Tuesday, January 2 – First day back. Original oratory student stops by in the morning to discuss changes to her piece. She is excited and ready to start memorizing.

A positive start to what is otherwise a dark day on the forensics front. Black Tuesday – numerous students withdrawing from their forensics commitments: 

• Over break a student emailed that she can’t participate. 
• Today we received an email from a student begging off the team to work on college applications. 
• I see a student in the hallway who lets me know she and her partner can’t do it because she and her friend haven’t had a chance to start rehearsing. 
• During fourth block I walk into a study hall to talk to a student about a potential piece and a different student tells me that she and her duo partner can’t participate anymore. 

This is the nature of forensics, a discipline that is barely understood and held in low regard when the student finally understands it. It happens every year – students say yes, then the reality of what’s expected hits, and they have to start cutting back to meet obligations in their life. 

In the library trying to find a good humorous performance piece that isn’t as challenging as the script of Pygmalion that I cut together for a previous student. Try to find two students during their lunch to give them materials, standing at the entrance of the cafeteria staring at the kids eating lunch and trying to find these two kids who I barely know.

Later in the afternoon Ms. Sim and I confer in her classroom about potential recruits. She pulls a talented theater student from chemistry class and makes the pitch. The student agrees, and begs to go back to class to study for the chemistry test. 

***

Forensics (sometimes called speech or forensic speech) is a high-school public speaking competition. At VHSL Forensic events, students can move forward from regional competition to super-regions and states. At each competition, awards are also given to schools who earn the most points; the points are earned by students doing well in their categories. The more students you have competing, the more likely it is the school will do well. 

Having a large team is the goal, but there are several issues that stand in the way. The most prominent and obvious is that the average high school student is repulsed by public speaking as an extra-curricular. That eliminates 95% of the high school population off the bat. Of those remaining students who enjoy public speaking or are otherwise cerebral, growth-mindset-oriented, these students are often put off by the fact that 1) the competitions take place in classrooms on weekends in front of indifferently-trained judges and 2) there is no binary winner/loser aspect that there is with debate or scholastic bowl. These impediments slice that 5% in half, leaving us with 2.5% of the student body willing to participate in forensics (these are not rough estimates, btw, these are peer-reviewed facts). The trick is to make these students aware that forensics exists, convince them to participate, and prepare them sufficiently with the necessary materials. 

Unless the school has an established forensics program, recruiting students requires the sponsor to be active – students won’t join unless they are sold on it as a concept. I competed in forensics when I was in high school, pulled into it at the last minute by my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Leatherwood, who did not leave it to me as an option that I participate; I was simply on the team. And I now carry that eternal flame as a forensics sponsor, cajoling and hustling and otherwise doing what’s necessary to get a team together.

This requires the sponsor to be a salesman as much as a leader. It always requires convincing. The great part, though, is that students who taste success always come back the next year for more.    

Wednesday, January 3 – Student who wanted to do humorous interp can’t do it because of a scheduling conflict.

Ms. Sim and I are desperate to find a comedic duo for a flight attendance piece that is hilarious, a winner as Sim calls it. Student who was supposed to meet to go over her piece during the last ten of her Dentime doesn’t show up because, symbolically, she went to theater instead. 

Woodgrove is blessed with a thriving theater program, and we have the opportunity to assemble a full team, the type of team that can win the region and make a run for the super-region. As I say in my formal pitch to students, the goal is to win glory not just for yourself, but for the whole school. It’s such a looked-over discipline that the majority of high schools these days don’t even have a forensics program, COVID and online school claiming many programs. As a result, schools tend to either have a robust program or no program. In 2022 Champe brought a tiny crew of half a dozen competitors to Osborne High School and won easily just by virtue of lack of competition. 

We’ve gone through two different duo participants who have had to drop out. The Chemistry student shows to our Dentime and Sim pesters her to find a partner for her duo piece. Finally she finds a partner and is on board. The third duo to sign on for the flight attendant piece. Will this be the one make it to the performance on January 20? Extemporaneous student who is participating out of obligation (she owes me a favor because I sponsor creative writing club and house it in my classroom) shows up in my classroom, her look inscrutable. I worry that it is to tell me she can’t participate. Instead it is to show me a tentative practice schedule. A natural extemp student, well organized and detail-oriented. She says that her partner may be dropping, though, but she’s not supposed to tell me. Onward and upward. 

Thursday, January 4 – practicing with extemp this morning. Exempt student is already well prepared for this, but did research about our division and is worried about the strength of some other schools.

Ms. Sim working with a new poetry performer. Having captains would be helpful, something to aspire for next year. The chemistry student who found a partner for the winning duo piece is back to square one after the partner she found yesterday got cold feet/had a scheduling conflict. 

Student wanders into my classroom in the middle of third block. “Ms. Sim sent me to you,” he says, confused. A few minutes later I send him back as the newest-minted member of Woodgrove Forensics.  

***

At Champe I worked for four years assembling a small team, eventually forming a crew that excelled in original oratory, extemporaneous speaking, and dramatic performance, winning the region a few times and sending a handful of students all the way to States, most of this occurring during online COVID times. With a few dedicated captains we made buttons and other fun iconography.

Here at Woodgrove, I have taken on co-sponsorship with Ms. Sim this year. Because we meet every day for homeroom (Dentime), we have an irresistible opportunity to combine our talents (hers at inspiring young minds; mine at organizing and assigning roles) to put together a complete team that has the chance to win the region and move forward all the way to states. 

Friday, January 5 –  The other extemp student shows to tell me she’s out, parents apparently surprised her with a weekend trip to Massanutten. Thanks for Nutten, I quip. 

***

Here are the categories for forensics: 

Extemporaneous and Impromptu: student is given a topic and a certain amount of time to prep and deliver speech. 7 minutes for the zany impromptu, 37 minutes for news-focused extemp.

Original oratory: write a speech, memorize it, deliver it. Ten minutes 

Poetry and prose interpretation: perform the act of reading a selection of prose or poetry. No memorization required. I’ve never been good at finding pieces for students. 

Storytelling, dramatic/humorous performance: memorize and perform a piece, either with another student (duo) or solo. Perfect for theater kids, yet they’re elusive to get to participate, as they often either turn their nose up at audience-free forensics or just have too busy of a schedule with theater obligations. 

Monday, January 8 – Sick at home with fever. Email comes from Sim: we’re required to provide judges for all of our categories in which we are entering students. We have eight events with students participating. The most judges I’ve brought are four, at most? How will we manage to accommodate that many judges in such a short amount of time? What the hell is this? Where in the world are we going to find eight judges? Sim and I make two.  

Every forensics event has to be judged. It’s not that hard of a job, but it does require time out of your Saturday to rank and critique high school public speaking. Parents rarely want to do it, the frauds. So the hustle extends from students to adults, finding able bodies to rank original oratory speeches and poetry performances. A willing and intelligent judge is worth their weight in VHSL medals.  

Tuesday, January 9 – I come to school. I’m trying to figure out how to triage this judge problem. I try to cut ties with the hard-working extemp student, who I know isn’t in love with the task and is doing it out of obligation. But when I start to explain how she is relieved of her duties, she is clearly incensed. I figured I’d see it through, she says. A surprising development: I’ve created a monster. 

Sim is irate about the judging obligation, ready to give the organizer the business. I take more medicine to keep the fever at bay.  

Wednesday, January 10 – I draft an email to the organizer asking what we will have to do if we can’t meet the judge requirements. Sim says that she thinks 5 will be enough, and there’s no way she can deny our kids an opportunity. She also takes a moment to thank me for problem-solving. So I don’t send the email yet. 

Thursday, January 11 – I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that we don’t have school Monday, and I won’t be in school Friday. Very few days left to get kids and judges registered. Tabroom (the website used for registering students and judges) is down this morning.

Sim bursts into my classroom to tell me she reached out to a judge and did not receive a response. She starts to monologue about how she became the head of the forensics team at Woodgrove, the whole genealogy of the program. Has my fever returned? 

Extemp student shows to practice, continues to make impressive strides. 

A prose interpretation recruit I gave up for dead long ago walks in to give me his notebook, having finally decided to drop out of prose performance. One fewer judge slot we’ll have to fill; I take his notebook before he can change his mind.