HS Open Curriculum

Spreading: Getting Faster and Clearer

What Is Spreading and Why Do We It?

Spreading, or speed reading, is a practice in advanced policy debate where debaters talk at a much faster pace while reading a speech. While speed reading may seem strange at first, it allows debaters to read more arguments and have more in-depth debates. Furthermore, debaters must maintain clarity while spreading, so the judge can understand what the debater is saying. As such, advanced debaters should do a variety of speaking/spreading drills for around 15-20 minutes a day to become faster and clearer.

Types of Speaking/Spreading Drills

  • Speed Drills: This type of drill helps debaters read more pieces of evidence or arguments during a speech.
    • Speed drills practice reading words without understanding what those words are saying.
      • This makes you speak faster because your brain doesn’t have to comprehend what the text says.
      • Additionally, try not to do spreading drills with the same sets of evidence every time.
        • Your brain will memorize the text, so your speed will not improve.
    • Drill #1: The "A" Drill
      • Say the word ‘a’ between every word that you are reading in one-minute intervals.
      • Example: “The child leaped over a log” becomes “The a child a leaped a over a a a log a.”
      • This drill works on developing a rhythm when speaking, which can improve your speed.
      • It also improves enunciation of words because you must pay attention to every word you say.
      • Advanced debaters can replace the word ‘a’ with a longer word, such as ‘watermelon.’ This will increase the difficulty of the drill.
    • Drill #2: The Backwards Drill
      • Read a piece of evidence backwards in one-minute intervals.
      • Example: “The child leaped over a log” becomes “log a over leaped child The.”
      • This drill works on reading words without understanding what those words actually mean.
        • Evidence read backwards doesn’t make grammatical sense, so you are just reading random words quickly.
  • Clarity Drills: This type of drill helps ensure that the judge can understand every word that a debater is saying, even if the debater is talking at a fast pace.
    • Drill #3: The Over-Exaggeration Drill
      • Say every word in a piece of evidence, overexaggerating every word with your mouth in 30-second intervals.
      • This drill improves on enunciation and clarity.
        • It forces unnatural overemphasis, which makes you clearer when you speak normally.
    • Drill #4: The Pen Drill
      • Put a pen (or other similarly sized item) into your mouth, and read a piece of evidence while keeping the pen in your mouth in one-minute intervals.
      • This drill improves on enunciation.
        • Similar to Drill #3, this drill forces you to overemphasize with the pen as a constraint on your mouth’s movement.
        • As such, the drill will make you speak much more clearly when you speak normally.
  • Endurance Drills: This type of drill helps debaters to be able to spread through a full 8-minute speech while maintaining speed, clarity, and persuasion throughout.
    • Drill #5: The Endurance Drill
      • Open up an extremely large file (think 2AC blocks or impact defense file), and read straight down for ten minutes.
        • This drill will help you get accustomed to the length of constructive speeches.
        • In addition, this drill will help you practice the speed and clarity skills you have learned with the other drills.
        • Advanced debaters can increase the time of spreading to 20 minutes to really test their endurance.