Creating A Vital Forensics Program

Last Modified: December 17, 2005

Special thanks to Becky Hawley, coach at De Pere High School, for taking the time to transcribe these notes and urging that they be shared with our community at-large! SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATING A VITAL FORENSICS PROGRAM Gleaned from a Wisconsin Forensic Coaches Association Roundtable Discussion, Saturday, May 3, 2003 Suggestions came from: Ron Steinhorst, New London High School David Loos, Algoma High School Jay Johnson, Sheboygan North High School Bev Kingma, Nicolet High School Jim Jacobi, Rufus King High School Adam Jacobi, Rufus King High School Susan Huss, Brookfield Central High School Before the season starts: Recruit previous years' team members during the summer‚ send them a letter reminding them of the season and encourage them to begin finding materials or writing speeches. Include a flier about forensics in the school's fall registration packet. Have a student showcase of previous years' participants at the beginning of the season to recruit new members. Demonstrate forensics'various events at freshman orientation. Demonstrate forensics' various events at parent-teacher conferences. Have a team captain who personally contacts potential team members. Check with speech teachers for promising students who would make good potential team members. Recruit for high school forensics from middle school forensic team. Assemble a handbook for team members to show the importance of the activity. Judy Johnson (Homestead) has an excellent one, as does David Loos (Algoma). During the season: Hold tryouts for team participation (even if there isn't competition among categories) to show that forensics is as an important extracurricular activity as sports. Set up a point system so that students may earn a letter; students earn points for attending tournaments, festivals, meetings, practices, etc. Have explicit team policies regarding numbers/times of practices, policies, absences, requirements for team membership, penalties if students withdraw from meets with short notice, etc. Set artificial deadlines for students to encourage speech writing and practice so that students are ready prior to the first meet/tournament/festival. Meet regularly with team members to keep them apprised of what is happening with the team and changes of dates. Have consistent practices with students to encourage preparedness. Have a set number of practices that a team member must make before participating in a meet; if the team member does not make the required number of practices before the meet, he/she cannot go to the meet but is responsible for the entry fee and judges fees. Go to a couple of WFCA tournaments. Make locker signs for students to encourage student success. Communicate with students' parents when having difficulty getting students to practice to encourage parents to encourage students to follow through with commitment and obligations to the team. Take an overnight trip to a meet (such as to a meet that has a Student Congress) to foster team morale and team comeraderie. Use local newspaper for coverage of student achievements and results. Have a mentor within the forensic program for new team members; someone who has done the category for a couple of years to help teach the new team member proper technique. Be willing to work with school colleagues for student commitment; willing to compromise for students who participate in other extracurricular activities. At the end of the season: Have an awards banquet following the season to distribute awards. Further comments and suggestions are more than welcome!