Last week my students were required to write a speech for their ELA/Reading Benchmark assessment. The students were to read three passages about the Transcontinental Railroad. The writing prompt asked them to imagine they are the executive of the Central Pacific Railroad company at a ceremony celebrating the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. They are to write a speech to congratulate the workers for all their hard work.
Okay, so great prompt. However, I have only taught my students how to write an opinion, informative, and narrative. I had to come up with an interesting and quick way to teach my students how to write a speech. So, I showed them my favorite speech by a 10 year old kid named Dalton Sherman. He is giving a speech to 20,000 teachers at a back to school conference.
1) What made his speech a good speech?
2) What phrase/words did he repeat?
3) Why did he have a "grabber" introduction and a strong conclusion?
Then we watched clips of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech I Have a Dream.
We discussed what these speeches had in common.
Then, I had my students come to the board and generate a list of what they consider qualities of a great speech.
We also discussed different types of speeches: inspiring, congratulating, motivating, and persuading.
My students practiced writing a speech with the following prompt:
"Do you think that violence on TV effects society by causing people to act more violent? Write a speech persuading your audience to agree with your opinion."
Most of my students were very prepared for the writing prompt on the benchmark assessment. They were able to include evidence from the three passages and added all the things we said made a good speech. :)
