Debate and Communication Club Meetings

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 – DEBATE TEAM WILL MEET AT 1 PM IN ROOM 610 @ 50 WEST 23^RD. We will begin to develop our affirmative and negative case on gun control. The resolution will be: “Resolved: that gun control should be modified/abolished in New York State.” Drani is checking the status quo which is the basis for the affirmative team’s case. Online source material includes numerous video testimonies as well as this latest report: Bush Signs New Gun Control Law (Click here.)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008 – THE COMMUNICATION CLUB WILL MEET AT 1 PM IN ROOM 610 @ 50 WEST 23^RD. After a lively discussion we decided to focus on “Reading Aloud.” This will be a fun session where we will start with reading the telephone book in an exciting manner. Then we’ll turn to reading of published short poetry and prose (not original writing this time) to discover how your voice can make the words come off the page. Bring a couple of your favorite poems and short prose pieces to experiment with. Hal Wicke will get you used to sounding silly and stretching your voice.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008 –CLUB MEETING?

Drani Gabu and James Millner joined George Backinoff, Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke in a very interesting session. Antoinette Miller, in her last day on her job as the Department’s Administrative Assistant, kept joining the group. She will be on an internship for her Human Services major for the spring semester.

George led off with a three person Communication exercise where Drani spoke extemporaneously for five minutes; James listened carefully without taking notes and summarized what Drani said; and Richard observed both Drani and James and reported on the accuracy of the James’ report. We talked a long time about what went into both the impromptu speaking and the careful listening necessary for a successful Communication transaction. George talked about his experience in Japan, teaching Japanese to do this exercise.

David showed a purple Lord and Taylor bag with a print of a Hudson River painting taped to the outside and many objects inside it which he brought out to reveal more about himself. David explained that this was an example of the standard “JoHari Window” exercise where a four-part window symbolizes the degree of self-disclosure a person will show to others. The four windows are Open, Hidden, Blind and Unknown. As David revealed his interest in opera (he was once a super for Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Met Opera), Hal then talked about his stage directing in opera. The conversation went on like this as David slowly revealed “hidden” aspects from inside his bag.

The session seemed to revive the energy of the conversation with each new discovery. Everyone got involved and shared. At the end, there seemed to be a very warm feeling among the six of us. We started playing with our voices – fast, slow, whisper, raspy – and that led to the idea of experimenting with reading aloud some published poetry and/or prose. Hal volunteered to lead the next session. Although we are not conscious of how we use our voice most of the time, when we practice reading aloud we can begin to become aware of how to use our voice to emphasize our ideas.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2008? – DEBATE TEAM?

We had an entire United Nations at this meeting. Every person was from a different country: Senegal, the Ukraine, Guatemala, Sudan, Barbados, India, Venezuela, Hawaii and Morningside Heights, NYC. Drani Gabu was the mainstay of the meeting along with Milton Rivera. The new people included Mor Sarr, Tetyana Averkina, Johnny Celestin, Joanel Stuart-Jones, Vikram Jannavedy joined David Nussbaum, Richard Green and Hal Wicke. They represented a wide range of majors: Political Science, Business, Physical Therapy, Human Services and the Master’s Degree program in Computing.

Since we had so many new people, Hal reviewed basic ideas about debate and how its training is very helpful to every aspect of school, business and personal life. It is particularly useful in helping to understand the current Presidential campaign where candidates often make errors in fact and misstatements. The past week was full of accusations between the Obama and Clinton camps about who said what about whom.

Any political campaign moves so fast that the ordinary citizen can get fooled into believing everything that a candidate says. An excellent resource to check the accuracy of anything, but particularly this political campaign is FactCheck.org. You can even ask them to verify something and they will get back to you. It’s a great resource!

Hal focused on a rubric for types of evidence and tests of evidence. He put the following chart on the board {He revised the chart since the meeting.)

Types and Tests of Evidence

All assertions (thesis statements) must be supported by evidence to be proved valid. Assertions without valid evidence are opinions without support.

This is especially important in debate. The debater must know the full range of evidence available to both the affirmative and negative positions to be able to judge its validity.

Knowledge of this menu of types and tests of evidence is helpful to any writer or speaker who is intent on documenting a position, building a persuasive case, or writing an essay or term paper.

Aristotle speaks of three ways of using rhetoric (the art of persuasion). Each must support the other.

• Logos – using logic to persuade
• Pathos – using emotions to persuade
• Ethos – using personality and character to persuade

Types of Evidence	Tests of Evidence
1. Current Events	1. Quantity
2. Historical	2. Quality
3. Economic	3. Variety
4. Cultural	4. Primary source
5. Socio-economic	5. Secondary source
6. Psychological	6. Reputable source
7. Religious	7. Recentcy
8. Ethical	8. Relevant
9. Social	9. Accurate
10. Legal	10. Coherent
11. Personal	11. Appropriate
	12. Parallel
	13. Statement in context
	14. Representativeness
	15. Degree of bias

We went over the chart and everyone took notes and asked questions. It was a solid session with lots more work for the Debate team to do if we are to present a public debate in front of the school at the end of the semester.

See you next time. Bring a friend.

Hal Wicke

Holiday party for Touro Communication - Debate Team and Club plans

The holidays are upon us! Thirteen people had a splendid first holiday party on 12/13 with 6 students and 9 faculty (would you believe!) The students were all male (where were the girls?!?) They included Drani Gabu, Walter Jean-Pierre, Narayan Mala (who took photos), James Millner and Milton Rivera. Kazi Rahman came late. The faculty included George Backinoff, Jason Carvell, Linda Creamer, Stephen Gradman, Richard Green, David Nussbaum. Larry Schwartz, Thomasina Tucker and Hal Wicke.

We are now going to split the Communication Club into two groups which will meet separately: The Debate Team and the Communication Club.

DEBATE TEAM WILL MEET THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008 AT 1 PM IN ROOM 610 @ 50 WEST 23^RD. We will begin an intense regular preparation for a public debate 2^nd semester on a topic of mutual choice. Hal Wicke will coach the team.

WANT TO BE PART OF THE DEBATE TEAM? Check out these ideas.

· I hope we can present 2 teams of two debaters (4 people) in the Spring semester. I am looking for at least 4 people who are willing to work their tails off as they learn the intellectual combat of debate. I guarantee your class work will improve 1000% since debate is the learning matrix of critical thinking and covers every academic skill in depth.

· The ultimate value of any formal debate (not the stuff you see on TV that calls itself “debate”) is that learn to sharpen your skills every time you practice and polish them with every new topic. These skills include listening, questioning, taking notes, brainstorming, constructing and defending an argument, negotiating, dealing with success and failure, organizing and managing your time, building self-esteem and self-confidence, speaking skills.. These skills translate immediately into your daily life, your school life and your work life.

· Go to see Denzel Washington’s “The Great Debaters” which opens December 25 to get an exciting insight into the challenges of a debate team from an historically black college in Texas in the 30’s which went on to win several national debate championships.

· Google “college debate” and discover a host of debate resources throughout the country. There is a YouTube clip of a frantic championship debate. One site is fascinating has lots of ideas for us - http://nycdebate.googlepages.com .

· The 2007-2008 National Collegiate Debate Topic is “Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially increase its public health assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa." If that is scary, we can choose a more accessible topic.

COMMUNICATION CLUB WILL MEET THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008 AT 1 PM IN ROOM 610 @ 50 WEST 23^RD. George Backinoff and David Nussbaum are putting together a program of Communication exercises which should be both fun and informative. Invite your friends to join us.

The Holiday party got off to a slow start but as we got comfortable with each other, we began to get beyond the awkwardness and superficiality of unfamiliarity. Then Hal began a brainstorming session about the kinds of things the Communication Club could explore.

Here are the topics we talked about: The starred entries in bold are the ones the group chose to focus on immediately. At the next meeting, we will decide which activity we will develop next.

Include Hispanic Students (and other ethnicities)	Performance of Ethnic Literature (Newyorican cafe)	*Open mike (original poetry, comedy, discussion
Field trips (Paley Media Center, TV show, plays, “the Great Debaters”	*Panel discussion on a topic	Poetry festival
*Contest with prizes - poetry	Ways to steer people to Communication Club blog	Treasure hunt
Communication Exercises	Talk about Negotiation	Practice Job interviewing
Cross cultural aspects of Touro	*Contest for a Communication Club logo	*T-shirt for Communication Team
Create a mystery	*Podcast	Club brochure - “Talking Good, Looking Good”
Marketing the Communication Club	Getting registration for Biz Comm courses	Showcase Communication faculty -Carvell
Have a Communication Day	Open Speech contest – best persuasive speech, best information	*Performance apprehension workshop
Publish journal of student writing on communication	Club newsletter	(Communication honorary)
(Questioning skills)	(Loaded language – the B.S. Factor)	(Observation skills -listening & looking)
(Networking skills)	(Emotional Intelligence)	(Conversation skills)
(Teamwork exercises – Backinoff)	(Concert)	(Teacher panel discussion)
(Guest speakers – lecture series)	(Debate activities – Lincoln Douglas, off-topic debate)	(Impromptu speaking – elevator speeches)

There’s so much that is possible with the Club. Our success depends on you, the students, who are the reason for whom Touro exists. When faculty and students get together with a common purpose, who knows what will happen? Please join us for the next Communication Club meeting on Thursday, January 17^th or, if you want to commit yourself to debate, on Thursday, January 10^th.

4th Speech Contest sponsored by the Touro College SGS/NYSCAS

“Domestic Violence” is the topic of the First Prize winner in the 4th Speech Contest sponsored by the Touro College SGS/NYSCAS Department of Speech and Communication, November 14, 2007.

Sophomore Kristina Stone won First Prize (and $100 cash) for her hard-hitting speech on “Domestic Violence” in the 4th Speech Contest sponsored by the SGS/NYSCAS Department of Speech and Communication on November 14, 2007. In a little over 4 minutes, she graphically documented the statistics, types and ways to prevent domestic violence. Kristina was chosen by her classmates as the Finalist for the Interpersonal Communication class, taught by Professor Hal Wicke.

The judges chose Bijaya Adhikari as the Second Prize ($50 cash) winner. Her topic was “Nepal: Never Ending Peace and Love.” She has taken Communication courses from Professor Richard Green and Barrie Cline.

Third Prize ($25 cash) went to Elizabeth Rankine for her speech “One of the Top Five Killers: Domestic Violence.” Her instructor is Professor Thomasina Tucker.

The judges gave Honorable Mention recognition to Yelena Mullokondova for her speech on “Feral Children.” Her instructor is Professor Barrie Cline.

The three judges included Dean Donne Kampel, Professor Anna Amaez of Education and Professor Helene Bergman of Accounting in the Business department.

Other Finalists included Cartier Greeley (“Obesity”), Narayan Malla (“Human Rights in Burma”), Milton Rivera (“The Mayan People in Guatamala”), Rachel Rosen (“Eating Disorders”).

Each semester, the Speech and Communication Department sponsors a Speech Contest for students in the three Communication classes. Finalists are chosen by their classmates after the class presents their information speech assignment. Begun in Spring, 2005, previous Speech Contests winners and finalists are available on the Internet at http://www.profgreen.tv/.

This announcement can be seen on the Touro Communication Club Blog @ http://www.tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com/

Holiday Party, Thursday Dec. 20 (note changed date) @ 1:30 p.m.

IN ROOM 610 (note room change) @ 50 WEST 23RD STREET
BRING FOOD FOR 3 PEOPLE. IT MUST BE KOSHER. HOPEFULLY NOT EVERYONE WILL BRING CHIPS AND DIP! THE COMMUNICATION DEPT WILL PROVIDE THE BEVERAGES, CUPS, PAPER PLATES AND UTENSILS.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS BECAUSE WE’LL BE SHARING IDEAS ABOUT FUTURE ACTIVITIES:
Some of the ideas we talked about yesterday included:
- A visit to the Museum of Television and Radio on West 52nd Street to see the Kennedy- Nixon debates.
- Having a guest speaker.
- Working toward establishing an honorary society in Communication.
- George Backinoff’s activities on intercultural communication.

• Notes on Conversation #8 – Thursday, November 8, 2007
  After we found out that Room 602 had a class in it, we moved to Room 610 which is a much larger room for our activities.
  A solid group of willing members seemed eager to learn more about debate and certainly the Presidential campaign. Two new people, Narayan Malla took photos and Calishea Gordon really got involved. It was nice to see Brian Brown who returned (in an earlier meeting, Brian showed us how he does "cold calling" on the phone which he does as a stock broker.). Milton Rivera, Josephine Stewart-Romillie, Drani Grabu and Antoinette Miller are now old-timers. Of course, George Backinoff, David Nussbaum, and Richard Green of the Communication faculty joined our efforts.
  Hal Wicke asked the group to fill out a survey of 11 questions on issues facing America. They ranged from the war in Iraq to Social Security to Immigration..

Take the Survey on "Where Do You Stand? A Survey of Views to Match with a Candidate" by clicking on the following web address:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/

It was helpful to identify a lot of issues we face in America.
Next, we read a NY Times transcript excerpt of the exchange between Senator Clinton and Tim Russert at the last Democratic debate in early November.

View this debate, as posted below, by The New York Times, on video, with the complete transcript of the debate with a transcript analyzer:

Democratic Debate, 10/30/2007

Democratic Debate, 11/15/2007

Democratic Debate, 11/28/2007

www.youtube.com/republicandebate

CNN/YouTube Republican Debate, (Also Click Here.)

Democratic Debate, 12/13/2007

As the script was being read, we stopped and analyzed ("parsed" is another word for analysis) the language. Everyone agreed that Clinton looked like she was "flip-flopping" on the issue of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants in NY.

As always, these issues are very complex. Any politician is faced with the dilemma of trying to explain complicated issues simply and with just a few words. Hal used the term "bumper sticker’ responses – most audiences are not as familiar with the issues as is the candidate. Clinton or anyone else must give a short, crisp, clear answer to a very complex problem in a few seconds. Otherwise, the audience may perceive the candidate doesn’t know what he/she is talking about or is vague or stupid.
Teachers are often faced with a similar dilemma. Difficult ideas require much explanation. The politician does not have the time to explain the fine points. That’s why True/False questions are not useful teaching tools because a black/white answer to a complex issue can be misleading and deceptive. It’s like when children ask their parents, "Are we going to die?" or "Why does the sun disappear at night?" What kind of "bumper sticker" answer can you give to those questions?
Digression: in 1972 when George McGovern was running against Richard Nixon, McGovern visited Borough Hall in downtown Brooklyn near where I was teaching at the time. As he passed by the crowd, shaking hands, someone shouted, "What are you going to do about cancer?" Without skipping a beat, McGovern said, "Make a war on it!" That’s an example of "bumper sticker" answers to complex issues. (Remember, McGovern lost badly to Nixon!)
Next, we made a list of possible practice debate topics. We chose "Invading Privacy." Hal then put the topic into a formal "Resolution": "Resolved: that the U.S. government should stop all ways of invading privacy."
The PRO team (called the Affirmative) will defend the resolution – whether they agree with it or not. The CON team (called the Negative) will try to destroy the Affirmative teams position.- also whether agree with it or not.
Next, we listed all the possible arguments we could think of on both the Affirmative and Negative sides. Then we divided up into four teams of two. Each side spent 10 minutes, talking through how they would prepare their "case" – their position.
Next we had four sets of two person debates while Antoinette walked around, observing the debate. The schedule was as follows:
Affirmative – Constructive speech – 2 minutes
Negative – Cross-examination – 1 minute
Negative – Constructive speech – 2 minutes
Affirmative – Cross–examination – 1 minute
It was fun to watch. Everyone was going at each other with a lot of energy. One debate got confused as to which side each debater was on. Antoinette, as judge, found that all 4 Affirmative people won the debate.
In the post-debate debriefing, we first talked about what the experience was like, then how they did and what they would do better next time. George Backinoff commented that when he was in graduate school, he acted as a judge and was amazed at how rapid the exchanges were and how, over time, all the debaters had to improve because the other team found new evidence to support their case.
Probably, the most important observation was that our next step should be to increase the preparation before the debate. After a while, you realize you run short of ideas and information and doing "homework" becomes necessary to improve your skills.
There is an old debate adage, "The debate is won in the library." With the internet it is a brand-new game.
We then talked about our Holiday party on Thursday, December 13th. We also decided that we would continue meetings in January between semesters.
Come join us at our first party!
Hal Wicke
Touro Communication Club

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Next Meetings

Next Meetings

Our next meeting is Thursday, November 8 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 602 - at 50 West 23rd Street. As one person commented below: "The last meeting of the communication club was awsome! We had a debate where everyone took a part in and it was great. The communication club is growing and we would like for it to be even bigger. So come and be a part of it. It is a wonderful experience."

Click On:

1. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/30/us/politics/20071030_DEBATE_GRAPHIC.html
2. http://tinyurl.com/2hbw47 and watch the interactive video from Tuesday's debate of 10/30/07 to analyze the transcript of the Democratic Debate.

The above New York Times video with rolling transcript and transcript analyzer is a phenomenal use of video technology for teaching.

Next Meetings

Our next meeting is Thursday, October 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 602 - at 50 West 23rd Street. Hal Wicke will be talking about the Presidential debate and techniques that politicians use in these events.

The 4th Speech contest is Wednesday, November 14 @ 2 pm in Room 314.

Read the notes taken by Hal Wicke for each of the meetings as found at the bottom of this blog.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007, Meeting

#1. Kazi Rahman, at the right in the above photo, is a Hip-Hop artist well-known in Bangladesh. Go to a Columbia University New Media Class website where you will see video interviews of Kazi when you click here:
http://www.columbianewmedia.com/video_projects/4/

#2. When you click on the URL below, listen to an audio interview completed July 23rd, 2007, on Kazi and his group, "Stoic Bliss:"
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/11608

#3. The next two episodes of this blog will be podcasts of Kazi interviewing Professor Yearwood, the head of the mentoring program at Touro College shown in the photo above at the left.

#4. Last but not least, just wait till you see the photos of Antoinette Miller, at the middle of the photo above! She is shown with celebrities from all over New York City as she hosts the Danny Mixon Trio! Saturday evening, August 11, it will be a treat to see this fabulous jazz trio in concert again at the Lenox Lounge, in Harlem, as per the information at the bottom of this page. Watch the video made upon their return from Japan, at Touro College: Just click here for a Video of "The Sounds of Jazz at Touro" (Real Video)

OUR NEXT CLUB MEETING

IS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 @ 2 pm!

At 23rd Street on the 3rd Floor. Bring a friend or two.