Speech Parents -- Please Sign-up for Food and Judge Registration for Dec 12 Tournament

Parents of Speech Competitors,

We have a few more housekeeping details regarding Saturday's Holiday Speech Tournament.  Please take a minute to complete the following online --

1) Register yourself to judge to meet the judge requirements for your students:
Judge Requirement: Each competitor MUST provide a judge available to judge two rounds for each event the competitor has entered. There is a six round family cap. Please encourage community and alumni judges to sign up through the judge registration link. Because of the way that judges are assigned to rounds, YOU MUST BE THERE FOR THE TIMES FOR WHICH YOU HAVE REGISTERED.

Click here to register for judging: https://holiday.homeschooldebate.net/judges

2) Sign up for food!  Please be generous!  We will need enough food to feed 40+ competitors, Parents, siblings, AND Community Judges for 3 meals and snacks.  Please consider the amount of food it will take to feed your family for an entire day and bring that much plus a little extra. Thanks!

Click here for the Food Sign-up Dec 12

Calling all younger siblings!  If you have younger students ages 10 and up, we really could use them to time the rounds.  Kim Estep will be the timer coordinator for the tournament and will put them to work.  Please have come to the timer table immediately when you arrive so they can be trained and assigned a room.

If you have any questions, please email me: pkmillhouse@gmail.com.

Looking forward to a great tournament!
Kimberly Millhouse

Vector This Week - Dec 3 -- Please Read All Info!

Hi Everyone!

Please note this week we have a NEW LOCATION & NEW TIME!
As you may have seen from the Punchbowl e-vite, this will be a special week so don't miss it! 

SPEECH: We will begin Speech this week at 3:30p. We will focus on coaching speeches for the upcoming tournament.  Due to a church event at KCPC this week, we had to move our Speech meeting to the Ehrenman's home -- 38438 Ditchling Place, Hamilton (same location at the party--see below). 

VECTOR CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE EHRENMANS! 5:30-7:30p
5:30 Potluck Dinner followed by Games
This is a family affair-- parents, students, and siblings are invited.  The Ehrenmans will be providing Roast Beef and drinks.  Please bring a nut-free dessert or side dish and RSVP to the Punchbowl evite if you haven't already done so. (If you didn't receive the punchbowl evite, please RSVP to Penelope at ehrenman@gmail.com.)

NO DEBATE! If you are a debate only student, please come to the potluck dinner and Christmas party at the Ehrenmans at 5:30p.  Debate will resume the following week. 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! See you soon!
Kimberly Millhouse

Vector Speech This Week - Nov 18

SCRIPTS: 
Interp --A hearty well-done to those students who finished their Interp scripts last week and turned them in!  Please try to get all your interp scripts finished this week and turned in to Mrs. Ehrenman on Thursday.  We will not be having club next week (Thanksgiving), so finishing them now and getting them memorized is a high priority! We can't really coach your speech and give you blocking help until you get it memorized.

Platform -- All platform scripts are due in two weeks (the week after Thanksgiving).  There is less than one month until the December speech tournament and I want everyone to have a chance to compete early this year!

TOURNAMENT INFO:
Our first Speech Tournament of the year will be the Holiday Cheer Tournament on Dec 12th.  I'm hoping that everyone will plan to compete in at least one or two events.  Mrs. Snyder will open registration on Monday, so please be on the look out for registration info and REGISTER EARLY!  It helps the tournament staff tremendously to know our numbers for planning.

CLUB MEETING:
Penelope Ehrenman will be leading Speech this week.  She will be going over Monologues and giving you time to practice Mars Hill speeches this week.  Beckett will be sending out assignments on the Student Forum.  If you have any questions, please send it out on the forum! 

Blessings,
Kimberly Millhouse

Vector This Week - Nov 12

Hi Everyone!

We have a Debate tournament this week -- LD on Friday/Sat and Parli on Saturday.  Parents we NEED JUDGES, FOOD, and WORKERS!  If you are a parent of a debate student, we will expect to see you there as all-day participation is required by at least one parent (two would be even better if possible!). Be sure to sign up for a tournament job and food if you haven't already as there are many needs. It is critical that we fill these job slots and provide enough food for everyone involved.  Click here: Tournament Job Sign-up or here: Tournament Food Sign-up

If you are a 'speech only' parent, we would love to have you come judge a round or two! All training will be provided. And please feel free to come help or bring food as well.  Students, if you are not competing, please come watch -- it's a great way to learn!

Speech this week: 
By popular demand we will be spending our time practicing--Apol speeches, impromptu topics and some other fun games to help you develop your skills. 

Interp Scripts are due this week!  Please bring a printed copy for me.  Work on memorizing your interp so you can begin blocking it.  The sooner you get it memorized the better!  Next week we will continue practicing Mars Hill, Apol, and Extemp speeches. 

Looking forward to seeing soon!

Kimberly Millhouse

PA Stoa Qualifying Speech Tournament Dec 5

If you are interested in getting a speech tournament under your belt early in the season, consider traveling to Grove City PA, Dec 5th, for a one-day speech tournament.  Registration is now Open!

The events offered:  Apologetics, Dramatic Interp, Duo Interp, Expository, Extemporaneous, Humorous Interp, Impromptu, Open Interp, Original Oratory, Persuasive

All the details are included in the note below and on the listed registration website. 

***********************

	Hi Competitors!

Our Stoa tournament is just 42 days away!  Please use the following link to register: http://wpacofocus.eventzilla.net

Registration opens November 2nd and closes on November 20th. Please feel free to pass the link along to interested competitors!

Hope to see you at FOCUS 2015!

Blessings,

Jamie Good

Tournament Director

Registration for Debate Tournament Closes NOV 1st

If you haven't registered for the Parli / LD Debate Tournament on Nov 13/14, please do so now!

Click on a registration link below, to register students and parents/judges for any of the following tournaments:
FOR EACH TOURNAMENT :

1) Complete Student Registration

2) Complete Parent Judge Registration

3) Pay registration fees by PayPal under the left hand Review and Pay Tab.

4) Please don't forget to Sign-up for Food.

Details and information can be found by clicking on the link below.

https://fallintodebate.homeschooldebate.net

Registration Closes: November 1st

Note: There will be a $10.00 late fee for late registrations. No refunds for cancellations after November 7th.

Speech This Week -- Oct 29, 2015

Hi Everyone!

By now you should have gotten Beckett's Mars Hill speech assignment for club.  We will spend the last part of club time giving individual Mars Hill speeches and parents will give feedback. 

This week we will be covering Extemporaneous speaking. Kyle Ziemnick will share with us key concepts and how to present a winning Extemp speech.  Please bring your notebooks (as always)!

Next week's homework will involve preparing an Extemp speech for practice in club.  Kyle will give that assignment and talk about Extemp Research. 

See you soon,
Kimberly Millhouse

Speech this Week - Oct 22

Topic: Mars Hill!  This week Beckett will be teaching the key ingredients to and leading a brainstorming session for a Mars Hill Speech.  Everyone will get a chance to practice too! 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I will miss being there this week, but Mrs. Ehrenman will be supervising speech in my place. 

Keep working on your platform speeches and/or your interp scripts.  Set some goals for yourself for each week to make sure that you make the deadlines.  (And it's a good idea to shoot to finish a week before the deadline to allow yourself some wiggle room should you need it!) You should be writing your body paragraphs this week, and continue to do research to fill in gaps and answer questions that arise as you write.  Don't forget to keep track of your sources for your citation page too.  I'll send out some info on writing Intro's and Conclusions soon.

Next week, your homework will be to write a Mars Hill summary (Beckett will explain), and make a speech outline at home for a Mars Hill speech during our next club meeting.

If you have any questions about your speeches, please feel free to email me pkmillhouse@gmail.com.

Have a good week!
Mrs. Millhouse

Register NOW for November Debate Tournament -- Closes Nov 1st

How to Register: Each time registration opens for a tournament you will receive an email letting you know it's time to register.  Registration for tournaments typically open one month before the tournament date and will close two weeks before. 

To register for a tournament see the 'REGISTER FOR TOURNAMENTS' tab on the blog site (or this time see info and link below) and click the applicable registration link to register students AND parents-judges to cover your number of required judge slots.

For EACH tournament you need to:

1) Complete Student Registration

2) Complete Parent Judge Registration

3) Pay registration fees by PayPal under the left hand Review and Pay Tab.

4) Please don't forget to Sign-up for Food.

Fall Into Debate Tournament

Register now. Space is limited.

DEBATE EVENTS:

TEAM POLICY:

FRIDAY ONLY - November 13th, Annandale VA  

LINCOLN DOUGLAS: 
FRIDAY PM - November 13th, Purcellville VA 

AND SATURDAY - November 14th, Berryville VA

PARLIAMENTARY:

SATURDAY ONLY - November 14, Berryville VA

Details and information can be found by clicking on the link below.

https://fallintodebate.homeschooldebate.net

Registration Closes: November 1st

Note: There will be a $10.00 late fee for late registrations. No refunds for cancellations after November 7th.

Speech This Week - Oct 15

Students:  Please bring with you your developed outline for your platform speech -- bullet points with researched information is fine. Make sure you have your thesis typed out as well.  You don't have to have the outline memorized, but be familiar enough with the information that you can give a smooth oral presentation.  This is the first chance to get feedback for your content and organization before you dig in too deeply, so make the most of this opportunity!

Parents: I will need you there this week from 4:30-5 to take a small group of 2-3 students each to listen to their outline presentations and provide feedback. New parents, please know that you have a lot to offer these students so don't shy away from this chance to support them!

Please bring your notebooks every week!  We will be going over script submission forms and script formatting, as well as talking about the 5 musts of a persuasive speech.  We will also briefly talk about writing intros and conclusions.

Next week Beckett will be teaching the essentials of Mars Hill, going over important things about writing Mars Hill Summaries, and the club will be outlining a MH speech together.  I hope you all will consider doing Mars Hill this year -- it's a fantastic event for life preparation!

See you soon!
Kimberly Millhouse

Speech This Week - Oct 8

Students:
Don't forget your final choice(s) for Interps are due this week!  You will all have a chance to share what piece you decided on.  If you need help figuring out what category to put it in I can help with that.

Next week those of you who are working on writing a Platform Speech will be presenting in small groups your developed outlines with supporting points and research.  By next week you should have a pretty good working thesis and some substantial amount of information to present on your topic based on research you've done these two weeks.  These will be oral presentations.

Parents:
Please don't miss Debbie Snyder and her presentation on how to run a speech tournament this Thursday 4pm!  She has graciously agreed to come teach us, and all of us need to know how to be ready to run our speech tournament scheduled for March.

In addition, I wanted to remind you that you are your students' primary coaches! Please take time to interact with them during the week on how they are progressing with their speech assignments.  1.5 hours of instruction at Vector is not enough for them to get adequate instruction/coaching for them to be successful in this endeavor.  Remember that you can grant them up to a full High School credit for Speech, Speech Writing, English, etc., for their work with Speech this year.

See you soon!
Kimberly Millhouse

Homework for Debate

Debaters!

The Motion you will be prepping for Thursday:

THBT Feminism has failed

Things you want to research/think about:
1) a short history of Feminism
a. Groups and movements
b. Dates of key events
c. Leaders and figureheads
2) What is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave feminism?
3) What are the goals it has set out to achieve?
4) Where is it now?

As always, use discretion. Feminism is a hot topic in secular culture today, so your likely to come across some vehement viewpoints. Also - please write your case like we discussed last class. Give me some analysis as to why they have not achieved their goals. If you have any questions, please email me! This Thursday we get a little bit into the technical structure of LD/TP cases.

Parent Tournament Chat - this Thursday, October 1st!

Kim Estep will be leading an informative parent chat about Stoa Tournaments, this Thursday, October 1st.  She will be talking about what it's like to parent a student who is competing in a speech and debate tournaments. 

She will also be presenting about parent tournament jobs, and answering any questions you may have.

If you have time, please read the excellent four-page document, "What to Expect at a Stoa Tournament" in the Speech/Debate Resources of your student's Vector Student Reference Book.

Speech Help -- Writing a Thesis

Don't forget your assignment this week!  We will go over your thesis statements and 3-4 main points for your platform speeches in club.  Even if you don't plan to compete with a Platform this year, I would like everyone to work through this exercise. 

Here is the info on writing a Thesis Statement that I promised...

Writing a Thesis Statement

Whether you are writing a debate case, a platform speech, or an essay for English, knowing how to write a thesis statement is essential to communicating your ideas effectively.  It will be the cornerstone of all your arguments and critical starting point for your speech.

As you begin to read and gather initial ideas and information about your topic, you will need to begin to craft your thesis statement to provide direction for your speech. We'll call your initial thesis a working thesis statement.  You will want to refine and revise this statement all during the writing process to make sure it is the best possible thesis for your speech.

I've compiled some info from two very good sources on writing for you to digest, Writers Inc, by Sebranek/Kemper/Meyer, and Simon and Schuster's Handbook for Writers.

What is a thesis statement?  A thesis statement is the central message of an essay or speech.  It's the main idea you want to communicate.  As a writer/speaker, you want to write a thesis statement with great care so that it prepares your readers what follows in your speech.  A well-crafted thesis statement can make the difference between an outstanding speech and a mediocre one.

Know your goal.  It’s important to understand exactly what it is you are trying to achieve with your speech.  This way you can tailor your content to fit your goals.  Your thesis will be that statement that directly addresses the goal of your speech.

Basic Requirements for a thesis statement:

• It identifies a limited, specific topic.
• It conveys the speech's purpose-- either informative or persuasive.
• It focuses on a particular feature, feeling, or stand about the topic--the assertion that presents your point of view.
• It is stated in a clear sentence (or sentences) using specific language, not vague words.
• It may briefly state the major subdivisions of the speech's topic.
• It can be supported with convincing facts, details, and examples.

Formula for Thesis Statements:                       

A specific topic + a particular feature, feeling, or stand = an effective thesis statement.

SAMPLE THESIS STATEMENTS

Topic:                         High School Internships

Thesis Statement:    Internship programs give students real-world experiences.

Topic:                         General George McClellan

Thesis Statement:    General George McClellan’s overcautious tactics prolonged the war.

Topic:                         Use of barbed hooks for fishing

Thesis Statement:    Barbed hooks should be banned from fishing.

Topic:                         discomforts of city living

Thesis Statement:    Rising crime rates, increasingly overcrowded conditions and rising taxes make living comfortably in a large modern city difficult.

Topic:                         deceptive advertising

Thesis Statement:    Deceptive advertising costs consumers not only their money but also their health.

Check out  www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/thesis for more information on writing a thesis statement for your speech.