Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders - One Voice at a Time

Instructor: Mr. Heather 

I love words—both written and spoken. I love how words can transport us to another place and time, shape our character, and give power to those who know how to use them well. My love of words and literature began long before I made it my work. While attending The University of Texas at Austin, where I majored in Communications, I found myself taking English classes simply because I enjoyed them. What began as fun electives eventually resulted in an unintended minor in English!

I have a lifelong passion for debate and public speaking. In high school, I competed in Policy Debate all four years, as well as Extemporaneous Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, and
Student Congress. Through these experiences, I learned to think quickly, research thoroughly, construct compelling arguments, and recognize logical fallacies.

When I homeschooled my children, I discovered another passion: teaching others to love English as much as I do. I opened and successfully operated a hybrid homeschool program until the COVID-19 pandemic. Although I taught all subjects, English was always my favorite. My classes incorporated grammar, punctuation, literature, writing, public speaking, and logic. When my daughters began writing their college application essays, I discovered a new niche. After helping my own daughters successfully navigate the process, I began helping other students with their college and graduate school application essays.

For the past ten years, I have had the privilege of tutoring students of all ages, and I can honestly say it has become one of my favorite parts of the day. I have a genuine passion for children and
for helping students discover that they are capable of more than they realize. I look forward to working with your children and helping them develop the skills, confidence, and love of language that will serve them well both in and out of the classroom 

Classes Description:

 Speech I:
Topics: Storytelling
It is the best way to introduce public speaking in a fun, non-threatening way. We will learn the parts of a story and how to structurentheir speech, pacing and presentation, and keeping the story focused. There will be lots of in-class practice and a parent presentation to showcase what the students have learned.

Speech II:
Topics: Middle School Prose & Poetry
This is an introduction to extemporaneous speaking, persuasive speaking, impromptu speaking, and poetry and prose interpretation. We will learn the rules for each competition, and practice preparing and presenting our own speeches. There will be presentation nights for the family and friends of the students.

Speech III

Topics:  High School Prose & Poetry, Extemporaneous Speaking, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, Speech Writing
This class will go deeper into the art of public speaking. We will learn about informative and persuasive speaking and focus on the structure of writing these speeches. We will also delve deeper into performance speaking (extemporaneous, impromptu, and poetry and prose interpretation. This class will prepare students for competitions in high school.

Intro to Public Forum Debate
This class is meant to help students grasp the structure of the Public Forum Debate Round, learn how to execute each speech, and develop critical thinking, analytical, and research skills that assist in tournament wins. Students will research basic global events and compete against each other in class tournaments with personalized feedback for each round they debate.

Advanced Public Forum Debate
This class will focus on advanced analytical skills, logic and recognizing fallacies and mastering flowing. We will research current topics and conduct practice rounds, where each student will receive critique. We will work on speaking style, and learn about managing your judge.

Foundations of the Written Word
This class focuses on the foundations of the English language. We will learn all parts of speech (grammar), punctuation usage and sentence patterns. This is not a writing class but will teach the
foundations needed to become an excellent writer. I offer a section for Elementary children and one for junior/senior high school students.

Poetry
I am on a one-woman mission to revive a love of poetry. We will read a variety of poems and authors and learn how to understand them. We will also learn patterns and rhyming schemes as well as write our own poems.

Instructor: Feliks

Feliks is a junior at Seven Lakes High School and the Varsity Public Forum Captain. He has competed in national-level varsity debate for three years and was a two-time Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifier, earning eight bids at some of the most competitive tournaments in the country. He was also a three-time qualifier to the Texas Forensic Association State Championships, reaching the semifinal round as a sophomore.

Feliks has consistently ranked among the top Public Forum debaters in the nation, with deep elimination-round finishes at premier tournaments such as the Barkley Forum at Emory University, the University of Florida Blue Key Invitational, and the Glenbrooks National Speech and Debate Tournament. He has also been invited to highly selective round-robin tournaments, including the Emory Round Robin, Harvard Round Robin, and the UC Berkeley Round Robin, each of which invites only a small number of the top teams nationally.

In addition to competing, he has three years of experience teaching and mentoring debaters at Seven Lakes, leading practices and instructional lectures and helping teams qualify for state and national tournaments.

Course Description:

Beginner In-Person Lessons (FULL): 

Jan 29- May 14 ( every Thursday ) 

From 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm 

This class is meant to help students grasp the structure of the Public Forum Debate Round, learn how to execute each speech, and develop critical thinking, analytical, and research skills that assist in tournament wins. Students will research basic global events and compete against each other in class tournaments with personalized feedback for each round they debate. 

Instructor: Ishaan

Ishaan is a senior at Seven Lakes High School, who is currently the Congressional Debate Captain. Last year he was the Extemporaneous captain. Ishaan has been speaking and debating for 4 years, and coaching for 3. He has had lots of competitive success, reigning from 5th in the state for Congress, and 7th in the state for Extemporaneous speaking. He has also finalled almost every single National Circuit final round, and is ranked 8th in the country by NSDA. He has accumulated 17 TOC bids across speech and congress, and has been invited to numerous prestigious invitationals. Recently, Ishaan represented his school at UIL State and got 4th place.

Course Description:

This is for students with 0-1 years of experience in Speech and Debate. A public speaking class, delving into 2 separate events, that are the stem of all speech and debate. Learn skills like public speaking, effective research, and most importantly confidence with Extemporaneous speaking. Learn effective argumentation, articulated speaking, and different world topics with Congressional debate. Both events teach a introduction foundation for the rest of the Speech and debate world. Ishaan will reference multiple multiple national champions, and prepare students to win in HS and MS competitions. 

In person: Sunday 9-11 AM starting Jan 18 till End of Semester

Online: Tuesday 5-7 Pm starting Jan 20 till End of Semester