Tips for Judging Student Congress

Role of the Judge: To judge the content, logic, organization and presentation of student speeches.

  • Each speech is three minutes in length – the round will move quickly!
  • Each judge will independently judge each speech. After completing your ballot for a given speech, staple your ballot to the other ballots for that speech.
  • Do not judge students from your own school – if a student from your school is about to speak, pass your ballot to the Parliamentarian (the adult at the front of the room) to judge this student.
  • Do not worry about cross-examination questions or parliamentary procedure – it is the job of the Parliamentarian to evaluate these areas of the competition.

What to look for in a speech:

Content & Analysis:

  • An interesting introduction – grabs the listeners attention
  • Impact statement
  • Statement of how senators should vote (affirmative or negative)
  • Two (or three) areas of analysis (distinct reasons for an affirmative or negative vote)
  • Each of these areas of analysis need to be supported by specific evidence and analysis
  • Affirmation and refutation
  • Extends the debate – does not simply restate what has already been said

Refutation:

  • Refers to other senator’s (by name) statements
  • Summarizes statements and either expands upon the analysis or refutes the statement

Logic & Organization:

  • Preview of areas of analysis
  • Statement of how Senators should vote
  • Clear topic sentences
  • Clear connection between points
  • Review of areas of analysis
  • Reminder of how Senators should vote

Evidence:

  • Citation of sources or experts – both from where it was retrieved as well as the date of the source
  • The more recent the source, the more applicable the source.

Presentation:

  • Makes eye contact with the members of the chamber (fellow students)
  • Good pace
  • Good articulation and enunciation
  • Good energy/persuasive tone

Ballots:

Comments:

  • Comments are essential to student improvement! As you listen to the speech, please include several comments. Always try to provide both a comment on a positive aspect(s) of the speech as well as suggestions for improvement.
  • Each of the five areas of the ballot are scored on a scale of 1-6, six being the best. After scoring each area, total the scores at the bottom of the ballot.

Point Scale:

All speeches are judged on a 30 point scale. A score of 30 is reserved for perfection. As most speeches can be improved in some way, use 30s sparingly.

In general, your total score should reflect:

30 Perfection! Nothing could be improved.

27-29 An above average speech; minor improvements could be made to

the speech or his presentation.

24-26 A solid speech, but the student needs to improve one or

two areas of his/her speech and/or his/her presentation.

20-23 The student is on the right track, but multiple areas of his/her speech

and/or presentation need improvement.

19 and belowA score of 19 or below is reserved for a student who is either

totally unprepared OR has not taken the topic seriously.

thank you for taking time out of your schedule to support our students. Without your support and willingness to judge, these competitions could not occur.