Hello UTNIF campers for 2011,
This is Ms. Thomas, the director of the Lincoln-Douglas program at the UT-Austin debate camp you have enrolled in for this summer. The survery below is needed to gather information so that we can best determine lab placement for our LD students. Your answers will be provided to your lab instructors to help them get to know about you and your goals. The more detailed and accurate you are, the better your camp teachers will be able to serve you. So, please be thoughtful. For those of you who are new to camp, labs are the classes you will be divided into for instruction. Please answer the following questions and email them back to me ASAP at stacyannthomas@sbcglobal.net. I would like all lab placement surveys returned by June 30. But, sooner is better.
This is Ms. Thomas, the director of the Lincoln-Douglas program at the UT-Austin debate camp you have enrolled in for this summer. The survery below is needed to gather information so that we can best determine lab placement for our LD students. Your answers will be provided to your lab instructors to help them get to know about you and your goals. The more detailed and accurate you are, the better your camp teachers will be able to serve you. So, please be thoughtful. For those of you who are new to camp, labs are the classes you will be divided into for instruction. Please answer the following questions and email them back to me ASAP at stacyannthomas@sbcglobal.net. I would like all lab placement surveys returned by June 30. But, sooner is better.
This survey was sent via email to every student enrolled. If you didn't get it, you might want to check your spam blocker and set up your email so that you can receive messages from me. Coaches are also welcome to send information regarding lab placement.
This is the lab placement survey:
Please fill out this survey to the best of your ability. The more information you can provide, the better we can help you.
1. Student's Name:
2. Coach's Name:
3. School and Location (city and state):
4. Grade you will be entering for the 2011-2012 school year:
5. Have you previously attended any debate camps? Please tell us which camps, when you attended, and who were your lab instructors.
6. Please describe your debate experience. Tell us how many years you have competed in LD and approximately in how many tournaments in novice, junior varsity (some tournaments in different parts of the country have this division), and varsity. It is very important that you are clear as to if your experience was novice, JV, or varsity to help us best understand your background. Also describe to us any experience you have in other forensics events. Please be clear and detailed so that we can get an accurate picture of your experience.
7. Please give us your record at your five best LD tournaments this past year. Please tell us your preliminary record, elimination round reached if it applies, and division (novice, JV, or varsity). Here is an example: Lamar TFA Tournament, 3-1 prelims, octofinals, varsity LD.
8. Describe the debate style in your region. If you are from Texas, tell us if your team focuses more on TFA or UIL or both. Does your team travel or stay in its region? Also, tell us if you plan to compete at TOC tournaments next year. If you plan to travel, please tell us where you hope to go.
9. Describe your strengths as a debater. If you have previous debate experience, please tell us what you think are the primary reasons you are winning rounds and describe the types of judges in front of whom you are most successful.
10. Describe your weaknesses as a debater that you hope to improve upon at camp. If you have previous debate experience, please tell us what you think are the primary reasons you are losing rounds and describe the types of judges in front of whom you are least successful.
Please fill out this survey to the best of your ability. The more information you can provide, the better we can help you.
1. Student's Name:
2. Coach's Name:
3. School and Location (city and state):
4. Grade you will be entering for the 2011-2012 school year:
5. Have you previously attended any debate camps? Please tell us which camps, when you attended, and who were your lab instructors.
6. Please describe your debate experience. Tell us how many years you have competed in LD and approximately in how many tournaments in novice, junior varsity (some tournaments in different parts of the country have this division), and varsity. It is very important that you are clear as to if your experience was novice, JV, or varsity to help us best understand your background. Also describe to us any experience you have in other forensics events. Please be clear and detailed so that we can get an accurate picture of your experience.
7. Please give us your record at your five best LD tournaments this past year. Please tell us your preliminary record, elimination round reached if it applies, and division (novice, JV, or varsity). Here is an example: Lamar TFA Tournament, 3-1 prelims, octofinals, varsity LD.
8. Describe the debate style in your region. If you are from Texas, tell us if your team focuses more on TFA or UIL or both. Does your team travel or stay in its region? Also, tell us if you plan to compete at TOC tournaments next year. If you plan to travel, please tell us where you hope to go.
9. Describe your strengths as a debater. If you have previous debate experience, please tell us what you think are the primary reasons you are winning rounds and describe the types of judges in front of whom you are most successful.
10. Describe your weaknesses as a debater that you hope to improve upon at camp. If you have previous debate experience, please tell us what you think are the primary reasons you are losing rounds and describe the types of judges in front of whom you are least successful.
11. What are your competitive goals for next year? What do you hope to achieve? Are there any specific types of arguments or skills you want to study at camp that aren't discussed above?
12. Place yourself in one of the following categories and explain why you placed yourself there.
BE HONEST in answering this question. The goal is for you to learn and improve this summer so that you are more successful next year. You don't want to be in a lab that is either below your skill level or over your head, making it difficult for you to follow instruction. You will get the most out of camp and improve the greatest if you are properly placed and don't feel overwhelmed. Every year, we have some kids who insist on being in a higher level lab than is appropriate. These students don't get as much out of camp and usually don't do as well the following year as students placed below them with more appropriate instruction. Our teachers are highly qualified from top to bottom at UTNIF. We do not only put our best people at the top. I strongly believe that younger debaters often need the strongest teachers. So, don't be shy about telling us your accomplishments but also be truthful about what you need so we can best help you.
In making your choice from the options below, remember to explain why you placed yourself where you did. These descriptions are guidelines:
A: Advanced, Level 1 -- You have qualified for championships before, such as your state championship (TFA State or UIL State in Texas), NFL Nationals, or TOC. At these championships, you have accomplished a winning record or made it into elimination rounds. You've competed in LD for 2-3 years already, attend tournaments often, and make it into late elimination rounds most weekends.
B: Advanced, Level 2 -- You have qualified for championships before, such as your state championship (TFA State or UIL State in Texas), NFL Nationals, or TOC. Once at these championships, you've struggled and haven't acheived the record you hoped. You've competed in LD for 2-3 years already, attend tournaments often, and make it into early elimination rounds most weekends and late elimination rounds some weekends.
C: Varsity, Level 1 -- You've competed in debate 2-3 years already. You have an average to winning varsity record. You make it into elimination rounds on some weekends but are not consistent about it. If you are from Texas, you may have come close to qualifying for TFA State, such as getting 5-9 of the needed 10 points. If you are a UIL debater, you may have advanced to UIL Regionals. You are right on the cusp of qualifying for state and national championships.
C: Varsity, Level 1 -- You've competed in debate 2-3 years already. You have an average to winning varsity record. You make it into elimination rounds on some weekends but are not consistent about it. If you are from Texas, you may have come close to qualifying for TFA State, such as getting 5-9 of the needed 10 points. If you are a UIL debater, you may have advanced to UIL Regionals. You are right on the cusp of qualifying for state and national championships.
D: Varsity, Level 2 -- You've competed in debate 2-3 years already. You have an average to losing varsity record. You make it into elimination rounds on occasional weekends but are not consistent about it. If you are from Texas, you may have earned some TFA points, such as 2-4 of the needed 10 to qualify for TFA State. You have a lot of experience attending tournaments but are not getting the results to match the efforts you are making.
E: Intermediate -- You've competed steady for at least a year. If you've competed for more than a year, you've attended tournaments infrequently. Most of your prior debate experience was as a novice. You have been a successful novice debater, regularly reaching elimination at this level, and are read to make the transition into competing varsity next year. You might have a few varsity competitions under your belt, but you most likely struggled when debating higher level kids. For the most part, you feel comfortable with the foundational skills.
F: Beginning -- You are a beginner with little to no experience in LD prior to coming to camp. If you have competed before, it has been at only a few competitions (maybe 1-3) at the novice level, and you have struggled in terms of your win-loss record. You feel you still could benefit from learning the foundational skills to build upon them. Even if you have debated some before, if you feel like you still need work on the foundational skills (such as understanding case construction, the function of the criterion, learning to flow, etc.), then you should place yourself in this category.
13. Please look over our staff list on our website (http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/debate/UTNIF//staff-ld.html). Are there any staff members with whom you specifically would like to request to work? Are there any staff members with whom you know you do not want to work? This information will be kept confidential. Only Ms. Thomas will see it. The staff list at the above website is mostly complete, but changes are possible.
14. Do you have any other concerns or information you would like to share? If you are a repeater to UTNIF, are there any changes you hope to see at the camp?
15. Should I continue to use this email for contacting you, or would you prefer a different email address be used on the UTNIF mailing list?
Thank you! We look forward to meeting our new campers in July and to seeing our repeat campers again this summer.
Stacy Thomas
UTNIF LD Director
Thank you! We look forward to meeting our new campers in July and to seeing our repeat campers again this summer.
Stacy Thomas
UTNIF LD Director
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