Debate and Communication Club Schedule

Touro Communication Club #22

The intensity of activities seems to escalate for the Department. Richard Green’s NYT Teacher of the Year Award seems to be getting a lot of attention. The Times did a press release on the event. Touro wrote its own press release recognizing Richard’s honor. Dean Boylan asked Richard to stand to faculty applause at the opening ceremonies of the Faculty Development day on Thursday, April 10. As word spreads about Richard’s honor, many people have been coming up to congratulate him. Richard is not unlike so many Touro instructors who teach their classes and do an excellent job, but no one shines a spotlight on them. Now, at least one Touro teacher has been given a moment in the sun. And I’m delighted Richard is in the Communication department!!

On Faculty Development day, Hal Wicke practiced his communication skills when he shared a workshop on “Writing Across the Curriculum” before two groups of interested faculty. He used the 15–sentence outline speech format to demonstrate how it can be used for writing essays as well. He believes to teach and learn this simple 5- paragraph recipe allows both students and teaching to learn one structural paradigm for both writing and speaking. After learning the paradigm, the writer and speaker learns to transcend it to make it your own. The 15-sentence outline process is analogous to taking the sonnet form and turning it into a work of art. Hal also provides a sample of the 15-sentence outline in a speech “Stage Fright” which was adapted from an ESL textbook. Finally, he shared the handout he created for the Debate team on Types of Evidence, Tests of Evidence and the Language, Logical Fallacies and Propaganda Devices used in written and oral work.

Our two-week schedule:

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 – The Debate Team Will Meet At 1:00 Pm In Room 610 @ 50 West 23rd Street
At this session, we are going to begin building the negative case against Gun Control. There are many people who argue that gun control doesn’t work and have the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment to support them. Just last week, the Supreme Court heard landmark arguments against the gun control law in Washington DC. This is the first time that the Court has heard any kind of gun case since 1939. We are also going to work on our cross-examination technique of how to ask punchy questions and give cogent answers.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 – Club @ 1 pm @ 610 @50 West. – “The Bully Pulpit”
The Communication Department faculty was talking last week about the impact of race and gender on this year’s Presidential campaign. Barack Obama’s speech on race and religion two weeks ago raised the standard for discussion about these two volatile issues. There were so many ways we could approach these sensitive issues in a Club session that we finally decided to focus on “The Bully Pulpit.”

The term, “Bully Pulpit” comes from President Teddy Roosevelt’s constant saying “Bully” when he was in office (1901-1909). One hundred years ago, to say “Bully!” would be equivalent to saying today “Great!” or “Cool” or “Dope” or “Thass Baaad!” The “Pulpit” is an advantageous position, as for making one's views known or rallying support:

The President of the United States has a built-in “Bully Pulpit.” So do preachers, minister, priests, rabbi and imams. So does a teacher. And, with so many TV personalities (“talking heads”) and Radio Show hosts becoming “pundits,” the media has become a major “Bully Pulpit’ for competing ideas. My unsolicited personal definition of a “pundit” is “a self-appointed windbag that spews opinions that are mistaken for facts or knowledge.’

Jason Carvell will lead the discussion on how “The Bully Pulpit” has become the dominant – and noisy – way to promote your position. With so many opinions thrown about, we become easily confused because it is hard to differentiate between fact and opinion. Too often we are forced to listen to the loudest voice regardless of what is being said.

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat!

What happened at the 5th Speech Contest WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008
Twelve Finalists presented excellent informative speeches during the contest. The general reaction was that the quality of the speeches was higher than in the last few contests. The judges seemed to think so too. Here are the results;

First Prize ($100) – Lara Foerster spoke on “A Berlin Impression of Manhattan.” Lara is a business major at Touro/Berlin and is in New York for the semester taking Communication courses. She is the second Touro/Berlin student to win the contest. Simone Weber won the 3rd Speech Contest with her speech on “Male-Female Relationships.” Lara presented her speech for Interpersonal Communication, taught by Hal Wicke.

Second Prize ($50) – Amina Bibi spoke on “Human Trafficking.” Amina is a political science major and wants to return to her native Pakistan when she graduates to enter politics. A member of our fledgling Debate Team, she came to watch the Speech Contest and then, on the spot, decided to enter the contest. Her passion for her topic persuaded the judges to give her 2nd prize.

Third Prize ($25) – Akeem Poe spoke on “I am an American and I love it.” He is a 100 student of Professor Delores Albert and brought a lot of enthusiasm to his presentation.

George Backinoff, who coordinated the judges, commented that the scores for 2nd and 3rd prizes were often just a point or two apart. Clearly, the judges found performance level of all the Finalists to be very close and were impressed with their work. The judges were Adriana Jiminez, Coordinator of Student Job Placement; Professor Carlisle Yearwood, English instructor and Freshman Coordinator; and Robert Babsky, an administrator in the Institutional Advancement office of Touro College.

Over 30 students and faculty watched the Contest. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Participation, suitable for framing. Your resumes should include a reference to being a Finalist. In alphabetical order, the excellent remaining Finalists were:

Rose Guzzo, “The Effect Music Can Have on Children’s Grade performance in School.” GCA 101 – Public Speaking, Professor George Backinoff
Stephen Bouskila, “The Nargila”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor George Backinoff
Clifford Fulmore, “The Golden Ratio”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Jason Carvell
Esther Mitchell, “High Blood Pressure”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Richard Green
Jetante Morris, “Peer Pressure on Smoking”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Richard Green
Lorinda Moore, “Discrimination: No Man Is An Island”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Barry Cline
Ferdinand Moulton, “How to Get Rich in Life”
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Diana Thompson
Aryeh Rapoport, “Diamonds”
GCA 153 – Introduction to the Arts, Professor Barrie Cline
Saroya Stowe, “Sexually Transmitted Diseases” (our first PowerPoint presentation)
GCA 100 – Survey of Human Communication, Professor Diana Thompson

Congratulations go to everyone who presented a speech! As more and more people are learning, being able to present a credible speech in public is a valuable tool in your professional life. Public Speaking has long been recognized as a confidence building exercise and can be important in achieving recognition in your field.

The 6th Speech Contest will be held in Fall, 2008. Richard Green videoed the speeches which will be posted on his own blog as soon as possible. When the speeches are posted, you will be reminded to look them up on the tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com Aside from enjoying the speeches again, they can be used by students and teachers as examples to study how they were constructed and delivery. We are fortunate to have such an archive of student work.

See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke