Whoo! What a week!

What a busy few days!!!

 

The days have been the busiest they've ever been with lectures, rounds, and and case work abound! Goodness! Everyone has been absolutly spectacular and we've been working diligently from morning till night.

 

It shows.

 

Congratulations go out to the entire lab for a fantastic showing in the tournament and SPECIAL CONGRATS GO OUT TO Marleyna and Danielle! They will be appearing in elimination rounds with 14 other competitors. Making it to the top 16 out of the WHOLE camp (80 students). We're all very proud of you!

 

Updates will be posted as they come in!

 

Make sure to leave comments in support!

 

Once again - Congrats and good luck!

 

 

Day 8: Night Before the Big Dance

Cases were FINALLY completed tonight! The lab put finishing touches on their products as it prepared for a day of rounds. Tomorrow will consist of a few rounds outside of the lab and everyone spend today ensuring they felt comfortable debating the topic. As a result, a fair amount of time was allocated for research and case development. By the end of the night the students' cases were looking particularly impressive. Sean showed fantastic improvements with his revisions and Hirsea was finally closing in on some pretty solid positions. We're looking good for tomorrow!

 

That said - parents that read this - CHEER FOR US WITH YOUR COMMENTS!

We're all very excited to showcase what we've been working so very hard on.

Day 7: Practice Makes Perfect...

Today's lab sessions were spent doing drills and having practice rounds. Trisha's affirmative case was particularly impressive because it was edited perfectly and reflected a degree of critical thinking uncommon at her stage of experience in the activity. Also, a Clear Lake hometown throwdown took place as Brandon and Sean faced off in what was an interesting and very funny practice round. All of the lab leaders were very impressed by the case edits. The lab has been progressing by leaps and bounds each day. Maybe its the lab leaders or maybe its the students, but this most definitely is a group progressing in all aspects of the activity. We all look forward to the competition that looms on the horizon. Rounds against students from other labs start on Monday! Its alright though because the OJ lab will be more than prepared. If practice makes perfect, then this lab is most certainly headed in the right direction. 

We know that we're ready! The question seems to be whether or not everyone else is ready for us. :)

Day 5: It's the Eye of the Tiger

The lab worked hard all day long. Case revisions went from morning until night. Brandon came up with an interesting idea linking the military into the resolution which sparked a lot of debate among students and lab leaders.  Though Ms. Oravetz found a fatal flaw in the argument, the creativity was much appreciated and it certainly did provide for a lively discussion. Great job Brandon! That was not the only novel idea though, Danielle analyzed whether or not the citizens were fulfilling their obligation to the government in order to deserve healthcare.  Today's lab time was also supplemented with a cross examination of the various case positions students came up with.  It was inspiring to see the way that all involved contributed to constructive criticism of cases as well as benefitted from those suggestions directed at themselves.  Overall - Great job everyone.  In a few days we will beginning our first practice rounds.  It's gettin closer to showtime and we're looking great!

Day 4: Draft Cases

The focal points of all labs today was the creation of cases. After hours of research and debate within labs, it was now time to hand in some cases. Everyone handed in a first draft and the lab leaders were quick to offer helpful suggestion and encouragement to the progress that had been made. While the vast amount of red ink (or green or purple in some cases) on the cases looked a tad demoralizing, the students showed a lot of heart as they surely but throughly made it through all of the edits. The lab spent most of the day researching and case writing. By the day's end, Trisha, Nauman, Hirsea, and ToniAnn had portrayed a very impressive motivation and were very clearly headed in the right direction. Nice job lab

Day 3: Oh the Sun Will Come Out...Tomorrow.

It rained today. Hard. Debaters were soaked as they entered the library to work on their cases. Nonetheless, the lab valiantly beat back the dreary weather with a fantastic enthusiasm during drills and research. During cross-examination drills, Aneesh was particularly active and challenged Ms. Oravetz with confidence even while she was trying to intimidate him with perceptually haughty answering techniques. Of course she was only drilling him and the lab was very proud of him, especially Ms. Oravetz, for passing the test with ease. Additionally, Hirsea, Nauman, and Marlaina, worked particularly hard with Josh on logic drills to assist in critically analyzing topics and developing rock solid positions. The rest of the time was dedicated to research. Everyone was excited to develop their cases and consequently develop their critical thinking skills. Day three was filled with a litany of steps in the right direction towards success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day Two Assessment: Working Hard & Having Fun! Happy 4th of July to Everyone!

Today's session began with a discussion of what happened in the article groups. Everyone was very active in the discussion and as a result, the students were impressive with their critical analysis of the topic. Our focus became a study on the obligations states have towards their citizens. More specifically, we analyzed how theories on the social contract, were applicable to the topic. John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau were the main social contract theorists we used. Locke argued for life, liberty and property, while Hobbes argued for ensuring the state maintained its power. Rousseau took a considerably more individualistic approach which Gary made sure to explain to the lab. When going over contemporary theorists worth exploring, Brandon made a particularly useful contribution in mentioning Kramer and Tushnet. Also, by reminding us about Nozick's theory of the minimalist state, Nauman took the lab in the direction of exploring a libertarian's approach to the topic. This gave us an entirely new perspective from which to analyze the topic! Great job guys! That sort of sums up the lab session as it was a bit shorter today. In case you forgot its 4^th of July! We celebrated! The entire camp indulged in an ice cream social in place of lab which was closely followed by a movie night. Good fun for everyone!

Welcome to the Oravetz, Johnson, and Meah lab!

Today's sessions were very productive! Everyone introduced themselves with the game "Two truths and a lie." The lab certainly had fun with that. From there, we began discussing the topic. More specifically, we discussed the nature of a just government, a just government's obligations to its people, and why health care is integral to those obligations. In the middle of this discussion, Mr. Sykes took us to get our ID cards. Upon returning, we explored the different positions offered by the multiple definitions of the word provide. Does provide, mean that the government is directly giving medications to people or does it subsidize markets to make healthcare available that wouldn't otherwise be? Eventually, we finished our preliminary talk on the topic and did some note taking drills. Gary and Josh read cases at increasing speed and Ms. Oravetz read playing cards. We collected the papers to analyze the notes to see if everyone was jotting down what they should. Thereafter, the lab went over effective note taking strategies such as strategic shorthand and appropriate organization. At the end of lab, everyone was pumped! The lab was excited to begin researching. The introductory lab sessions were a great success! It was apparent that everyone left with great ideas and we all look forward to our next discussion.

Steffany Oravetz

Steffany is a graduate from the University of Texas, Austin. She is currently a teacher in Colleyville, Texas at Colleyville Heritage High School teaching history and debate. Oravetz coached numerous students to final rounds in LD, most recently, the 2002 National Forensics League runner up and the 2002 St. Marks Heart of Texas Invitational runner up. As an assistant coach for Churchill High School while in college, she was instrumental to the success of Churchill debaters in the last several years. As a competitor, Oravetz advanced to elimination rounds at numerous national tournaments including Valley, Glenbrooks, Stanford St. Marks and Greenhill. She has received extremely high evaluations at the institutes she has taught over the years. A preferred judge at major national tournaments, Steffany is one of the best young teacher/coach/judges in the United States.

Josh Meah

Hey! I'm Josh. I'm really excited to be working at UNT this summer. I'll provide you with a little background information. I debated for Arthur L Johnson, a high school in my home town of Clark in New Jersey. I competed at over 50 tournaments and won trophies at a slightly over 40 of them. My coach named me captain sophomore year and ever since then I've developed a passion for teaching. I hope to bring an energy to the table that drives students to develop their own unique skill sets.

Gary Johnson

I debated for four years at Katy High School in Katy, TX and am currently a sophomore at Rice University. This is my 2nd summer working at UNT Mean Green Workshops. I am the assistant LD coach at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston where I have directly worked with students ranging from incoming freshmen to students in late elimination rounds at major national invitationals, including 3 TOC qualifiers, a NFL Nationals LD qualifier, and 10 TFA State qualifiers. As a competitor, I debated mainly in the Houston area until my senior year when I began to compete on the national circuit. I was in elimination rounds of TFA State, Isidore-Newman, Houston-Memorial, Grapevine, St. Marks, and UIL State. I also co-organize and co-run the Katy High School TFA Qualifying Tournament, which is in its 5th year. I’ve taught at the DDI Winter Seminar and other smaller workshops held in Houston and look forward to another great summer at UNT.