The Three C’s
Jessica Lew-Munoz is in her fourth year as a high school math teacher at Downtown College Prep (DCP) El Primero High School in San Jose.
This school predominantly serves a Latinx student population. Founded in 1999 as the first charter school in Santa Clara County, DCP El Primero High School opened its doors in Fall 2000 with a single mission: to prepare first-generation college students for college success. She teaches Integrated Math I, which is predominantly for 9th graders, and also serves as the Head of the Math Department.
Jessica never participated in Speech and Debate in high school. She was an introvert in high school, and couldn’t envision herself participating in such a club because she did not believe that she possessed the academic and social skills or confidence to be successful in that arena. It also felt intimidating because that club was known to be full of high-achieving students and she could not see herself in that group at that time in her life.
“However, years later, as a teacher, when I saw the job posting in our staff’s weekly newsletter, I finally possessed the confidence and belief that I did possess the academic and social skills to lead this club. Although I had no direct experience with Speech & Debate, I believe that my analytical training in mathematics with writing logical proofs and my speaking abilities that have been developed through my experience with teaching and serving as the captain of my college’s women’s rugby team prepared me well enough to be a coach of the Speech & Debate team,” reflected Jessica. “What also helped with making that decision was that I was not going to be leading this team alone. Two other teachers at DCP would also be serving as co-coaches and we would be splitting the responsibilities with each other. Also, I knew that we had strong support from our veteran debate students who could help the novice debaters.”
Since then, Jessica has been a coach for the team for the past 3 years. During her first two years as coach, she supported the students who competed in Impromptu Speech by playing games to get students used to speaking for a long period of time about a random given topic. She also taught students how to structure their speeches so that they flowed and transitioned smoothly, and provided individualized feedback to help students grow their writing and speaking abilities. Over the past two years, both co-teachers and veteran students departed DCP. During her third year, it was her first time having the responsibility of supporting the entire team, including the debate side. That third year was a big learning year because she really needed to develop a thorough understanding of the basics of policy debate and the year’s resolution.
“I strongly believe that I have developed into the coach I am today with the support of my colleagues and peers,” shared Jessica. “Our school’s mission is to prepare first-generation college students for college success. SVUDL supports this mission by providing the resources we need to be able to run a successful program that gives students the opportunity to build college-ready skills, such as being able to analyze and solve complex problems, research information and evaluate evidence, and speak in public settings.”
Jessica identifies SVUDL Program Specialist Rachel Zubrin as one of the most valuable resources on her team. Rachel joins in-person practices and helps coach the debaters. Together, they have supported students in developing their own core files, as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills. They also help them to hone their collaboration and communication abilities.
“Every year I am excited to see how our club will continue to grow in terms of numbers, strength, and opportunities. When I first started coaching, we started off with 2 policy debaters and 2 speakers. Then, over the years, we have slowly grown in size, and we now have 10 club members. All are competing in Policy debate. I am also excited to see how our Policy debaters, particularly our novices, will grow next year after having a year of debate under their belts. I am also hoping to see that our veteran debaters continue our tradition of mentoring the novices as this cycle of sharing knowledge develops relationships amongst club members and increases club retention rates. Next year, I hope we can branch out into other forms of debate and explore public form, Lincoln Douglas, or parliamentary debate as well as get students involved again in Speech,” said Jessica.
Jessica knows that maintaining a strong team is challenging as it requires students to devote a lot of work outside of school hours. They have to learn new material, jargon, and structure. “It’s scary to join a club where you don’t know anyone. I am trying my best to implement strategies to remove these barriers by having a mentorship program among veteran and novice debaters to encourage socialization. I try to provide scaffolding as needed to support students in creating core files and understanding the research, particularly for our neuro-diverse students who may have difficulties with reading. Therefore, I look forward to continuing to create a more inclusive and accessible space so all students can have the opportunity to participate and enjoy their experience in speech and debate,” said Jessica.
Jessica recognizes that the skills students are learning in Speech and Debate are invaluable and will set them up for success in college and beyond. Not only are they learning practical skills such as being able to conduct research and evaluate the reliability and validity of a source, as well as to create and analyze an argument, but they are also putting these skills into use to analyze issues that are prevalent in today’s society.
“My Policy debaters are practically conducting a year-long inquiry project each season as they draft a core file, put it to the test in tournaments, and constantly revise their file until they achieve success. I hope that by practicing this process of research, analysis, and revision now through the space of speech and debate, my students can be better prepared to tackle any obstacle and make the best decision possible whether in college or in the workforce as an adult,” said Jessica.
Jessica hopes that based on her teachings from Santa Clara University, through Speech and Debate, students can take the skills and experiences they have gained to become competent, conscious, and compassionate citizens within their community.
“I believe students can achieve the three C’s through Speech and Debate as they learn how to conduct research to build their competence on an issue; analyze the validity, reliability, and ethicality of an argument to build their conscience related to the issue; and listen and understand how particular issues can affect a community, hence building their compassion, empathy, and concern for others. By competent, conscious, and compassionate citizens, I hope they can take these skills and values to educate others, to make informed decisions, and advocate for change,” shared Jessica.
Speaking of change, the world feels particularly uncertain right now. What began as a palpable uptick in anxiety and stress during the pandemic has continued and even accelerated. Tolerating that constant uncertainty is a skill set students and adults are constantly working on refining.
“Uncertainty arises when you feel helpless surrounded by so many unknowns. Speech and Debate helps students build resilience and the opportunity to learn strategies to uncover these unknowns by conducting their own research, evaluating an argument, and creating their own opinion. Speech and Debate provides students with tools to combat this sense of helplessness, and hopefully encourage them to take action in the end,” said Jessica.
During the pandemic, it was difficult to recruit students to join the club due to low student attendance during distance learning; lack of access to a distraction-free work environment at home; demanding responsibilities like taking care of other siblings; and overall low morale and motivation.
“Even the small group of club members that we were able to recruit during the pandemic experienced similar situations making their performance and productivity inconsistent throughout the season. As coaches, we tried to support their social-emotional well-being by offering them a space to come together and talk about anything ranging from YouTube videos to playing a game to forget about what was happening in the world. Sometimes we needed to pretend life was back to normal. Other times, we couldn't escape reality, and we shared our thoughts about current events, like Black Lives Matter, COVID, and January 6th,” remembered Jessica.
“This all goes back to what I love about Speech and Debate: the community. I love being able to have conversations with students and hear their perspective on what’s happening in the world. Their profound insights and thoughtful analysis of current events gives me hope that our world will be in good hands in the future with strong minds like these,” said Jessica.
Jessica is working to increase accessibility to SVUDL by providing resources to support English Language Learners with their Speech and Debate skills, and the opportunity to compete in tournaments.
“This year was the first where I had the privilege of judging a few Impromptu Speech rounds that included Spanish-speaking students. I felt honored to be a part of this experience because it was beautiful to listen to these students weave their life experiences from their home countries into speeches in their native language. As a daughter of a Mexican immigrant and a first-generation college student, it made me feel proud that students coming from a similar background as my mother were given the opportunity and platform to share their stories and perspectives on current issues similar to native English-speaking students. I am excited and hopeful that more students from diverse backgrounds will join Speech and Debate and share their stories, because that’s the beauty of Speech and Debate: it’s a platform to share your voice and perspective. And, in order to be a component, conscious, and compassionate society, we need to be able to hear everyone’s perspective so that we can make informed decisions,” reflected Jessica.
Jessica’s passion for her students and for the broader community served by SVUDL was recently recognized on a national stage! She was named as a Finalist for the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) 2023 Coach of the Year. NAUDL is made up of 22 urban debate leagues and over 11,000 students nationwide. We are honored that Jessica was selected from among the broader network to represent our league. Congratulate Jessica on this momentous accomplishment, reflecting years of commitment to both her school and our league!
