Academics News
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Tips for Planning Your Academic Vacation
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Friday, September 06, 2013 1:59 PM
Being an academic coordinator or coach for your campus is much like planning for a summer vacation with the family. It takes months of preparation for a few days or weeks of gratitude. But the payoff is usually worth the trouble.
The first step to going on vacation is selecting a date and location. For the UIL traveler, planning meetings for district spring meets began Aug. 15. The planning meetings should include location, dates and assignments for CX debate, One-Act Play and the academic meet. If you have not received notification of this information, check with your campus administration or contact another coordinator in your UIL district.
Next, you will need to plan your itinerary for the trip. Districts are highly encouraged to follow the UIL Academic Conflict Pattern at the district contest. The conflict pattern is strictly enforced at the region and state meets.
Speech and Debate Readies for an Exciting Year
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Friday, September 06, 2013 1:32 PM
The Texas delegation in Oregon
Welcome to the 2013 - 2014 school year! Just as you are calling out new names on your roll sheet and seeing new faces in your classroom, new and exciting things are also happening at UIL!
The annual speech coach mailing has gone digital. It’s now designed as an e-book and is posted on the speech section of the UIL website. Take the time to access the documents included in the e-book to assist you in having the information you need for a successful year. If you are a new coach, email me (jriggins@uiltexas.org), and I will be happy to send you a complimentary New Coach manual. In addition, there is a section of the speech website that is customized just for you as a first-year coach.
This school year introduces newly designed literary categories for high school oral interpretation contestants and the categories are definitely innovative. For the first time ever, interpreters will be allowed to add theatre, radio, television, movie or documentary scripts into the Category B Prose performance. Poetry contestants get the added benefit of using song lyrics for transitions, as their thematic poetry performance for Category A explores a decade or social/political movement.
Student Congress to Begin this Fall
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Friday, September 06, 2013 1:31 PM
UIL is piloting an exciting new contest this fall, Congress, that models the legislative process of democracy; specifically, the United States Congress.
Within this mock legislative assembly competition, contestants draft legislation (proposed laws and position statements called resolutions) submitted to the tournament, and they research the docket of bills and resolutions dealing with real-world social and political policies prior to the contest to prepare their speeches. At the tournament, students deliver formal discourse on the merits and disadvantages of each piece of legislation, and vote to pass or defeat the measures they have examined. Parliamentary procedure forms structure for the discourse, and students extemporaneously respond to others’ arguments over the course of a session.
Judges evaluate contestants for their research and analysis of issues, argumentation, skill in asking and answering questions, use of parliamentary procedures and clarity and fluency of speaking.
Coaches Input Sought on State Feature Writing Contest
By Jeanne Acton, Journalism Director | Friday, September 06, 2013 1:21 PM
As I listened to the State Feature Writing speaker this past year, I couldn’t help but be a little frustrated. Our speaker was from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She had witnessed genocide as a young child, and her father was still living in danger on a daily basis. It was an incredible story, but I don’t think the students got the full story. They just didn’t ask the right questions.
And it certainly wasn’t their fault.
When I prepare for an interview, I research. I read everything I can to become as knowledgeable about the topic or person as I can. I talk to people. I work through questions both with colleagues and myself. And I do all of this, BEFORE the interview. When I say before, I mean days, not minutes.
What we ask the competitors at the State Feature Writing contest to do seems contradictory to good journalism. We bring these 60 students into a room and expect them to do an amazing interview with only minutes to prepare. And sometimes, we give them a topic they are unfamiliar with like this past year.
Academic State Meet Draws Thousands to Austin to Compete
By Jeanne Acton, Journalism Director | Friday, May 31, 2013 8:15 AM
Lindale High school student Jessie Elliot and White Oak High School student Austin Jordan display their medals and plaques after the journalism awards ceremony at the Academic State Meet. Both students were in all four journalism contests, and both students medaled in each of the four contests.
Photo by Suzanne Bardwell
For the 2013 Academic State Meet, held May 20-22, more than 3,000 Texas students descended on the University of Texas at Austin to compete for the ultimate prize – a State Championship.
And while not every student walked away with a gold medal, every student walked away as a winner, said Academic Director Dr. David Stevens.
“Each year, I am in awe of the talents of the students at the State Meet,” Dr. Stevens said. “You don’t make it to that level of competition without intelligence, dedication and commitment.”
This year to add more prestige to the award ceremonies, Dr. Stevens secured auditoriums for most award ceremonies.
“These students deserve the best, and that is what we strive to give them,” he said.
2013 TILF Banquet Slideshow
By | Friday, March 01, 2013 1:18 PM
On Feb. 26, the Texas Interscholastic League Foundation held its annual 2013 Celebration of Academic Excellence Banquet honoring TILF scholarship recipients attending the University of Texas at Austin. The banquet was held at the Alumni Center on the University of Texas campus. TILF, the UIL scholarship foundation, awarded more than $1 million in scholarships last year. TILF donors, UT scholarship recipients and League staff attended the banquet where students had the opportunity to thank their donors and talk about the impact UIL had on their lives.
Todd Named Yearbook Teacher of the Year
By Rhonda Moore, TAJE Executive Director | Friday, March 01, 2013 12:11 PM
After she is presented the Yearbook Teacher of the Year Award, Cindy Todd embraces H.L. Hall at Westlake High School.
Photo by David Oliver, Westlake High School
Cindy Todd thought she was going to a faculty meeting during a staff workday to talk about an upcoming activities fair. When she got to the meeting, her principal said they were going to celebrate some accomplishments and recognize one of the teachers. Then she saw H.L. Hall.
“The minute he introduced H.L. Hall, I knew what was happening,” Todd said. “I couldn’t believe it. I turned to Deanne [Brown, newspaper adviser], who was in on it all along, and asked her if it was really happening. And, of course, I started crying.”
Todd, yearbook adviser at Westlake High School in Austin, was named the H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year Jan. 7. She will be officially honored at the Saturday Advisers Luncheon at the JEA/NSPA convention in San Francisco in April. In addition to a plaque, she will receive $1,000 for her program and $1,000 for herself.
Riggins Awarded Prestigious NFHS Citation
By Jamie Oberg, UIL Intern | Friday, March 01, 2013 10:55 AM
Jana Riggins has been the UIL Speech and Debate Director for the past 16 years.
Photo by Jeanne Acton
Jana Riggins, Assistant Academic director at UIL, will receive the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) prestigious Citation Award this summer in Denver, Colorado.
Designed to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to high school sports and performing arts, the NFHS Citation is one of the most highly regarded achievements in high school activities. Citation Awards are issued in six categories, including Speech and Debate, where it is the highest honor possible.
When first notified of her recognition, Riggins said she felt “very humbled.”
Documentation Details for 2012-2013
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Wednesday, February 06, 2013 2:17 PM
As you prepare for competition, one of the most important things prose and poetry performers must do is to secure appropriate documentation for the performance categories.
Securing documentation is not a task that can be left until the last minute. The categories were designed to document easily, but you should secure proper documentation in advance of invitational and district meets. Do this before you put your heart and soul into analyzing and rehearsing a literary work for competition. If documentation is insufficient, you won’t even get to compete, so knowing the requirements and making certain you have met the contest rules is an integral part of preparation.
The Constitution & Contest Rules require all coaches to read the 2012-2013 edition of the UIL Prose and Poetry Handbook, which should be ordered from the state office:
UIL Computer Applications Update for 2013
By Linda Tarrant, Computer Applications Contest Director | Tuesday, January 29, 2013 11:35 AM
Being a contest based on Microsoft Office, Computer Applications will continue to make incremental changes to keep abreast of the changing technology. Again this year, competitors will be using only Office 2007 or Office 2010. The format of these two versions is fairly consistent.
In 2012, we created an Access file with multiple tables that we posted on the UIL website. We posted an exercise for practice using such a downloaded file. The State test last year utilized a downloaded file from the UIL website as well. The consensus of using this type of data was positive. This year, both the Region and State test will use the same 2013 Starter Files that we are posting to be used with a practice exercise.