Good morning, decathletes! Please accept my sincere apologies for not posting an assignment last week...I was out of town and unexpectedly had no internet access. But, onward and upward! For this week, please note that you should have now read ALL of Part One of Dr. Zhivago, if that wasn't clear before, I am making it clear now :).
Your assignment this week goes back to that other event we had discussed this summer...SPEECH. Your assignment is to write and post here your speech's introduction. You should have already chosen a topic, if not, see the previous speech assignment and choose one. A speech is really nothing more than a spoken essay, so tap into all those years of essay-writing I know you all have under your belts; just remember that this is a spoken essay, so it has to be even more interesting! Your introduction should include:
-an attention-grabber: you need to hook the judges, so this could be a story, a fact, something odd that makes them want to continue listening to you. What you want to avoid: "Today I am going to talk about...".
-A road map of where you are going: kind of like that ever-dreaded-by-students thesis statement in an essay...tell your listeners where you are going so that they can follow along.
Your introduction, when read aloud slowly, should take about 30 seconds.
You can search YouTube for Academic Decathlon nationals speeches and see winning examples, or just use your own creativity. Remember, you want to be memorable and interesting in your speech, and that starts with hooking the judges in with your introduction. If you can't grab their attention in the first 30 seconds of your speech, it will be very difficult to grab it later, so this is the most important part.
At the end of the week, come back and comment to your teammates' posts and help them make their introductions more fascinating.
I am only asking for introductions this week, but know that I will be asking for the entire speech relatively soon, so if you get into a speech-writing groove and want to write the whole thing before school starts, I am certainly happy to read and help with that too!
Just the intro:
ReplyDeleteWhen we think about success, we picture people like Bill Gates and Michael Jordan, J.K. Rowling and Madonna, Mozart and Benjamin Franklin. All of them got somewhere in life and contributed something to the world, but do we ever ask ourselves how? Do we ever look past their lasting images and wonder what it took for them to make it? They had to have failed at some point in their careers, multiple times. There had to have been critics, opponents, competitors, rivals. No pain, no game, right? They all had to press on through the rough parts of life in order to evolve and learn, starting with the end in mind and committed to what they began. But that doesn't have to apply to only the successful people we see today - through programs like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), anyone can begin something new, commit to it, and achieve their goals.
Maria, this is great! I love how you talk about how even really successful people make mistakes and have worries. This is very true and I think people often forget this.
DeleteI am so intrigued by this NaNoWriMo. I can't believe I'd never heard of it before you chose it as your topic.
Maria, great work! I might suggest that you change your opening just a little and maybe tell the story of one of those successful people you talk about. What do you think?
DeleteHave I successfully recruited you to NaNo kingdom, Scout? :P It's great that you're interested - you should check it out for this year, I think you'll really enjoy it.
DeleteThanks, Mrs. Taylor, I was hoping to edit my intro to add a little more punch to it. I'll just have to figure out which person to focus on.
Did you know that about 5 million cats and dogs are killed in shelters each year? That's one about every six and one half seconds. Only 25 percent of dogs and 24 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are ever adopted. Euthanasia is not a good solution to deal with overpopulation of pets. Only about 15 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. Could you imagine your pet getting lost and never finding them again? In six years one unspayed female and her offspring, can reproduce 67,000 dogs.
ReplyDeleteAnna, great hook! For an emotional topic like yours, starting off with a statistic is one of the best ways to begin. The only suggestion I could think of right now is grouping together all your facts and maybe adding on to your thesis (possible solutions other than euthanasia? You can talk about that, too).
DeleteWow, I didn't know any of these facts. 67,000 dogs! That's crazy :o Nice job, Anna. I like informative speeches :)
DeleteGreat statistics, Anna! Are you going to suggest a solution other than euthanasia, as Maria suggested, or is your thesis just that we ought to be adopting more animals from shelters? Are you going to address spaying/neutering? Puppy mills? Great start and I'm interested to hear where you're going with it.
DeleteImagine a world where you can know every single detail about a person's life without ever interacting with them face to face. Imagine a world where you can relive the fun you had on that vacation and share it with everybody you know. Imagine a world where you can communicate with people you would never be brave enough to talk to in person. About one in seven people on the planet, have a facebook account. This world is our reality. Social media is a phenomenon that is continuously shaping our society. It has forever changed the way in which humans interact with each other socially..... but for better or for worse?
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I like your foreboding rhetorical question at the end...how will you answer it? Good job, Scout!
DeleteI agree, that last question in particular already has me interested in where you're going with your speech. Something else I noticed was how you started off with having us picture this seemingly futuristic world, only to reveal that this is OUR world. Great job, Scout!
DeleteFair warning, Speeches are not my strong point, but I am working on improving my skills!
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Roller derby is a sport rapidly increasing in popularity. Many people like it for the sport alone, but I like it for a different reason. I like roller derby because of how strong and independent, and diverse the women participating are. I have always believed that women, especially in this day and age, should be proud and strong, and take advantage of the fact we have our own rights now, unlike our ancestors, and that diversity is an important part of society. And the diversity in Derby is amazing! Girls of any different races and personality types come together withuot conflict in this fun sport!
Jordan, I love the enthusiasm of your intro! The only thing I know about roller derby is from the Whip It trailer. :P But I can tell you're talking about something you're passionate about - you mention how it demonstrates the strength and diversity of all women. As a suggestion, it would be great if you started off your intro by listing some of the conflicts women had to face. I'm definitely interested to hear more about your speech!
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