NSDA Learn

Learn to manage your team roster, enter points, understand competition rules, find tournaments, and manage your team.

This session explains the importance of culturally responsive feedback and offers tips on how to enhance the student experience positively and productively.

Inclusive communities bring together diverse identities and ideologies, work to ensure fairness, and invite all members to participate in decision-making processes. This session presents the advantages of an inclusive community, outlines steps for community building, and explores constructive dialogue to address moments of disagreement and conflict.

Inspired by the book The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication, this session focuses on ways our communication (despite the best intentions) can be harmful and even destructive to a team culture.

Learn the basics of World Schools Debate including responding to impromptu motions, structuring the team, strategy for points of information, and more.

Learn the basics of Public Forum Debate including the structure of the round, purpose and strategy behind each speech, and tools for success in coaching both in the classroom and at tournaments.

The goal of this reflection guide is to help speech and debate professionals consider various perspectives and reflect on those areas that are necessary to become both successful and impactful. Throughout this course, educators will reflect upon and set goals relating to advocating for their school and students as well as being an advocate for the activity in general.

The goal of this reflection guide is to help speech and debate professionals consider various perspectives and reflect on those areas that are necessary to become both successful and impactful. Throughout this course, educators will reflect upon and set goals relating to increasing their own professional knowledge, fostering a team culture that allows all students to grow and feel valued, and creating a healthy competitive environment.

The length of most speech and debate seasons, the size of your program, and the various events to choose from are all powerful arguments for an assistant coach, both for educational value and for your personal wellbeing. This course explores the types of assistant coaches and how to request, hire, onboard, and mentor them.

Offering a speech and debate class can give your program stability, increase participation, and offer greater work/life balance. In this course you will prepare to showcase interest, demonstrate how a class helps your school achieve its goals, determine the positioning and structure of your course, make a pitch incorporating data and student voices, and plan for the year ahead.

This training is designed to give you a full picture of the Belonging and Inclusion Station (BIS) as well as the role of the Belonging and Inclusion Advocate (BIA). The certification course consists of two videos (approximately 2 hours in total) and one quiz.

Learn the basics of coaching HI and DI including event structure, considerations for selecting literature, sample cuttings, activities for characterization, and more.

Dive into the process of putting together a Duo performance from start to finish. This course, geared toward both students and coaches, offers a look behind the scenes at the cutting, blocking, practicing, and performing of a final round Duo.

Learn the basics of coaching OO and Info including event structure, topic selection, research, the writing process, delivery, and revision.

Learn the fundamentals of coaching POI, including considerations for literature selection, refining and defining arguments, blocking, video examples, and tips for binder movement.

Explore the fundamentals of coaching Congressional Debate including strategies for helping students
write effective legislation, ideas for team practices, persuasive delivery techniques, and more.

This course is designed to help district leaders to assess, sustain, and improve their NSDA district. Seasoned and new leaders alike will benefit from this course as it strives to incorporate best practices and strategies that will help each NSDA district thrive regardless of its demographics.