THE PLAN
As you already know, our course will continue online this week. Assuming that we resume classes on Monday, May 18th, my plan simply involves re-arranging our unit. This week you will be working on a creative writing assignment that I had originally scheduled to do right before exams. Then, on the 18th we will resume our study of Hamlet.
So, let’s get right to it. Since March we have been studying acting and drama even though I know that very few of you will go on to become professional actors or playwrights. So why have we spent so much time on this? Because each of us will someday be called upon to speak in public. And because actors are masters of skills like diction and poise that are required to do so well. When you watch Kenneth Branagh’s deliver Hamlet’s soliloquies or Murat Dagli sing The King and I, you are witnessing models of the successful presentations that you will one day give at work.
To prove that learning, you will write the first draft of a speech this week, a speech that WILL be performed in class before you become 11thgraders.
PARAMETERS
TOPIC: Imagine that it is June, 2011 and YOU have been chosen to be the GRADUATION SPEAKER for your class. Write the farewell speech that you would give at the commencement ceremony.
LENGTH: When spoken at a controlled speed, your speech should last 3-5 minutes. As you write the draft this week, time yourself reading it aloud to best judge how many words you will need.
GENRE: As with so many writing assignments, your speech should follow basic essay structure. That is, you should introduce your topic for an intelligent but ignorant audience, make a main point (thesis), defend and develop it, and finally conclude in a way that shows its importance to your reader. Aside from this, feel free to use whatever style best reflects your personality and whatever tone best matches your audience.
GRADING: Points will be assigned in two categories based on the following two questions. First, did you complete the draft a) on time and b) according to these rules? Second, how well did you perform your speech? The first points will be earned this week, the second when we return.
TIMELINE
MONDAY and TUESDAY: Study the directions above, watch the following graduation speech examples, and write any questions that you have on our BLOG as COMMENTS to this post (the same way you have been answering my Hamlet questions). I want questions to be posted publicly so that they can help us all. On Wednesday morning I will check the blog and write answers to your questions.
A very stereotypical graduation speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-wGxf2X6dY&feature=related
A graduation speech that is creative in its style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niRmPBtf9fU
A graduation speech that is creative in it’s content (BTW, Chipotle is a Mexican fast food restaurant in the States … that I love. They sell really big burritos.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30m-zljeJGY&feature=related
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY: Plan and draft your graduation speech. EMAIL your speech to me at paul.gerber@asfg.mx by 10:00pm Thursday night. DO NOT send your speech as an attachment. Instead, COPY and PASTE your speech into the body of an email. I will check your emails. Finally, bring a printed copy with you to class on Monday the 18th.
I look forward to your questions and your speeches.
-Mr. Paul
The last 2 links are the same. Did you intended it like that or is there another video?
ReplyDeleteAurora
when you are writing a graduation speech, can you include anecdotes (1 sentence that just summarizes it) or is it a bad idea since parents are present and they might not get it??
ReplyDeleteSun Young
Sorry about that Aurora. All fixed now.
ReplyDelete-Mr. Paul
Mr. Gerber quite honestly I have never written a speech so about how many words (approx. of course because we all speak at different rates) are we talking about.
ReplyDeletePublio
In order for it to be between 3-5 minutes. ?
ReplyDeleteI have publios same question. And could you also give us tips on how to write a speech because I have no idea how I am supposed to write one. The example are more useful for the presentations than for the writing. HELP!!!
ReplyDeleteMacarena
Sun Young,
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, keep your AUDIENCE in mind. Short ... long ... it does not matter so long as your thought in understandable. These speeches -- and wedding toasts too -- go wrong when their writers fill them with what we call "inside jokes" that only a few people can understand.
-Mr. Paul
Publio,
ReplyDeleteI have no answer to that question, particularly because it's part of the assignment, just like it was in the research paper. Start by writing a bit at and then read the piece out loud at a slow and controlled tempo with a clock nearby. You'll quickly begin to feel how much you can read in a minute, etc.
Mr. Paul
Maca,
ReplyDeleteAs the 3 examples show, the content of a graduation speech is quite open. Your job is to provide closure to the years you have spent at your school. The stereotypical speech walks through the 4 years of High School recounting growth and lessons learned. More creative speeches typically focus on a single aspect of school life and learning that could never ... and will never be forgotten.
Really, try to imagine that actually have to do this. It's your 5 minutes on the microphone and the audience HAS to listen to you.
-Mr. Paul
MR. Can we be fuuny?
ReplyDeleteAlex Verlage
Mr. Gerber I did not think of this question until I actually got to writing it right now..... how am I supposed to pose and prove a thesis in a speech???.... I am lost... I feel like I could talk 5 minutes but I o not know how I am supposed to write a thesis and prove it inside a speech. I feel like it is going to turn out boring that way... fo example.. what was the first speech's thesis?
ReplyDeleteI loveeeee Chipotle's
ReplyDelete