NewSPEAK 2026

 Hello friends!

KHSSL is expanding out its offerings for professional development for next year. If you need to earn hours on your own outside of school or just want to come learn with us, we welcome you! KHSSL provides certificates of completion so you can document your hours, and we are officially approved on the Kentucky Department of Education's list of trainings (see here and here).
These trainings will be our NewSPEAK training for rookie coaches this year, so if you have new coaches joining your squads, you'll want to make sure they attend. Also, if you are an experienced coach and just want to come to get the hours and to hang out, please do sign up and come join us. You'll get a good refresher and hopefully can chime in as you like when we discuss areas you already know about! 

Also, many of your schools are getting involved with various initiatives where students are required to present their learning as part of a Portrait of a Learner or a Portfolio or a Portrait of a Graduate with Capstone presentations. Students need specific training how to give speeches (see my argument for it here in a 2020 Rostrum article). Teachers at your schools who aren't the speech coach might benefit mightily from the three-hour SMALL TALK presentation. I could even come to your school system to go through it if you like. Such raised awareness might mean more support for you and your programs, more willingness to offer a speech course at your school, etc.

KHSSL will offer the following two trainings with Wyatt Debate League offering a third on the following two dates.  

• Tuesday, July 14, in Louisville at Valley High School
• Saturday, October 10, in Lexington at SCAPA Middle School

• SMALL TALK  -- offered 8:30 to 11:30 AM Eastern time both days. Steve Meadows,   Executive Director of the Kentucky High School Speech League, Instructor  

Want to train your students to succeed in their Presentations of Learning?

Does your Portrait of a Learner include strong communications skills, grit, the ability to listen and to self-advocate?

Then your students need direct instruction and practice in those skills.

This workshop helps you get started.

With culprits to blame from COVID to texting, many students have an even harder time with public presentations now than they ever did before remote
learning took away some of their developmental practice being around other students.

This three-hour workshop raises awareness for instructors about the psychology of communication apprehension and assists teachers in
redesigning existing units to include small victories in communication for students to foster growth.

• MIND OVER CHATTER -- offered 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern time both days. Steve Meadows, Executive Director of the Kentucky High School Speech League, Instructor

This workshop, focused on competitive speech events, is deigned to develop student voice through competitive speech and debate in Kentucky
and around the country. In this overview, teachers and coaches and administrators learn how contests work in Kentucky and how to start up competitive speech and
debate teams. Instructors make concrete plans to get teams started as the second part of this workshop or how to jump up to the next level if already established.

• DEBATE FOR DUMMIES -- offered 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern time both days. Pedro Sanchez-Villa, Executive Director of the Wilson Wyatt Debate League, Instructor

This introductory workshop for anyone interested in teaching and coaching debate will outline the basics of constructing cases and arguments, flowing, evidence rules and best practices, 

and will make participants aware of the four types of debate run for contests in Kentucky: Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Congressional, and Extemporaneous. Coaching teams

and managing tournaments and practices will also be components of the workshop.

Registration Information for the NewSPEAK sessions listed above can be found here:  www.kyspeak.org/newspeak   Workshop fees for both are $25 each; if attending two, $40 total. Snacks but not lunch will be provided.

More advanced and specific study in speech and debate coaching (plus six hours more of professional development credit) can be obtained at the annual SPEAK conference, which will be held at the University of Kentucky on October 17. National Federation of High Schools National Coach of the Year, Neomia Hagans Flores of Lexington's Dunbar High School, will be the keynote speaker andthe Lead Teacher for the conference, which will feature six hours of workshops, speeches, panel discussions, and opportunities for networking with all the coaches and teachers who participate in the contests of the Kentucky High School Speech League, the Wilson Wyatt Debate League, the National Speech and Debate Association, and the National Catholic Forensic League, the four co-sponsors ofthe annual conference -- the Speech Professional Education Alliance of Kentucky (SPEAK).  www.kyspeak.org for more information and registration. Attendance fees will be $40 including lunch; new coaches whose schoolsare members of KHSSL will have their fees paid by the League so they can attend for free.