PARENT JUDGING PACKET

Step 2:  Make sure you look at some of the NSDA video training and peek at our pages under 'parents' about judging in your particular event -- we posted a few 'short' explanation videos.

Step 1:   Please provide your full name, phone number and email address asap to Mr. Crisp so he can setup a Speechwire account for you.  

We used to issue paper judge ballots that you would just write on, but everything is done within a web browser now.  It is a really easy system to use though. 

It's VERY important that we have an account setup in Speechwire for you as this is how you will judge. We're dead in the water without it. 

You can send the information to me directly at:  shawncrisp@scps.k12.fl.us

You can login once provided your info at:    https://live.speechwire.com

***. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU BRING A LAPTOP OR IPAD TO THE TOURNAMENT.  YOU CAN USE A SMART PHONE TOO. ***

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*** PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A FULL BATTERY AND ACCESS TO A CHARGER.  IT'S A LONG DAY AND YOUR BATTERY WILL BE WORKED A BIT **

Thank you for judging!  As a coach, I can allow 2-4 kids to participate in this great activity per parent judge therefore parent/family contribution is essential to our organization. That being said, here are some pointers.  No worries. It's super easy.

Step 3:   Summing the training up in a nutshell:

Most of our events are either PF (Public Forum) or LD (Lincoln-Douglas)

For PF, the two teams will debate a resolution and each will take a position on the topic either affirmative or negative.  Each team will rotate through the course of the day and take both sides several times each. 

The idea of PF is that the two teams need to be able to convince the ordinary citizen as to the correctness of their position. Some of the topics might be controversial and you might have strong feelings about the topic yourself (ie. gun control, abortion rights, healthcare, etc.)  PLEASE leave your personal ideas outside of the debate. The kids are required to argue BOTH sides several times during the day so it's unfair to punish a team for advocating for something that you believe might be wrong. A good PF judge just considers which team did the best job in argumentation and persuasion. 

In addition, please refrain from making comments about the dress or physical appearance of the contestants. 

WELL HOW DO I DO IT? 

* Arrive at the tournament early and you will be escorted to the Judge's Lounge.  The competitors will be escorted to the competition section.  

* The coach will then count heads, make sure everyone is present, then register the team. In the meantime, you can log into the Speechwire account that Mr. Crisp has setup for you. Please notify the coach if there is a login problem. You won't judge all day. They try to break it up so you'll likely do 2 out of 4 -- you're essentially on-call.  

* PLEASE PLEASE remain in the judge's lounge when you are not judging. You may be called as a replacement judge and if you are called for a normal round and are somewhere else, the team gets fined $50.  You also are not allowed to watch competitions in which you are not judging.  In short, please spend your time in the judge's lounge. They will have soft drinks, muffins, treats and coffee.  It's fairly pleasant.  Bring a book or some work with you for when your aren't judging.  Lunch is provided for free and you will receive a meal ticket when the director release judges for lunch. 

* After the coaches complete registration, the tournament directors will give some guidance on the competition and the speechwire website will notify you when you are to judge and where to go at the school (ie. room number.)  For locals, there are 4 rounds in a day. You will likely judge one then get the next one off in order. 

* After receiving your judge ballot on Speechwire, you will proceed to find the room (there are maps if needed) and enter the room first (students must wait outside till you tell them its ok to enter.)

Once the students are ready, you click on your electronic ballot (on speechwire) to start the round.

* Make helpful comments in Speechwire for each team. Let them know in a positive way what they did well and where they might improve. It's also important to let them know tastefully where they messed up. Please leave plenty of comments as the students really love reading them. Minimal comments are very disappointing as the kids want to improve. 

* For PF & LD, each team gets four minutes of preparation time that they can use to prepare for rebuttals and speeches. The students will say something like, 'may I use my prep time?' or "I will be starting prep time now.'  The students usually time themselves, but you should clock how much time they use and warn them as they reach their two minute mark.  The two minutes is to be used for each team for the entire round -- two minutes and no more per team each round.

* Please just listen to the debate. Keep your opinions to yourself and allow the kids to debate. Even if you feel strongly one way or another, remember that these kids don't necessarily believe what they are saying either -- debate is about debating BOTH sides of an argument and they will go back and forth between affirmative and negative several times throughout the day.

FOR LD exclusively -- the students in LD will introduce a concept called a VALUE CRITERION or a BENCHMARK.  LD is VALUE debate so they introduce a concept that they will argue takes precedent when discussing the issue. For example, a discussion on the death penalty might focus for the affirmative on 'THE SANCTITY OF LIFE' while the opposing side might argue 'MORAL FAIRNESS'   They are debating different arguments but also WHY they have chosen those arguments in the first place using the VALUE CRITERIA/BENCHMARK. 

You don't need to do anything different, but I mention this so you understand the idea behind their argumentation. PF is about debating facts and figures -- what we can do about something.  LD is about debating whether we SHOULD do something. 

Once the debate has finished, you will award a winner and then assign speaker points to each team.  As a blank slate, which team did the best job of convincing you?

Speaker points range from 20-30. Give 20 points if they start a fight or display profanity, or punch each other in the mouth etc.  Excessive misconduct.  By the way, this never happens.

24 is usually the starting point and that means that the team is terrible.  25-26 is poor to average. 27 is ordinary. 28 is good. 29 is excellent. 30 is absolute perfection and nothing better could be done. 

Please don't disclose winners or provide comments during locals.  Your comments should be the guidance.  Just thank the contestants, they will leave and finish your ballot comments.  You will then click to complete the ballot. You are done!

*** This is a long text but I'm just trying to be thorough. I could send you in with zero information and you'd figure it out anyway in five minutes. It's not hard at all.  Judging is rewarding though and can create a really neat bond with your student.  We have been lucky in the past of having judges who participated all four years and even travelled with us around the country. They tell me it was a great experience to share an activity with their teen when teens typically wish to do anything BUT hang out with their parents.  :)    -- Mr. Crisp