Pine Tree UIL Academic A Invitational
2023 — Longview, TX/US
Interp Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideI have actively involved in Speech and Debate for the past two years. It was only this year that I took over as head coach after being assistant coach last year. I have judge rounds in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, Prose, Poetry, Extemp and Congress. With the understanding that each competitor is at different level and that we all have differing levels of knowledge using technical jargon is not high on my list of requirements. Sometimes its easier to say the simple way. Having said that if you are familiar with technical wording then please use it as you would. When it comes to your speed of delivery, please try to keep it at a conversational speed. I have been in rounds where the speaker was talking so fast that what was being said was lost. While I understand this is a good way to keep your opponent from keeping up, I think that in an event that is based around debating you need to speak where your opponent and judge can understand you. I have found that the best signal for me is to put my pen on the table. If I'm not holding it, I'm not flowing. My note taking can be moderate to detailed depending on the arguments. I tend to flow in detail and in addition to recording your arguments I will stop and add comments on why I think it doesn't work or if I have any suggestions to make it better. I will also leave notes on how well you spoke and ways to improve. I value both style and argument but I believe that the focus of the debate should be on proving your case - which is argument. However, you need to be organized and able to think on the fly to do this successfully.
Policy- I am a policymaker I am looking for one of two things either the best plan available from either team or if the neg does not have a CP from them to prove while the aff's plan will not succeed. I do not think that nuclear war is the most imminent bad thing. Is it bad yes - am I going to automatically say neg wins they pulled the nuclear card - no. Because sometimes the aff's harms are more immediate and need to be addressed first.
LD- As far as argumentation goes I lean progressive.
In round I expect debaters to handle themselves in a professional manner. I understand that things can get heated and that is okay as long as it does not devolve into arguing, name calling and a refusal to listen to each other. You may attack, and are expected to, each others case, you may not launch a personal attack against your opponent.
Hello! It is a pleasure to be able to judge you today! I competed for all 4 years of my high school career and it is a pleasure to be on the other side. Below are all of my paradigms but let me go ahead and tell you the number one thing I look for. I want you to have a passion for the thing or things you are speaking about. Even in debate, you can have passion and meaning behind the ideas that you are presenting to me, so never only see what you are doing as a way to win tournaments or get scholarships, see it as a celebration of the next generation coming together to solve issues for a better future!
BIG NOTE: I DO NOT PUT UP WITH BULLYING OR HARASSMENT IN ANY SENSE OF THE WORD! THIS INCLUDES 'FEAR TACTICS'.
Interpretation Events: I love interp! This was my specialty when I competed which means it has a deep place in my heart, but it also means I have high expectations. When in any interpretation round, I look for realness. Do not do or say anything just because you know it sounds or looks pretty. Why are you doing anything in your piece? Make sure that every word and movement is motivated and you will encapsulate me completely.
Extemporaneous Events: I have a very basic paradigm when it comes to this event. Look like you are the expert on your topic. I really do not care if half of the things you say are wrong, as long as you make me believe they're right. Also, do not try to woo me with humor to distract me; it doesn't work.
LD: Structure! Keep your structure! Debate events can be very hard to follow sometimes because we are juggling so many different arguments at the same time. I am decent at flowing, but I don't want to have to look back at it every second to remember where we are at. If you are clear about where you are and what you are doing, I am more likely to award you more speaker points.
Congress: The main thing I look for is professionalism. I know that there is a lot of trading that goes on outside of the round; that I cannot stop, but I can do my best to make sure that everything goes fair inside of the round. Everyone is a team player here. Everyone gets their turn to speak. Everyone is treated fairly and everyone has their voice.
CX: I will make sure I am as prepared as I can be but this is not my strong suit. With that being said! Give me a clear flow. A clear flow equals a clear ballot in these rounds.
Policy/CX Debate:
I am a stock issues judge, I prefer the affirmative to defend all 5 stock issues. The affirmative and the negative should both create direct clash by responding to ALL of their opponents' arguments. To me, an argument that does not have a response is an argument that is won by the team that made the argument. I do not like kritiks. Topicalities are great, but I don't like time being wasted on endless topicality arguments. Disadvantages are also a good argument, but should be formatted correctly and have all four necessary parts. CPs should have a net benefit, or they are not better than the affirmative case. On case arguments are the most effective arguments in my opinion, as long as they relate directly to the opponent's case. I will also listen to reasonable theory arguments. The following is personal preference, but one thing that irks me as a judge is teams that kick arguments that they are winning or that there is good debate on, only kick arguments if you're absolutely sure the argument will have no impact on the round at all. Also, when you kick an argument, please be explicit about kicking the argument and don't "silent kick" an argument.
Style and Delivery Preferences:
I want to be able to understand every word you say. I will award higher speaker points to debaters that speak the most fluently, with the fewest mistakes, as long as I understand them.
TLDR;I would say I'm a tab judge, but I really prioritize offense & defense in a round. Cool with speed but share a doc, that makes flowing easier and allows me to evaluate the warrants of your arguments. I'm cool with any argument just don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic... etc. I will vote you down on those actions alone.
Pronouns - He/They
Policy - I did 4 years of policy in high school. I used to run a little bit of everything, but since I've been in college I've learned a lot more about the K and run it pretty much every round. I'm down for whatever type of debate ya'll want me to judge, but please please please give me some sort of framing so I have an idea of how to weigh the round, especially in high school debate. I would like to intervene as least as possible so maybe throw a framing contention into your case in front of me as long as you understand it.
K-Aff's- You can run this in front of me, just make sure you have a well-explained alternative. I'm not the most familiar with all literature out there but do have a keen sense for Queer Futurity and Fem Epistemology K's. Just because I'm unfamiliar doesn't mean you shouldn't run it in front of me, but going super fast in these rounds could be harmful so go at your own risk. I run Cap K's a lot in college as well so I'm familiar with a lot of Marxist literature if that's something you're trying to run in front of me.
K's - probably the same things as above. Negative K's just need a clear link to the affirmative and should be as specific as possible, generally think underspecified links in the 1NC are probably bad for debate.
Topicality/Theory - Love this kind of argument, just make sure that as the negative you are reading standards and voters in the 1NC, I don't care if you expand the number of standards in the Block just make sure you are responsive to affirmative standards (and Vise Versa for the Affirmative Team). As the aff on this argument, make sure your interpretation is textually competitive with the negative interpretation (or vice versa if it's a procedural ran by the aff).
CP's - I would say these are cool. Make sure they are competitive though whether it be textually or through net benefits. Be ready to respond to theory, and I do have a rather low threshold for severance and intrinsic perm theory, as long as there is proven abuse.
DA's - Cool just have a good uniqueness lol. Politics DA's are probably my favorite, and most real world so I would like to hear them. Cool with anything else just make the internal link story make sense so you have a clear path and a high probability of the Impact.