Academics News
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Academic Deadlines Are Near
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 2:37 PM
Ready or not, deadlines for academic district meets are upon us. We are available to answer any questions you might have about the online system, but urge you to read the excellent help instructions before you call.
Setting Up the Academic District Meet
If you are in charge of setting up your academic district meet and have not done so by the Feb. 1 deadline, you will be hearing not only from our office, but also from the coordinators in your district trying to enter their contestants. Many academic district directors or meet hosts have already entered meet information, but some have failed to click the correct ‘Status of the Meet’ link from the pull-down menu on the meet setup page. ‘This meet is closed to schools and public’ is the default setting, which you would use before you are ready for schools to use the entry process. However, meet directors must change the status by Feb. 1 at the latest to ‘schools may enter contestants in the meet’ to allow academic coordinators to enter students in events. Some meets that have been setup online do not yet have scheduled times of events, so meet directors will want to check this, too.
Theatre Director’s Play Invited to International Festival
By Jamie Oberg, UIL Intern | Thursday, January 24, 2013 1:21 PM
Texas students will perform Coram Boy in Lincoln, Nebraska, this summer at the International Thespian Society's 50th festival.
This summer and fall Theatre Director Luis Muñoz spent several weeks and many weekends directing a group of 90-plus students from around the state in the production of Coram Boy for the All-State Thespian company. The hard work paid off with a successful performance at the state theater convention last November and an invitation to perform at the International Thespian Society’s 50th festival this summer in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“When I got the call, it was like I was going to state for the first time again,” said Muñoz, who began directing at age 17 and has served as UIL Theatre Director for the past 10 years.
Debate Season Underway in New Year
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:13 AM
The dawning of a new year begins a fresh semester. Some of you will get a whole new crop of students in your classrooms. The anticipation of spring just around the corner brings with it zeal to polish those oral interpretation pieces, attack the recently-released Lincoln-Douglas Debate resolution with fervor, beef up your extemporaneous files and design new CX plan attacks.At the League, it means the beginning of Cross-examination Debate district meets and heavy preparation for the state debate tournament. Deadlines loom just around the corner.
Your district entries are due no later than 10 calendar days prior to the scheduled meet. You must input those entries into the UIL Spring Meet Online System. There’s a link to the system conveniently located on the home page of the UIL speech/debate section of our website.
In the excitement of competing at district, if your teams place, don’t forget to pick up your winning coach packet from your district contest director. This large white and red envelope contains details about the state tournament and reminders about critical deadlines and responsibilities you as a coach have if your teams advance to the state tournament.
Entry Forms and Instructions for Essay Contests Ready for Students
By David Trussell, A+ Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:46 AM
Entry forms and instructions are now available online for the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay and Latino History Essay competitions (http://www.uiltexas.org/academics/essay-contests).
The entry process is fully digital, with interactive PDF entry forms and dedicated email addresses for submitting entries. Students must attach their essay and completed entry form to an email message and send to the address indicated in the instructions. Some important points to keep in mind:
• Each entry must be the work of only one student. A student may submit one entry (per competition) per school year. The entry deadline for both contests is March 1, 2013.
Journalists Need to Slow Down, Re-Visit Ethics
By Jeanne Acton, Journalism Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:32 AM
Pregnancy. Child Abuse. Suicide.
Pretty heavy topics for a high school newspaper. But back in the late 1980s those were the topics we covered.
At first glance, the topics may sound a bit sensational. Maybe even shocking.
And perhaps they could have been if we didn’t have our journalism teacher who drilled the importance of ethics and compassionate reporting into our heads.
“You don’t do a story to shock,” she used to tell us. “It must have purpose.”
So with every story idea, we discussed the purpose, the reason and need for doing the story. Would it help someone? Would it offer important information? Would it give voice to someone who had no voice?
Big Changes on Horizons for OAP
By Luis Muñoz, Theatre Director | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 1:35 PM
There are moments in time where we experience a quantum leap in the status quo. That type of catalyst for change in the One-Act Play Contest was provided at last month’s Legislative Council meeting. There were five amendments to the Constitution and Contest Rules and one pilot program that were unanimously approved. Each of them will impact OAP in its own way.
Conference 6A
Say goodbye to five conferences and welcome a sixth. This amendment creates a six conference alignment by renaming the current Conference A Division II (Six Man schools) to Conference A, current Conference A Division I (11 Man schools) into Conference AA, current conference AA schools into Conference AAA, etc. This change takes place beginning in August 2014. This will have at tremendous impact on our overcrowded 1A districts. In 2012, 1A had 309 schools enrolled in the contest. The change would split that total into two conferences. This would reduce the size of most 1A districts to 7 or 8 schools rather than 11 to 16.
Suggestions for Coaching UIL Academic Events
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 11:33 AM
Sponsoring or coaching UIL academic contests is both challenging and rewarding. Here are some suggestions that have proven successful for coaches of academic events.
One of the initial objectives is to recruit team members for your activity. Although entries are limited to a maximum number in district competition, recruit more team members for several reasons.
It is inevitable that someone will get too busy, lose interest or not show up the day of the meet. It is important to have back-ups who can fill in.
Healthy competition for positions on the team is normally a good thing. Use competition to encourage each student to push harder to earn a spot on the team.
Practice Really Does Make the Difference
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 11:30 AM
“Practice makes perfect.” It’s a cliché we have all heard, but I’ve often wondered who coined this phrase. Whoever wrote it, my mother seemed to have the market on it when she’d wake me up super early on mornings to practice the piano while my two older brothers snuggled underneath the covers much longer than me. One piano. Three kids. Often, I drew the short straw. That’s what happens when you’re the baby of the family and your older siblings are boys.
I didn’t like hearing it then, but I grew to understand the truth in the saying as I began to compete in UIL and later, as I coached. It didn’t take long to recognize that my students who broke to the final rounds were those who asked for extra practice sessions with me during lunch and after school when all their squad team members had long since called it a day.
It was also the kids who took advantage of every invitational tournament we scheduled. There they were, on the bus, ready and prepared for another challenge to compete against opponents who also had made speech and debate a priority in their busy schedule.
Writing Must Grab the Reader and Make Them Feel
By Jeanne Acton, Journalism Director | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 11:19 AM
I cried this weekend.
No, not terribly shocking news. I do cry sometimes. But these tears didn’t come from some sappy Lifetime movie or frustration with my kids, husband, family or any other slice of my life.
I cried during a presentation — reading some of my own writing.
Not exactly the best way to present — especially since I don’t own waterproof mascara.
But I didn’t apologize. In fact, I told the audience that my tears were good. It meant I felt something. And we should feel when we read.
The presentation was at the JEA National Convention in San Antonio and was called ‘Make Average Writing Great’ or something like that.
The Idioms of Academics
By Dr. David Stevens, Academic Director | Monday, October 08, 2012 1:35 PM
The origins of some commonly used idioms, or cliches, are unknown. Many can be linked to a phenomenon, odd behavior or special occurrences in history. However, those who use them often understand their meaning. Therefore, let us provide some meaning for those phrases you may hear in relation to UIL academics this fall.
It was raining cats and dogs during the fall Student Activities Conferences this year. Not literally. Well, maybe at the UT-Austin SAC. Those of you who attended that SAC did brave downpours and waded through water to get to sessions.
Our attendance was outstanding at each site, and the presenters and hosts were terrific. So it isn’t a stretch to say that the knowledge was raining into our attendees.