Debating

I hope that everyone had a restful term break despite the circumstances and that we are all back in the swing of online learning.

At the end of last term both ISDA and FED competitions made the decision to cancel the competitions for 2020.

Redlands Debating (and debaters) were very keen to keep debating and we successfully ran a trial online debate against Pymble Ladies College in Week 10 last term.

I have been in negotiations with Debating Coordinators from different schools and have arranged for our teams to be able to debate virtually this term. An outline of scheduled debates are below. Each Friday may have different timings and rules. We will try to have all students debate at least once this term.

Below is information received from Knox and applies to this Friday’s debates only.

Protocol

• All prep times for this competition are 45 minutes.
• All participants are reminded not to use Google in order to come up with arguments. Adjudicators have been asked to look for arguments that seem plagiarised or lack in logical analysis and examples, and teams will learn more by rising to the challenge without cheating.
• As above, all students are asked to join the Zoom call (check in) 15 minutes prior to the scheduled topic release.
• When students log on, they must rename themselves using the following convention: School Name, Division, Year Group (First name), eg. Redlands ISDA 7 (Leah). How to rename yourself on Zoom can be found here.
• Students are highly encouraged to rename themselves in this manner, but if they are unable to on the night we will still place them in the correct room (this may need to be confirmed verbally during the Zoom call)
• The topic will be released three minutes before the breakout rooms are opened and each team will have a private breakout room to prep in.
• Coaches and teachers are welcome to spectate. Coaches in particular should rename themselves in the following convention throughout the evening (ie. change after each debate): School Name, TEACHER, Division, Year Group (First Name), eg. Redlands TEACHER ISDA 7 (Leah)
• The Zoom code will be received by us and released on Friday

1. 1. Can debaters use a Google doc to communicate for rebuttal? Yes absolutely! It is important that they maintain integrity and do not share the document with teachers, coaches or people outside the team.
   2. Can other students from the team not debating on the day and parents watch the debates? Yes, but only if I send Knox their names and details prior to the Zoom meeting. This way they can have a list of names and email addresses who they expect to see in the meeting and can immediately remove anyone who is not on this list. Please send me your details prior to Friday if you want to watch a debate.
   3. Are there any speech length time limits? The same as ISDA.

Term 2 Debating Schedule

Ms Simone Bryant
Debating Coordinator
sbryant@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9875