Middle School Novice Curriculum Guide

Welcome to the Atlanta Urban Debate League!

Hi! We’re glad that you’ve decided to compete as a novice debater. Debate is a fun, engaging activity that will teach you skills that last a lifetime. You’ll build lifelong relationships with your teammates, and you’ll become a more confident and convincing public speaker.

The Atlanta Urban Debate League is committed to providing excellent debate education programs, services, and opportunities to diverse students, educators, an...

As a debater, your job is to convince your judge to vote for your team. At a tournament, you’ll compete in four debate rounds. During them, you’ll give two speeches, defend them from questions asked by your opponents, and ask questions to your opponents.

To give those speeches, you’ll get a handy evidence packet – that file has everything you need to know about each year’s topic. In recent years, topics have ranged from education policy to American arms sales.  Under each topic, the team who speaks first will read a plan, or a specific policy proposal, that they will defend throughout the round. They are the affirmative team because they must prove why their plan is a good idea. The team who speaks second is the negative team, and they must prove why the plan is a bad idea.

The three best resources you will have as a novice debate are your curriculum guide (this document), your evidence packet, and your tournament workbook. If you have any questions, check out the table of contents below to find out where they’ll be answered! If you’re just starting out with debate, then start with Part 1!

Table of Contents

PART 1: New Skills

  1. Making Arguments (ARE)

  2. Responding to Arguments (DR. MO)

  3. Impact Comparison (MR. T)

  4. Public Speaking (2PAC)

  5. Taking Notes (Flowing)

  6. The Basics of Questioning

PART 2: THE BASICS OF POLICY DEBATE

  1. What is a Debate Round?

  2. Being Affirmative and Negative

  3. Speech Order

  4. The Negative Block

  5. Cross-Examination

PART 3: Preparing for the tournament

  1. Picking the 2A and 2N

  2. Reading the Packet

  3. Speaking from the Packet and Workbook

  4. Giving Speeches

PART 4: your first tournament

  1. Your First Debate

  2. After the Tournament

  3. Novice Speech Checklist

You can download the Middle School Novice Curriculum Guide as a Word document here.