The New York Sophist

Here tonight at the dorms in Maribor, Slovenia after the first day of the tournament. Going sort of average for the teams so far, but I hope they rest tonight and concentrate tomorrow. It’s a hard thing to do when you are in a very nice eastern European city with a fine blanket of snow on it.

So the tournament is into the elimination rounds tomorrow, and we did not break but at least we have identified some things to work on for the next tournament.

And also I haven’t accomplished anything on my to-do list while I was out here. This is a great workshop but I really should spend a bit more time in front of this screen.

The tournament was great, all the students performed better than they did in practice debates in the workshop, and the town is quite nice. Just got back from the break party and it was a good time. Now for my favorite part of the day – sleep!

On Friday I leave with a small group of students for my third trip to Slovenia for the International Debate Academy.

It’s definitely a good time, and I always look forward to the multiple teaching challenges that it presents. As Tuna mentioned in his debate blog yesterday, he and I will be offering some insight on the event.

This year I hope to do some videoblogging from it to give a different perspective. There will be some discussions, lectures and activities, but also some one-on-one casual conversation, some student interviews and some commentary from me as well. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this ambitious idea during the IDAS whirlwind.

We’ll see if it works out – It seems like a good idea, but IDAS is so intense that there is often little time to look around and take stock of what’s going on – there are so many ideas in the air it can be a bit overwhelming at times.

Nevertheless, I hope to offer some perspective from on the ground for you reading about it at home. Perhaps after that you will decide to join us next year . . .