by Donna Iadipaolo
ONE MAN WANTS to change the face of debate and speech activities in Ann Arbor for middle school students. His name is Shawn Batt, and he is the founder of Michigan Speech Outreach (MSO), which began as a Lansing-based organization and is now centered in Tree Town.
“I moved to Ann Arbor from Lansing in 2013,” explained Batt, “so it’s convenient to start here, too.”
Batt is not at all hung up on his title with Michigan Speech Outreach. It is fair to say that he is more focused on the work of MSO and getting kids involved in public speaking.
“There is nothing official about the organization. I say ‘coordinator’ in my emails, but that’s more a role. There are only a few task roles: coordinating, coaching, judging, and networking/promoting. We don’t even have meetings very often, if at all. The whole mission is just to get kids speaking.”
In November, Michigan Speech Outreach with a group of dedicated volunteers, hosted a Middle School Tournament at Ann Arbor Open, which included teams from Forsythe, Open, Clauge, and Slauson Middle Schools. About 45 students from 7 schools in total participated. Students competed within the categories of debate, literature performance, original writer performance, and improvisation.
There will be two more tournaments for the year, one February 2, location to be announced, and one on April 17 at Michigan State University (MSU), hosted by MSU Debate.
“Reduced communication apprehension and improved critical thinking are well documented benefits to participation,” said Batt. “They (students) also find it fun most of the time. It’s an academic activity with real authentic feedback under pressure of competition. I sometimes think the kids who would most benefit are not the ones who come out.”
Michigan Speech Outreach is not a for-profit organization, run entirely by volunteers, whose sole purpose is to promote speech activities for students.
“It’s also not a registered organization of any kind,” describe Batt. “We don’t spend money. We provide free clubs and free competition by drumming up volunteers. That’s it.”
He added that the Ann Arbor Public Schools administrators have been generally receptive to Batt and his team of volunteers to run speech teams at the various schools.
“People generally appreciate,” stated Batt. “Sometimes it’s hard to break through to a principal to get the idea started at a school. For example, I had a volunteer ready to go at a neighborhood school and offered to help start a club there; the principal simply demurred without explanation. However, when familiarity grows, so does appreciation and support.”
Batt also promotes a philosophy that one needed be an expert speech coach to volunteer and help students with speech activities. He would like even more community members to volunteer and help, regardless of their previous background with speech activities.
“It’s important for anyone who can to get involved in the community and to create value wherever they can,” argued Batt. “We can’t have a budget for everything and with increasing and persistent budgetary pressure on schools, it’s safe to say speech and debate won’t be growing without community effort. I like speech and think it’s interesting. I also like kids and working with them and have a lot of experience in this field. It’s also hugely beneficial for kids to get speech training earlier.”
The Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association (MIFA) is also active with some private schools in Ann Arbor. And Batt is not opposed to working with that organization also.
“I don’t mind getting involved a bit with MIFA, but they were non existent in the Lansing area at the middle level when I started this work, and they only recently took up debate at that level,” explained Batt. “It’s unclear how many reasonably accessible tournaments can be had around here within MIFA, but there are a few active schools nearby compared to Lansing where there are none. Since they just started with debate, last year there were not many kids coming out to tournaments at the middle level. I don’t see that they are growing. However, they are doing the same basic sort of work, so I’m friendly toward them. If they get more middle level participation, I’ll support their tournaments more, and if they want to work with me there are no entry barriers to my organization (no fees, no entrenched structures or needless bureaucracy). There are so many schools without speech clubs that I’m pretty sure the MIFA can handle my presence in the space and benefit from it as well.”
In fact, in the past Batt has had his students participate in MIFA events.
“I coach at FMS (Forsythe) and Open, “ explained Batt. “We attended a few tournaments last year with Wines and FMS, and Slauson started up and hosted the first tournament they attended. Teachers are leading the Slauson and Clague teams. It’s really just starting, but there are a lot of middle schools in the area. We did two MIFA tournaments last year, but this year we are probably not. Next year, maybe.”
Batt would like more parent and community participation
“I have a lot of knowledge and experience, so am, paradoxically, in a position to argue with confidence that speech and debate activities needn’t be run by experts,” stated Batt. “There is such a thing as ‘able enough’ and that does not require a credential, only a willingness. Someone needs to be able to read and write and manage children with an even temper. Not a high standard. The key thing is for the ones who can to step up and put a little time in. Volunteers must do a background check with their district, but that’s a non-barrier in most cases. Anyone can coach or help in other ways. If a person likes speech, they should put a little time here.”
Full disclosure: Donna Iadipaolo has volunteered with speech activities coaching and judging for both Michigan Speech Outreach and Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association.