Starting a debate program with no debate experience: a guide for teachers

What you actually need

A room, one afternoon a week, for ninety minutes.
A teacher willing to sponsor the club and be in the room. You do not need to know the rules on day one.
Six to twelve students to start. Two is enough to practice; eight lets you run practice rounds with judges.
A format. See below.
CUDL. We assign a coach, supply curriculum, and handle tournament logistics for partner schools at no cost. Start here.

Choose a format

Start with one format for the first year.

Consideration	Public Forum	Lincoln-Douglas
Team size	Two-person teams	One-on-one
Topics	Current events, change every one or two months	Values and ethics, change every two months
Best for	Larger clubs, students who like current events, teachers comfortable judging a policy argument	Smaller clubs, students who like philosophy and reading, independent workers
Judging	Built for lay judges	Accessible to lay judges with a short briefing

Most new CUDL programs start with Public Forum because partners support each other and the topics connect to what students already see in the news. Programs with a few strong readers often add Lincoln-Douglas in year two.

Recruiting

Ask English and social studies teachers for the names of students who argue in class, students who write well but say little, and students who ask questions after the bell. Invite them personally. A flyer recruits nobody; a teacher saying "I think you would be good at this" recruits everyone. Hold a first meeting that is a debate, not a lecture: pick a topic students care about, split the room, give each side ten minutes to prepare, and let them go. End by telling them what a tournament is and when the first one is.

A weekly structure that works

Warm-up (10 min): one student gives a one-minute speech on a random prompt. No preparation. Applause required.
Skill lesson (20 min): one thing from the CUDL curriculum: flowing, a speech, evidence, weighing.
Drill (20 min): practice that skill in pairs.
Practice round or case work (35 min): alternate weeks. Round weeks use students as judges with a simple ballot.
Close (5 min): each student says one thing they will do before next week.

The first six weeks

Week	Focus
1	What debate is. A messy, fun practice debate. The format and the calendar.
2	The resolution and the topic primer. Flowing. First one-minute speeches.
3	Evidence: finding it, judging it, cutting it. Each student cuts two cards.
4	Case writing. Every student or team drafts one side.
5	Rebuttals and crossfire or cross-examination. Practice rounds begin.
6	Weighing and the final speeches. Full practice rounds with ballots.

A team that follows this schedule is ready for a local novice tournament by week eight. Their first rounds will be rough. That is normal and useful; the ballots from a first tournament teach more than any lesson.

The first tournament

CUDL handles registration, entry fees, transportation, and judges for partner schools. Your job is permission slips, a roster, and being there. Brief students the day before on the schedule, the dress code (business casual is fine), and the fact that they will lose rounds. Collect every ballot afterward and read them together the following week.

Making it survive

Programs die when the sponsoring teacher leaves. Three habits prevent that:

Student leadership from year one. Name a captain. Have older students teach the skill lesson by the spring.
A second adult. A co-sponsor, a parent, or a CUDL coach who knows the program and can carry it through a transition.
Documentation. A shared folder with the calendar, the curriculum, the roster, and every case the team has written. The next teacher should be able to open it and run week one.

You will learn the format faster than your students will, because you will watch every round. By the second tournament you will be able to judge. By the second year you will be coaching. Call us when you have questions; that is what the partnership is for.

A sample first semester, week by week

Weeks 1 and 2: recruit. Announcements, a table at lunch, personal invitations from teachers to the strong writers who never speak. First meeting: a game (two-minute speeches on silly topics), then what the club will do.
Weeks 3 and 4: the round. Watch a recorded round together, flow it, learn the speech order. Everyone gives a one-minute speech every meeting.
Weeks 5 and 6: the case. Read the CUDL topic primer as a group. Students write cases in pairs using the case template.
Weeks 7 and 8: rebuttals and questioning, with the drills in the cross-examination guide.
Weeks 9 and 10: practice rounds every meeting, using the practice round plan.
Weeks 11 and 12: first local tournament, then a debrief meeting where every ballot is read.
Weeks 13 and 14: the new topic. Students who competed teach the ones who did not.

Keeping the program alive

Name student captains by the end of the first semester and give them real jobs: running drills, keeping the calendar, welcoming new members.
Ask your CUDL coach to train a second teacher or a counselor as a backup sponsor.
Keep a shared folder of cases, blocks, and ballots so knowledge survives graduation.
Celebrate publicly. A trophy in the front office and a line in the school newsletter recruit next year's team.

Registering for tournaments in North Carolina

Most tournaments in the region use Tabroom.com for registration, pairings, and results; create a free coach account and add your school. The Tarheel Forensic League lists the North Carolina tournament calendar and runs the state championship, which includes JV divisions for students in their first two years. CUDL handles registration and fees for partner schools; if you are not yet a partner, tell us about your school.