CDL Debater Benchmarks
Know where you are headed in the development of your debaters. Know what benchmarks you are trying to achieve in their learning. Organize your instruction and assessment. Start with the CDL Debater Benchmarks.
Flow Sheet
There’s no real improvement in competitive academic debate that doesn’t start with the flow sheet.
This electronic version of a flow sheet is useful if you are flowing on a laptop — a practice that can be more efficient and legible.
The CDL has a full file of prepared flows — go to the folders: For Coaches>>Professional Development>>Prepared Flows — which provide examples of the way rebuttals might be written and given on a range of arguments from the Core Files. These can be used to demonstrate the negative block, the 1AR, the 2NR, and the 2AR — speeches that are not read but written and constructed by debaters in-round, using critical thinking and the analysis of textual evidence to refute an opponents’ arguments.
The CDL has developed the Prepared Flow Rebuttal Drill, exercising flow-based refutation and analysis of evidence, and practicing and developing the 1AR, 2NR, and 2AR.
Flowing PowerPoint: Teach your debaters the basics of flowing with this Powerpoint presentation.
Instructional Resources
NAUDL Activities Manual: A great handbook that includes dozens of activities and exercises useful for teaching the fundamental skills of competitive academic debate, including a full chapter of exercises on flowing.
The CDL Blow-Up Drill has debaters prepare negative block argumentation on an off-case issue, in response to a set of 2AC arguments that they have not seen before but that you provide.
Twenty Steps to Prep: Get your debaters ready for a tournament in four weeks with this detailed, step-by-step handout.
Mini-Debates Exercise: Hold a mini-debate next practice with this document. Describes the format and details of a mini-debate lesson.
SPAR (SPontaneous ARgument) Debate Exercise: Hold a SPAR debate next practice with this useful document.
The basics of refutation are laid out in this Basic Refutation Powerpoint presentation.
Miscellaneous but useful tips for writing your own affirmative case are featured in How to Research and Write an Affirmative Case.
A highly useful exercise in teaching one of the twin pillars of the educational value of urban debate — responsiveness, or clash: Teaching Line-by-Line Debating.
Debating Framework Arguments introduces the theory argument of the “framework” and explains a little bit about how it is used in contemporary debate.
The Disad Exercise both defines the core terms used in debating disadvantages and offers a very meeting-ready exercise in teaching disadvantages to beginning and intermediate-level debaters.
This is a set of First Meeting Activities that have proven to be effective in interesting students in, and introducing them to, debate.
Teaching debaters responsiveness — the use of refutation, or clash, to answer their opponents’ arguments — is perhaps the most important skill taught to debaters. This Refutation Exercise is a valuable tool that can help coaches accomplish this crucial goal.
Debate Manual: Introduction to Debate Coaching
The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues produced a manual in 2007 titled Introduction to Debate Coaching. Each of its chapters, below, are very useful guides to learning and beginning to master competitive academic debate coaching and teaching.
- 1. Guide for Starting the Team
2. Guide for Running the Team
3. Guide to Professional Development
4. Coaching Guide for Beginning Debaters
5. Coaching Guide for Speaking Style
6. Coaching the Affirmative
7. Coaching the Negative
Recruitment Documents
- CDL Recruitment Poster A
- CDL Recruitment Poster B
- CDL Recruitment Flyer #1
- CDL Recruitment Flyer #2
- NAUDL Recruitment Poster
- NAUDL Recruitment Flyer #1
- Student Recruiting Ideas
Additional Resources
Learning to Debate is a very concise manual for use in learning about policy debate.
A Debate Glossary produced by Maine East (IL) Debate has useful definitions of many or most of the terms used in Varsity-level debate.
The Emory Policy Debate Manual is for everyone from new to less experienced Varsity debaters.
A debate textbook from PlanetDebate.com is for intermediate-level Varsity debaters.
Thoroughbred Theory Blocks has a set of blocks on both sides of many of the key debate theory issues, and can be used as a round-ready resource, or a kind of text book on key theory issues.
The CDL will in the near future be producing and disseminating debate curriculum, but in the meantime, the Houston Urban Debate League has produced a very useful Argumentation and Debate Curriculum that CDL teachers should feel encouraged to review and to use, selectively or in whole.
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