Public Speaking and Debate

This course empowers students to become confident communicators and critical thinkers. Through practical exercises, students will learn to craft persuasive messages, refine their delivery, and engage in structured debates on current topics. The curriculum emphasizes the fundamentals of speechwriting, argumentation, and active listening while fostering clarity, poise, and audience connection. By the end of the course, students will have the skills to present compelling ideas, respond thoughtfully to opposing viewpoints, and excel in any speaking or debate setting.

To successfully complete this course, students will need access to a laptop or desktop computer with a reliable internet connection and a working webcam and microphone. This course may also require purchase of texts or other course materials.

This Fixed-Paced course incorporates a blend of synchronous and asynchronous elements. Students and teacher meet live via zoom on a regular weekly schedule. In addition, students complete coursework including guided readings, interactive videos, text and video-based discussion threads, problem sets, individual and collaborative projects, and so on. While these activities are time-flexible, teachers sequence them with weekly deadlines to help students keep on track and encourage and support the development of productive time management skills.

During the course orientation period, CLI asks students to complete a survey on their availability for live class meetings. Teachers set individual class meeting times based on student responses.