Great post on Adaptation over at 3NR

I just wanted to point everyone to a post on adaptation for debaters over at the new(er) blog, The 3NR.  The post is written for high school debaters going to CFL and NFL nationals, but I think it has applicability to all debate at some point.  I know on our regional, California circuit we will [...]

Gordon Mitchell on Ethics and Evidence – Repost from edebate 5-18-09

The following is a repost of an edebate post from Gordon Mitchell, Director of UPitt’s William Pitt Debating Union.  It is one of the most comprehensive and useful posts on ethics and evidence I have seen to date.  I believe this will be a big issue in the coming years in debate and getting ahead [...]

Black Participation in CEDA 20 Years Later?

Peter Loge wrote this paper in 1990 for the Speech Communication Assocation conference.  It seems that this coming year would be a good time to revisit it – two decades later.  With Towson teams deep in outrounds at both CEDA Nationals and the NDT, but without the changes suggested in Peter Loge’s paper in place [...]

Debate as Curriculum

I remember joking around with people I went to college with that I wanted to start my own charter high school where all of the curriculum matter revolved around the high school debate topic for the year.  It would be the perfect way to solve the competition between homework and debate research – they would [...]

Back from Birth and PDF to Word Computer

So, I was due to have a baby on April 12, but she decided to arrive about seven weeks early!  Mackenzie Claire was born on February 19 at 32 weeks and 4 days…I was in the hospital for about a week and she was in for three, but we are both at home and doing [...]

Is being successful at Forensics too “hard”?

I love speech and debate.  I loved it when I competed in it and I still love it as a coach/director.  One of the things I love about it is the challenge.  Although things have changed a lot since I competed (some things have been made easier, while others have become more difficult), I still [...]

Happy Belated New Year – Getting Ready for Spring Season…

How the heck are we already in 2009?  Time flies when you are having fun, I guess.  And, I have to admit, I am still having fun coaching speech and debate and teaching and living in Chico.  I really wish I was posting more regularly on this blog…and I’m really going to try to commit [...]

Series: Web 2.0 for Forensics – Part I

I’ve been trying to incorporate a little more of the web 2.0 programs in my academic life, and this has led me to consider the way these same programs can be used for forensics.  So, I am going to start brainstorming ideas for using different tech to make our forensics lives easier and turn them [...]

Back from the hiatus

Well, I’ve been on an unplanned hiatus from posting here at Its Debatable for a couple of months.  Sorry to those of you who come here expecting a post every once in a while.  It is my hope that I will be able to start back posting on a regular basis.  I’m going to aim [...]

The importance of paying attention to the “big picture”

Thought this was a great visual example of how easy it is to miss things, even when you’re paying close attention.