Des Moines Tournavelt Theodore Roosevelt High School
2021 — NSDA Campus, IA/US
Judging Expectations & Resources
Roosevelt Speech and Debate's Team, Volunteer, and Judge Expectations
All judges should remember that they are judging high school students. This is an educational activity for minors.
Please avoid using any inappropriate and/or discriminatory language. Competitors will be judged on the quality of their performance and critical thinking skills, and not on other factors like race, ability/disability, gender identity, financial status, and/or religious practice.
We are all influenced by implicit bias, or the stereotypes that unconsciously affect our decisions. When judging, our implicit biases negatively impact students who are traditionally marginalized and disenfranchised. Before writing comments or making a decision, please take a moment to reflect on any biases that may impact your decision making process.
Please leave constructive feedback -- at minimum: a reason for your decision. This does not have to be extensive writing, but explain why you voted or ranked students the way you did so that students understand how they did in round. Example: "Here's what I was looking for in this round..."
Please do not dock points for things a student cannot control.
Give flexibility if any technological occurrences happen.
Give flexibility if any technological occurrences happen.
Example: a student's physical appearance, if their sibling enters their room, if their internet cuts out, and similar.
If there are tech issues, please allow the student to re-enter and attempt their round. Any issues related to tech that need further clarification, please contact tab staff (tab staff = the operations of the tournament, we run things).
If a student's behavior is inappropriate and/or offensive, whether to judges or their fellow competitors, please reach out to the tab staff so we can address concerns with the student's coach.
WE ACTIVELY DISCOURAGE AND REQUEST THAT JUDGES DO NOT JUDGE ROUNDS BELONGING TO SEPARATE TOURNAMENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY. Judges associated with a school who do not meet their judging obligation because they are judging for a separate tournament will be fined the full missing judge fee ($150). Please respect students' time and work by being present in all rounds.
------------
Judging Resources
-----What is Tabroom.com? Creating an online judge account ----
- Go to tabroom.com >> sign up >> fill out your information, please include your phone number so we may reach you in case of an emergency.
- Input the confirmation code.
- Optional step, but highly recommended: On your new home page, click on Profile at the top. Fill out the settings for Phone number and Cell Provider to receive text message notifications about rounds/upcoming ballots.
- Email TRHSForensics@gmail.com (me!) and I will input your new tabroom deetdoots into our tournament's pool. From there, you simply wait for the day of the tournament when rounds begin!
Once you make a tabroom account, you'll never have to do it again. Hooray! That means I'll hear from you next school year, right?!
----How do ballots and competition rooms work in a virtual tournament? ----
On the day of the tournament, you will want to have your tabroom.com homepage open. Click on your email at the top to see your Tournavelt dashboard. This will be where your rounds get posted. Refer to the schedule (link) to see the time when rounds get posted. If you do not see a ballot and the round has started, you are "off" that round and not being used!
Please watch this video for an example of finding your ballot, filling it out, and submitting it: video link
Here is a video on how to access your virtual rooms: https://youtu.be/xOFxYV2BZN0
-----What events will I be judging? A basic primer for speech and debate events. ----
If you are in the SPEECH pool, here are resources for you. A speech judge can be called to judge any speech event because they are all very similar and rely on speech/performative skills:
- "Cheat sheet" for each event you may come across: Speech Events 101
- Explanation of each event for visual/audio learners: link (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbRmCbS7bdKJLJUgov9kj8kGG1A75q5Nl)
- What a speech ballot can look like: https://youtu.be/prCyYf-KbM0?t=53
If you are in the DEBATE pool, here are resources for you.
- What a debate ballot looks like (PF, CX, LD): https://youtu.be/-SrO56i4M1I
- How to judge congress: https://youtu.be/-4S9XtKVlUI
- How to complete a congress ballot: https://youtu.be/FkvC6qQNbxc
- How to judge public forum: https://youtu.be/5udRf4jRX7c
- How to judge policy: https://youtu.be/TPiwLmSnpSs
- How to judge Lincoln-Douglas debate: https://youtu.be/Q7aQ884x2KY
FINAL ROUNDS IN SPEECH AND DEBATE: In speech and debate finals, competitors are judged by a panel of judges. The judges do not speak to each other and do not compare ballots. Final rounds do not start until all judges are present in the room. Preliminary and out rounds only have 1 judge.