Textbook Resources

Speak Up!

Speak Up! is a primer for beginning and intermediate students participating in class and contest debates. Designed to support the Public Debate Program, it offers students clear, concise information on public speaking and debating. Combining the practical and theoretical, the text teaches students about verbal and nonverbal communication, how to research and present an argument, how to answer arguments, how to develop debate strategies and how to conduct a formal debate. Exercises following each section give students hands-on experience with each topic.

Is Nuclear Power Safe?

The aim of these books is to teach students how to think not what to think. By providing case studies, historical context and individual opinions, but not a specific right and wrong, these books encourage readers to think and express themselves independently. Each topic also acts as a springboard for a discussion of related issues. A range of viewpoints encourage critical thinking, and simple activities and exercises provide practical advice and examples of critical and creative thinking skills. They include a mixture of text types, including recounts, reports discussions and persuasion texts.

On That Point!

An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate

This is the first parliamentary debate textbook for secondary school students. The text is designed to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for effective participation in parliamentary debate in competition or in the classroom. It provides comprehensive instruction, offering a review of argument construction and extension, case development, refutation of argument claims and evidence, and persuasive speaking. The text includes sample arguments, debate tactics, and practice exercises of value to both novice and experienced debaters.

More Textbooks

  • Speak Up! Debate and Public Speaking in High School (HSPDP) (includes middle school information), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2015

  • Has the Civil Rights Movement Been Successful? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2009

  • Can Earth Support Our Growing Population? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008

  • Is There Other Life in the Universe? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008

  • Is Genetic Research a Threat? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008

  • Is Nuclear Power Safe? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008

  • Should We Ever Negotiate with Terrorists? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008

  • Is Homework a Waste of Time? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008

  • Is Television a Bad Influence? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008

  • Speak Out! Debate and Public Speaking in the Middle Grades (MSPDP), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2005

  • On That Point! An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate (CHSSA high school parliamentary), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2003

  • Art, Argument and Advocacy, Mastering Parliamentary Debate (College – NPDA/WUDC-BP), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2002