Novice Policy Debate

We collaborated with Chicago Debates, Los Angeles Urban Debate League, Miami-Dade Urban Debate League, and Bay Area Urban Debate League to create an educationally sound scope and sequence for the novice policy debate curriculum. We worked from the understanding that each tournament is essentially a formative assessment, during which the students apply the knowledge and skills they have been developing in an authentic performance task. We identified rigorous but achievable goals, backward-mapping from each tournament.

We recognize that each league will have its own school and tournament calendars and that those change year to year, so we designed the curriculum with flexibility in mind. Like any curriculum, each teacher will need to map their year based on their own context. We used a baseline of 2 after-school practices per week at 60+ minutes per practice. We also projected four weeks of practice leading to each tournament. We included a backward mapping template in the Coaching Resources section to help with planning.

You will notice that the links to each lesson on the unit pages include the learning goals of the lesson (SWBAT, Students Will Be Able To). This is done to make it possible to see the sequence of skills at a glance. You will find many additional lesson plans in the Extension Lesson section. Those can be used to delve deeper into specific skills and review concepts. You should also go to the Guide for Novice Debaters in the Student Resources section. Like any curriculum, you might modify lessons, rearrange sequences, and supplement with original materials. We hope that you will share those innovations with us so that others may benefit.