9:00-9:15: Tracking assessment & orientation- Theater (RTT)
9:30-10:30: Whole group meets; argumentation and refutation review – Meany
10:45-11:30: Small Group 1:
Beginners: Format Review (Shuster); Advanced: Refutation Practicum (Woods)
11:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:30: Coaches’ Session: Judge Certification and Training
(Meany)
1:30-2:15: Small Group 2: Interpreting the Motion
Beginners: Skrt; Advanced: Shuster
2:30-3:30: Small Group 3: Opposition Strategy
Beginners: Shuster; Advanced: Woods
3:15-4:30: Issue orientation 1 (whole group): Debating Legal
Issues (Meany)
4:30-6:30: Dinner
Day 2: August 6
1:30-3:15: Debate 1; coaches observe for certification
3:00-3:45: Small Group 4: Impacts & Significance
Beginners: Woods; Advanced: Meany
4:00-5:00: Issue Orientation 2 (whole group): Debating the
Environment (Woods)
7:00-8:00: Debate 2
Day 3: August 7
9:00-10:30: Debate 3
10:45-11:30: Small Group 5: Counterplans
Beginners: Meany; Advanced: Shuster
10:45-11:30: Coaches’ Session: Research & Preparation: Woods
11:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:00: Debate 4
3:15-4:30: Issue Orientation 3 (whole group): Debating
International Relations (Shuster)
4:30-6:30: Dinner
7:00-8:00: Open Forum (Skrt, Woods)
Day 4: August 8
9:00-10:30: Debate 5
10:45-11:30: Small Group 5: Critiquing
Beginners: Shuster; Advanced: Woods
10:45-11:30: Coaches’ Session: Public Debate and Building a Campus Presence: Meany
11:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:00: Debate 6
3:15-4:30: Issue Orientation 4 (whole group): Debating Bioethics
(Ferrer)
4:30-6:30: Dinner
7:00-8:00: Open Forum (Ferrer, Shuster)
Day 5: August 9
9:00-10:30: Debate 7
10:45-11:30: Small Group 6: Effective Rebuttals
Beginners: Ferrer; Advanced: Meany
11:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:00: Debate 8
3:15-4:30: Issue Orientation 5 (whole group): Free & Fair Trade: Snider
Day 6: August 10
9:00-10:15: Debate 9
10:30-11:45: Debate 10
11:45-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:00: Debate 11
3:15-4:30: Debate 12
4:45-5:00: Program Evaluation
WDI 2006 Blog
Friday, August 4, 2006
