Students will improve their public speaking and debate skills in a friendly no pressure environment.
Students will learn where to find credible evidence sources.
Students will learn persuasive speaking techniques.
Students will learn why civil discourse is an important art in society.
Students will learn why eye contact, enunciation, pace, posture and tone matter.
Students will cross-examination techniques.

It is my pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you and your favorite student(s).  I have over 20 years of teaching experience, from Pre-K through Graduate School.  I am a former Professor and was the History Department Chair /History teacher at the High School Level for 10 years.  My certification was in Middle and High School History.  I am a retired Criminal, International and Family Law attorney. I also have coached Speech and Debate for over 15 years on both the NSDA and TOC circuits and regularly have students making it to finals in prestigious tournaments such as Harvard, Stanford and Georgetown.  I also take students and parents overseas on Educational Tours and have been fortunate to travel to such places as China, Japan, Mexico, Paris, Rome, and Greece.

My teaching style is varied. I try to tailor my classes to the individua by using as many techniques and learning styles in each of my classes as possible.  My two youngest children are Special Needs (Autistic, Apraxic, Cognitive and Auditory Delays).  Working with my own children has taught me that education must be personalized to each learner for maximum impact.  I encourage all students and their parents to contact me so that we can tailor each of my classes to your strengths and those skills you hope to work on the most. Please note that I will allow higher level students who are underage in my classes, or older students who have difficulties in class that are more suited to their level.  Please contact me to discuss.  I look forward to meeting you all.

Homework Offered
Students may prepare for any debate ahead of time but will be given time in class to write a few points with evidence. Handouts will be given on each topic, they can read before hand or during our research phase.
Assessments Offered
Grades Offered

Class information is from government sources, peer reviewed articles and Debate Briefs.  I do discourage students from using media that is biased.  If you are concerned, please review the Media Bias Chart by Ad Fontes.  In actual competitions, using sources that are slanted or questionable will hurt the debaters, so I try to stick with the format as much as possible. The topics chosen for this class are prior debate topics (we are actually arguing biometrics right now in Public Forum, and Dreamers in Parliamentary Debate).  My sources come from online Briefs written by professionals for each topic.  I include Wikipedia in the listing because I show student the topic and then have them go to the footnotes to see if there are credible sources.  Students will use primary, secondary and peer reviewed articles of their choice to present evidence.  Students will use the internet to find their evidence.