Augmind StudioGuides for families and coaches
The rubrics our coaches score with, prompts and drills that run at home, and the notes we wrote for our own program. Everything here is in weekly use in our classes — not written for a blog.
For families
How a speech is scored, what to practise between sessions, and how to choose a first event.
Speech or debate first? A guide for parents of 5th–8th graders
Why most 5th–8th graders should start with speech, the three exceptions, a ten-minute test at the kitchen table, and what a beginner course teaches in what order.
Is my child ready for a speech tournament? A ten-minute check
The four signals a coach listens for before saying yes to a first tournament, a check you can run at home with a phone timer, and what “not yet” means.
How coaches score a speech: the five dimensions, with examples
What each score from 1 to 5 means, what the evidence lines in a report look like, what we deliberately don’t penalize, and what a 3 has to do to become a 4.
The shy kid and public speaking: what works and what backfires
Which kind of class gets a quiet 5th–8th grader talking, which kind pushes them further in, a ten-minute check at home, and what we deliberately don’t score.
Middle-school speech events in plain language
Original Oratory, Declamation, Storytelling, Impromptu: what each is, what a round looks like, what judges reward, which kid it suits, and what a first season looks like.
How to record a speech at home that a coach can actually use
The five-step setup — where the phone goes, what to say first, how long — and the two mistakes that make a take useless no matter how good the phone is.
Middle school speech & debate rubrics (the 1–5 pack)
The five dimensions behind every report your child gets from us — clarity, structure, confidence, content, response to the prompt — with the full band descriptors and notes for Original Oratory, Declamation, Storytelling, and Impromptu.
High school speech & debate rubrics (the 1–5 pack)
The standard our high-school reports are written against: a five-dimension varsity speech rubric plus a pattern-execution rubric for argumentation, with PF, LD, extemp, and interp notes.
110+ impromptu speech prompts (MS & HS, by level and length)
Pick one, set a timer, let your child talk. Fifty middle-school prompts from our practice library, ten medium-level prompts, ten 30-second prompts, competition-style high school draws, and the 1–2–1 format to run them.
18 speech & debate drills that actually transfer
Delivery, structure, and clash drills from our technique library — most run in ten minutes with a phone timer, each with what to listen for.
Public Forum vs Lincoln-Douglas: a first debate format
Team size, topic cadence, judge pools, evidence load, student fit — the same choice a program director and a student both face, side by side.
For students practicing between club meetings
Choose your event for a free drill, a worked feedback example and a suggested practice routine. Explore Event Prep →
Extemporaneous Speaking practice
You have the evidence. Does it answer the question?
Original Oratory practice
You know every word. Is the argument landing?
Impromptu Speaking practice
A new prompt. A clear point. Not a memorized speech.
Informative Speaking practice
You understand the topic. Can your audience follow it?
For coaches
Workflow and program-design notes from running our own speech & debate program.
How to grade 30 speech videos in an afternoon
The batching system our coaches run every week: one watch per video, scores during the pass, timestamped comments — and the honest arithmetic of what it still costs.
A 12-week speech & debate program outline
Two ready-to-run arcs from our own program: beginner foundations (PREP → story → persuade → respond) and a competition season ending in a mock tournament.
How to start a speech & debate club that survives its first season
Recruiting, the weekly session shape, starter events, parent judging, the season calendar — and the feedback-debt trap that kills most first-year clubs.
Want a topic covered — a specific event, a coaching problem, a question you keep asking? Write us at hi@augmindstudio.com.