Hope you had a great summer and come back rejuvenated, ready to tackle another challenging season next year. I want to take this moment to congratulate our two At-Large MIFA representatives elected at the membership meeting in June: Congratulatons to Ruth Kay of Detroit Country Day School and Lou Price of Mattawan.
MIFA
The Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association
From the Director's Desk
Mon, 11/16/2009 - 2:03pm by stevedmarsh
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Something New
My friend and I are frantically trying to propose a new club for our high school next year; debate club. We both know that we will not be able to compete next year, we simply do not have the funds or in reality the talent to do so but we want to start something so that in two years our school will be able to compete. A teacher has agreed to mentor us and he does know what he is doing, still we need to know more about this and perhaps starting a club for the middle school as well to garner more interest for when they get into high school. Currently we have a debate class that each of us has taken but we still need ideas on how to put everything together... before next tuesday. I will take any and all help/ ideas that you will offer.
Sam
Sam
Hi Sam,
I don't know if you'll ever see this post again, but if you are still interested in starting a debate club at your high school, there are a lot of resources in the debate community to get you started. Email me at danoverbeek@gmail.com if you'd like some assistance.
Dan Overbeek
Helping Students memorize
As a 1st year middle level coach, I was hoping that some of you master minds may have some great techniques for helping kids to memorize. I had two kids this year that after 3 1/2 months of work, still cant memorize their piece. It killed me after 2 months when they would show up to practice and be so excited when they had memorized another paragraph of their piece from where they were weeks earlier. Of course, I shared their enthusiasm, but couldnt help but think to myself how far behind they were. I would be lying if I said that they are fully committed to the cause, but I would like to give my kids the benefit of the doubt. What say you?
An Open Letter to MIFA
Dear MIFA,
I was in the final multiple round at the Mattawan invitational on Saturday, March 26, 2011. The round, by my observation, was attended by a very informed and courteous audience. Spaces were left open for each judge front and center, and from what I saw, audience members were orderly and deferential to the contestants and judges as well as each other. Just prior to the start of the round one judge issued a particularly scathing condemnation of audience behavior and threatened to kick us all out. At that point, the first judge to enter the room, who had not expressed any dissatisfaction earlier, joined in the scolding.
The fact that some audience members entered the room prior to the arrival of the first judge appeared to be the trigger and was expressly referenced as violation of MIFA rules. I have reviewed the code of conduct, which does not address when audience members may enter a room. I have also reviewed several other documents including one titled, "Individual Events Activities," which is the closest thing I could find to rules governing IE events, and I was unable to find any reference to a requirement for audience members to wait. I have also attended dozens of IE events over the last 7 years and was not aware of a practice, especially in break rounds, preventing, audience members entering a room prior to a judge.
If such a policy exists, I respectfully request that it be published where it is accessible to those of us who have supported and continue to support MIFA over the years. If it is not an express policy and you would like it to become one, please formally adopt the policy and communicate it. Finally, if MIFA does not have an express rule or policy, I suggest an apology to audience members of multiple final round at the Mattawan Invitational is in order. Judges are the face of MIFA to most audience members. The judges in question were certainly disrespectful. If they were fabricating a rule on top of it, the behavior reflects negatively on MIFA. If another forum is more appropriate for this letter, please advise, and I will withdraw this comment and pursue the suggested medium.
Sincerely,
Brent Felten
Thank you, Brent. Since I
Thank you, Brent.
Since I wasn't there myself, I can't speak to the facts of this case. But I can tell you two important things: 1) If an invitational uses MIFA rules, it does not mean the invitaitonal tournament is a MIFA event. That's me dodging the institutional liability bullet, and 2) No, we don't have a rule, practice or encouragement for audience members to wait for judges to arrive before entering the room.
I can only speculate that PERHAPS the judges didn't all want to be seated front and center. I know when I judged, I often sat in the back of the room on purpose to test for vocal projection, etc. But I am quick to say that does not excuse rudeness on the part of a judge.
Finally, it is also very important to understand that most invitationals do not have a requirement that judges be certified by MIFA. It is entirely possible that either or both of these judges do not have MIFA Certification. We address judge decorum in our certification process and I would hope these judges were not dismissing that instruction.
If you have a complaint at an invitational, it is always a good idea to express that dissatisfaction to the host, or, if s/he is not available, to the tab room. Often, if judging behavior is inappropriate, at least someone may take it upon themselves to address that behavior with the coach who was responsible for hiring the individual.
Of course, if such behavior is witnessed at a Regional or State Tournament, please, do not hesitate to notify me immediately or to bring awareness to the tab room. Note: we are pretty understanding in the difference between passive, substandard behavior and active disrespect. We might caution a judge on the first, but we would certainly correct on the second.
Thank you for bringing this content to the website. This kind of thing is important to talk about in the transparency of a public forum.
Trying to get information on starting a middle school program
My name is Larry Utter and I'm interested in getting information about starting a middle school program next season at St. Michael - Livonia. St. Mike's is an accredited elementary school with 800 students ranging from kindergarden to eighth grade. We have some academic enrichment programs available to our middle schoolers and as a former assistant of Kathy Tarr's at DC, I'd like to propose to our principal that Forensics might fit here. I have a few questions that I'd like answered and I didn't see an area on the MIFA site that really gave me the info I'm looking for:
Any help you could provide would be very much appreciated - I've been away from Forensics for four years and I'd love to jump back in.
Larry Utter
Middle Level
Larry, Great to have you! With regard to your questions, North Branch has started a middle level team this year. We are hoping to have a team next year but as of right now that is up in the air. Contrary to what most think, North Branch is not "up north." North Branch is located about 13 miles north and 5 miles east of Lapeer. If we continue to have a team we anticipate holding an invitational each year. In order to compete at MIFA tournaments you need to register with MIFA, yes. I do not believe that you must be registered with MIFA to compete at invitationals. The calender appears to have some opportunities upcoming for certification.
I hope all of this helps. If I can be of any assistance, feel free to contact me. sadams@nbbroncos.net
Thanks so much - I am going
Thanks so much - I am going to put together a proposal to present to our principal and see what happens. Relative to re-certification, I assume that being certified for the high school level is the same as for the middle school level. Best of luck at North Branch - back in the 70s I used to play in a rock and roll band not far from Lapeer, just north of Lake Orion so I'm relatively familiar with your area even though sometimes I can be geographically challenged.
Thanks again.
Larry Utter
A Student's Guide to Individual Events
I was hoping to order at least one of these books but the links are dead. I assume the publisher might have gone belly up? Does the league have a copy they can sell me?'
Fixing some links. You can
Fixing some links. You can still get a copy of this.
Calendar
Dear Steve,
I know it is way early to be looking for a tournament calendar for ie, but I can't find a calendar at all on the new site. Is there any chance we could have one calendar that lists all MIFA events in one easy to see place - debate, ie, meetings, workshops, etc.
Just a thought.
Viv
Vivian, that is exactly what
Vivian, that is exactly what we have. Front page, right side. Click on View Calendar under the Upcoming Events section. Everything we know is there. If it is not there, it is because no one has told us yet.
Bit by Bit
The new site is taking on a personality of its own. Please let us know if something is confusing or too hard to figure out. We want this to be the most useful professional site you have to work with. Your feedback will keep it that way.
Dues
Is there only one choice of payment now? We used to be able toi just choose to join debate and not I.E. or Theater. Has that changed? For a lot of schools on a budget, that is a significant jump in price. For us, it is more than $100.00, if I am correct.
That is the dues structure
That is the dues structure adopted by Forensic Council in the summer of 2009 and it was first in place for 2009-2010. Dues are flat rate now. That is true. A school receives the opportunity to participate in any and all of MIFA's five events for that fee. We have eliminated the old committment fees that were add-on fees in the past. Now you only have tournament fees for each tournament. We have not increased dues or fees for 2010-2011. We have eliminated some minor fees, in fact. Hope to see you this year!