VBI Curriculum

This year we are offering a new range of curricular options for debaters.

Anchor Sessions

Session I (July 11-24, 2010)
VBI Session I is our flagship institute. We bring together a wide-range of staff that include former successful debaters and championship coaches. Debaters of all ranges attend the first Session. In addition to labs that range from Novice to a top-lab that has consistently been dominant in winning national championships, we also give students the ability to create their own curriculum by using our module system. Each day students will have between 6 or 7 options of modules they can attend. Modules will focus on anything from Philosophy, to Foreign Affairs, to Debate Strategy, to actual Drill Sessions.

Session II (August 8-21, 2010)
VBI Session II has grown to be virtually as large as our Session I flagship. The focus of the first week of the session is to integrate the skills/drills program (mentioned below) while also providing students the opportunity to take multi-session seminars that focus on academic arguments that are common in LD debate. During the second week, we shift focus to work exclusively on the Sept/Oct NFL resolution, which is released on August 15.

Elements of both Session I and Session II:
Labs
Lab is the students’ “home base” of VBI. Students not only learn from their lab leaders; they learn from each other in an intimate setting, and inter-lab competitions foster lab loyalty. A major benefit of VBI’s size and experience is that each lab can be narrowly tailored to a particular skill range. Students learn on an equal playing field and push each other to succeed. Labs feature built-in time to review modules, demonstration debates, and practice rounds, ensuring that no student falls through the cracks.

Modules

Mentors

Skills Seminar

In addition to our Anchor Sessions, we have also added new Week-long tracks that will take place between Session I and Session II. You can find out more information at the Focus-Track Week Page.