This year has truly been AMAZING! We want to congratulate all of our seniors. As for all the other students that will be returning to FLVS clubs next year, Speech and Debate looks forward to seeing you soon! Speech and Debate will restart at the end of August or beginning of September.
We want to take a moment to thank Mrs. Whittaker (Speech and Debate Sponsor) She has been an amazing sponsor and has taught our officers and members some amazing qualities that can be used throughout life. Our last meeting, Mrs. Whittaker announced that she will be formally leaving her sponsorship position with Speech and Debate club, but will continue as an amazing asset to Florida Virtual School! We wish her the best of luck! Our new Sponsors look forward to working with each of our members and putting their own stamp on Speech and Debate Club! Please be on the lookout for some fun things to take place this coming school year. Thank you to all our members and AWESOME officers who have shaped Speech and Debate Club to what it is! We look forward to seeing you soon. Best of Luck, Elizabeth Carley Gray |President
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This is it guys! This is the last blog game I am getting to write for you all as Vice President. I'm sad to see my Interactive Blog Games ending but I hope next year someone else will take up the gauntlet. It's been two really fun years of these and I hope you all have enjoyed playing them as much as I've enjoyed writing them! We've talked about tips, teamwork, time, taking chances, transitional phrases, sound bites, Presidential speeches, inspirational quotes, and much more. It was my goal with these games to not just make them fun little website games but an opportunity for learning and great interaction. We've done a global theme, several historic and English based ones, and of course plenty about Debate! I've loved getting to post all of them. Special thanks of course goes to Mabel and Elijah for constantly taking the time to come and win the games! You both had such great winning streaks this year and last year and I was always totally impressed. It meant a lot that you had a nice time and hopefully learned something new, too. :) Great job, congratulations, and thank you! For our final game we're actually going to do a pretty non-competitive subjective round. :) Like last year's finale we'll be doing 20 questions - 10 new and 10 from this year's past games. This year we'll for the new questions we'll be sticking with something new we've been doing this year - non-objective questions. The 10 new questions will be totally subjective so as long as you answer the question you will be correct, and the 10 old questions will be able to be found from games from 2017 only (I think there were about seven games in total). Hope you've been paying attention and have great research skills! You guys have totally got this. As usual, get ready, get set, HAVE FUN AND GO! :) Here's how it's going to work: Below this introduction I'm going to post some special questions and activities for you to work on. After you've read the challenges you'll have to post your answers in the comments. Submissions will end at 10pm (so no posts after that will count) and the first person to get everything will be the final winner of the 2016-2017 year and will get three fun facts shared about them on the blog with a special post! The second, third place and so on winners will get one fun fact and a small shoutout, so submit your responses even if you aren't the main winner! It's a blog game bonanza! :) Finally, if you've skipped the introduction I suggest reading it because it's the last game from me! Thank you. Good luck debaters, and havvvveeee fun! On your marks, get set, go! Text Version of Questions: NEW - 1.What would you say has been your favorite blog game, and why? 2.What do you love about Speech and Debate? 3.When did you join the club and why? J 4.Do you prefer cross-examination or group debates? 5.Have you learned a lot in debates and blog games this year? If so, has anything stood out to you? 6.Do you prefer challenging debates or easy ones? 7.Was there a debate that changed your mind on a subject or court case? If so, what/why? 8.Do you enjoy getting super-focused in debates or are you more easy-going/laid-back with them? 9.What are three adjectives you personally would use to describe the blog games? 10.Are you having fun? Note: Don’t worry about being too in-depth. Just have fun with it! OLD- 1.When we get to rebuttals in Debate, we know we’re making some serious what? 2.Is there anything wrong with clicking off the mic early during a timed debate? Yes or no? 3.FLVS is currently in all 50 states and over how many countries? 4.Which country are wasp crackers from? 5.Finish the lyric: “Be prepared, be prepared, and unless you got a ______, you got one life so handle it with care!” 6.Teamwork makes the what work? 7.What did Franklin D. Roosevelt say is the thing we must strive for today? 8.Frost says that taking the “____” less traveled by has made all the difference. Fill in the blank. 9.People notice what far more than “any stuttering or mic issues you may have.”? 10.Which country am I currently posting from? (Hint: This was a question from March 2017!) It's time for our final meeting of the year, debaters! We can't believe it's finally here but tonight (Thursday, May 18th, 2017) at 7pm we will be hosting our last meeting of the school year!
Our topic is a very interesting one: "Is Global Warming a real issue?" Be sure to come tonight at 7pm, you don't want to miss it! Rebuttals - in Debate, they're something we rarely see in the first meeting of the year, but by the time we get to them, we know we're making some serious progress. If you're new to Debate, rebuttals might just seem like a chance to "hog the mic" by accident, or to have to endure nerves one more time to try to make another point. But they actually give you a chance to come back to the stand (or, laptop) with more preparedness and confidence than you could have possibly had at the start! Because follow-ups only happen after the bulk of the argument, you've had time to think points over, note weaknesses in the other team's argument, explain weaknesses of your own side and turn them in to strengths, and learn how to convince the listeners that you deserve to be heard. In a rebuttal, you get the chance to have the last word using all the knowledge and experience you've been able to gain in that debate! If there was something you or a teammate forgot to say, something you wish to put more emphasis on, a claim from the other side about your side that you wish to correct, or a point you'd like to make about the opposition, this is the absolutely perfect, and really only, chance to do it. Rebuttals may seem optional, but to really drive home a debate, they're pretty necessary. Even if you have nothing new, take the mic any way and do a condensed but confident version of your points! You want to take every opportunity you possibly have to show why you, and your side, are right. Don't miss out because of fear or worry! Just having the courage to grab the mic for a rebuttal is fantastic, and people notice that far more than any stuttering or mic issues you may have. When doing a rebuttal, try to think of how best to drive your point home. You don't want to repeat everything, but a powerful overview is great! Make sure you try to feel really sure in what you are saying. The spotlight will be on you at the end with a rebuttal so you really want to stick to what you know. It's like a performance, and you want to give it all you've got! The best way to sum it up, is, as usual with our club: just go for it and have fun! :) Rock those rebuttals! Here's how it's going to work: Below this introduction I'm going to post some special questions and activities for you to work on. After you've read the challenges you'll have to post your answers in the comments. Submissions will end at 7pm (so no posts after that will count) and the first person to get all of them right will get to have three fun facts shared about them at the next meeting and on the blog, and they will get an extra vote to say who won our next debate. All players will be mentioned at the meeting! Finally, if you've skipped the introduction I suggest reading it because there will be a few questions about it on the quiz! Good luck debaters, and havvvveeee fun! On your marks, get set, go! 1.Bonus Question (You cannot be marked wrong, it’s a personal bonus question): have you ever tried doing a rebuttal before? If so, how was it? if not, are you excited to try?
2.Rebuttals are optional and to really drive home a debate, they are not necessary. True or false? 3.If you’re new to Debate, rebuttals might just seem like a chance to do what? 4.Rebuttals are something we rarely see when? 5.I said that you shouldn’t miss out (on rebuttals) because of fear or what? 6.“Because follow-ups only happen after the bulk of the argument, you've had time to”… what? 7.Bonus Question (You cannot be marked wrong, it’s a personal bonus question): Were any of the rebuttal tips helpful for you? Do you have any ideas for a good tip? 8.How did I sum up the introduction? 9.People notice what far more than “any stuttering or mic issues you may have.” 10.When we get to rebuttals in Debate, we know we’re making some serious what? Interactive Blog Game: Don't Fear the Clock! All debates can be stressful, but cross-examination ones, where we most often using timers, are typically the most fear-inducing. The competition feels more dramatic anyway, but as soon as that timer starts people often get tongue-tied and don't know where to begin or how they can possibly fit all that they need to say into such a small window of time - or at least, what feels like a small window of time. Often debaters find themselves rushing to say everything they want to say, and then they end up having time left over and having to click off the mic early! There's absolutely nothing wrong with clicking off early if you've really said all you want to say, but if you rushed, tripping and tumbling over everything in fear of the clock, you're allowing the pressure to take you over, and this not only makes you feel bad, but harms your argument by limiting it. An awesome thing you can do if you have prep time beforehand is to practice your speed. Even if you don't know what your time limit will be on the day of the debate, you can at least get an idea for the speed of a normal, authoritative voice. You can record yourself reading your speech and think how it could be made better, and what pace sounds good to you and for you. Secondly, during the actual debate be sure to watch the time as you go. Don't stare at the timer religiously and miss out on key parts of your notes/speech, but keep an eye on the clock so you aren't surprised. This is so important to controlling your speed. If you watch as you go, you should be able to predict how long you can afford to concentrate on the important parts, and what pace you need to go out to make everything sound even and not too fast or slow. Superspeed may seem like a great idea at the time when everything is counting down, but if your audience can't understand a word you are saying, there is absolutely no point in trying to fit in all those extra words. One other thing that I also personally find helpful is having "option bits" - extra sentences, or even paragraphs, written down just in case I do have enough time to speak them. Sometimes you don't have extra allowance, so you should say all your main stuff first, but if you suddenly look at the timer and find yourself with an extra minute, those extra options are fantastic ways of propelling yourself forward and really using the time to your advantage. Even if you don't have time beforehand to write down another full speech "just in case", writing down topic ideas or quick research notes you can read at a glance give you starting points and extra ammunition. At the very least you can often use these options for rebuttals and during questions if they help your case. The final main tip is: don't freak out about it! Panicking during debates is never really a good idea anyway, but especially over something like time. You don't want dead air and you don't want to be cut off, but you know what? In the end, it's ok. The more you worry about it the more chance you will go too quickly or too slowly just as you were afraid of. Keep an eye on the clock for sure, but concentrate on what's most important: doing your best. Here's how it's going to work: Below this introduction I'm going to post some special questions and activities for you to work on. After you've read the challenges you'll have to post your answers in the comments. Submissions will end at 7pm (so no posts after that will count) and the first person to get all of them right will get to have three fun facts shared about them at the next meeting and on the blog, and they will get an extra vote to say who won our next debate. All players will be mentioned at the meeting! Finally, if you've skipped the introduction I suggest reading it because there will be a few questions about it on the quiz! Good luck debaters, and havvvveeee fun! On your marks, get set, go! TEXT VERSION OF QUESTIONS:
1.What was the final main tip? 2.What is one other thing that I personally find helpful? 3.If you watch as you go, you should be able to what? 4.What is an awesome thing you can do if you have prep time beforehand? 5.Is there anything wrong with clicking off the mic early during a timed debate? Yes or no? 6.In the beginning of the introduction I referred to a small _____ of time – fill in the blank! 7.In the end of the introduction I said you don’t want ____ air and you don’t want to be cut off. Fill in the blank. 8.You should “keep an eye on the clock for sure, but…” What was the rest of that quote? 9.This answer is subjective and essentially there is no wrong one. What do you personally like or want to try to do to stay on a good time during a timed debate or speech? 10.At the very least you can often use options for what if they help your case? |
S&D Club
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