Program Resources
- Coaching Guides
- NFL Forms & Manuals
- Professional Development & Accreditation
- Events: Policy Debate • Lincoln Douglas •
Extemp • Congress • Public Forum • Storytelling - Teaching Forensics & Squad Management
- Coaching Vacancies & Opportunities
- Other Coaching Organizations
- Other Resources
- Frequently Asked Questions
- FAQs for Point Recording
- Advocate Forensics
- Record NFL points
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Coaching Guide
- Download the newly revised New Coach Guide, edited by NFL Coordinator of Member Programs and Coach Education Adam Jacobi, a former teacher and coach.
- Coach Brenda Moe (OR) compiled a Building a Speech and Debate Team Handbook with specifics for coaching various events, as well as administering a program.
Visit the NFL's Professional Development Portal...
Event-Specific Resources
Policy Debate
- The Super Novice File - A well-constructed primer by NFL alum Ryan Childress of Missouri that includes fundamentals of speaking, argument construction, practicality of debating, speaker duties, and basic debate theory. Has some excellent tips for harnessing technology for online research, as well as digitally organizing and storing evidence.
- 2009-2010 Policy Debate Poverty Topic Overview - Included are a basic semantic overview of the resolution, affirmative case and advantage ground, negative case, disadvantage, counterplan, and kritik ground, and more. (Written by Stefan Bauschard of Planet Debate).
- Introduction to the Poverty Topic - A PowerPoint presentation that introduces some of the main concepts surrounding the 2009-2010 policy topic. (Written by Stefan Baushcard of Planet Debate).
- NDCA Policy & Lincoln-Douglas Debate Evidence Share The National Debate Coaches Association has teamed up with a variety of participating institutes to provide a wonderful opportunity to access thousands of free evidence files. Thank you, NDCA!
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
- Novice Lincoln Douglas Curriculum Created by Scarsdale HS (NY) coach Joe Vaughan and in conjunction with the NFL LD Committee, these lesson plans are meant to help students understand what LD is all about. Please feel free to adapt these lessons to the unique needs of your classroom, students and teaching style.
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate Online Text
- Building the Novice Lincoln-Douglas Program Recruiting and retaining Lincoln-Douglas novices can be one of the most difficult and daunting aspects of the season for even the most experienced of coaches.
Extemporaneous Speaking
Student Congress Debate
- Writing legislation? Download these handy word processing templates, which are pre-formatted to NFL guidelines!
- Student Congress Debate - a handy Web site with several resources for congressional debaters.
Public Forum Debate
- Public Forum Guide This three page guide will help teach Public Forum debate with rules, procedures, and general help.
Storytelling
Curriculum Resources
- Teaching Resources/Lesson Plans
- Curriculum Planning resources from Rostrum magazine: "Curriculum Corner" by Adam Jacobi (Coach Education Coordinator) and Chris Joffrion (Western Kentucky University Regional Coordinator, 2007-2008).
- Planning Scope & Sequence for Success: Designing Curriculum for Understanding
- Teaching Research Methodology: Laying the Foundation for Solid Evidence
- Public Forum in the Classroom: A Bridge from Traditional Public Speaking to Debate
- Small Group Dynamics: Arming Students for Effective Collaborative Learning
- Listening Literacy: A Reflective Essay
- Building Blocks for Interpretation: Physical Analysis
- Building Blocks for Interpretation II: Using Ambiguous Dialogue to Teach Characterization
- Lesson: Charity Support Persuasive Speech
- Lessons: Reasoned Response Speech & Library Research Assignment
- Lessons: Fallacy Finder & Toulmin Analysis for Interp Selections
- Lessons: Analyzing your Audience & Delivery Charades
- Lesson: Point-Counterpoint Speech
- Lesson: Character Response Essay
- Lesson: Speech Analysis Essay
- Free Resource Pooling NFL educators have shared speech and debate lesson plans, coaching tips, fundraising ideas, and a variety of other resources. To submit your own resources, visit Forensics Online (you must register for an account before you can submit documents or links to helpful Web sites). The NFL asks that all contributors observe all copyright laws when submitting materials. The more educators and coaches participate, the more extensive our collection will become.
- Complimentary National Final Round Interp Videos All NFL member schools are welcome to fill out the Video Tape/DVD 2008 NFL Licensing Agreement and receive a complimentary copy of the 2008 National Interpretation Event Final Rounds. These videos are meant for classroom educational use by NFL members only.
Coaching Vacancies/Opportunities
We are happy to provide a list of current career opportunities. Be sure to check here on regular basis if you are interested in coaching and teaching forensics. To advertise your coaching opportunity, please contact Sandy Krueger.
Other Organizations
Other Resources
- StudentNewsDaily is a free, non-profit current events Web site that provides resources for high school teachers' use in the classroom. The site provides comprehension and critical thinking questions to accompany a daily news article, as well as "Answers by Email," a free service which provides answers to questions from the Daily News Article, Tuesday's News Issue and Friday's News Quiz.
- The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest. Resources are available on the FAIR Web site which examine this key issue.
- Debatepedia is "the Wikipedia of pros and cons". Its mission is to clarify public debates and improve decision-making globally.
