Derek Davis is an NSDA Three Diamond Speech and Debate coach and Director of Forensics for the highly successful Alief Kerr Debate team. Mr. Davis has taught English, Social Studies, and Speech and Debate classes for more than 28 years, including 23 years at Kerr. He started the AP Human Geography course at Kerr and has taught and written the curriculum for every Social Studies course. He currently teaches Sociology, as well as Psychology and AP Psychology.
Mr. Davis has judged and coached competitive debate at local, state, national, and even international levels during his career. Kerr competitors have consistently qualified for UIL & TFA State and NIETOC, TOC, & NSDA national competitions. The Kerr team has ranked in the top 10% of the nation consistently during this time. Along with competitive speech and debate, Davis has coached winning Academic Current Events & Social Studies teams for UIL State, including multiple State Champions, and finalists. Mr. Davis believes that anyone can and should learn how to compete in forensics activities in order to find their own voice in life.
Mr. Davis has also held many leadership roles in the educational and debate community, multiple teacher of the year nominations, and currently is a member of the Space City NSDA Committee, AISD Speech Team Lead, UIL 6A Region 3 Regional Advisory Committee, and UIL 23 6A Committee & CX Director. He believes that once you find your voice, you should lead and that is the goal of his interactions with all students.
Degrees and Certifications:
Bachelor of Arts in History, with a Political Science Minor (Texas A&M); certifications in Social Studies, English, ESL, and Speech