by Greg Cunningham

How teachers and students are making the virtual classroom work

“It doesn’t have to be perfect to be good.”

With this soothing mantra we began the first ever season of the Massachusetts Speech and Debate League during which all tournaments would be held online with students performing from home using video cameras. We quickly found that each tournament takes much more preparation than in-person tournaments, and nothing about them is easy. But something is preferable to nothing; and when students, coaches and league administrators work together, we know that even if the tournaments are not perfect, they provide an outlet for students to improve their public speaking skills and to craft and share their messages.