Speaking with Schlottman
Where the classroom meets real life.
Communication. Coaching. Life. A space to think deeply about the work of helping people find their voice.
What this place is
This is a space for educators, coaches, and communicators to think, grow, and get better. Not a bio. Not a store. A place to slow down and take the work seriously — the classroom, the coaching, and the human being behind both.
Three sides of the work
Teaching. Coaching. Life.
01
Teach
Classroom strategies and resources for speech, debate, and the everyday craft of communication.
02
Coach
A coaching philosophy built around developing communicators who trust their own voice.
03
Life
Reflections on professional growth and the human side of the work we do.
From the blog
Recent thinking, worth the read.
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What to Do When It Doesn’t Click
Over the weekend, I wrote about the year debate finally clicked for me. Naturally, debate heard that and decided to humble me. Today’s lesson was supposed to be about round mechanics: the 2AC, flowing, extensions, and how arguments move through a round. And honestly, it started really well. I read the 1AC, the first Affirmative…
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The Year Debate Finally Clicked.
When I started coaching debate, I had zero experience. None. I wasn’t a former debater, I hadn’t spent years in the activity, and I didn’t have a deep understanding of policy debate strategy tucked away somewhere in my brain. I was learning it because my students needed me to. That first season, we fumbled through…
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Four Years In, I Finally Feel Like I Have Something to Say
There is a particular kind of confidence that I think only comes from doing the work long enough to stop wondering whether everyone is eventually going to figure out that you have no idea what you’re doing. For me, apparently, that took about four years. When I started teaching, I had plenty of ideas. I…
Resources
A doorway to the classroom.
Let’s keep thinking about this work together.
Follow along, reach out, or just read. Good conversation is the whole point.