Speech

Old Assignments: Weeks 17 - 20

Week 22

Monday
2/8 Write about an important decision that you’ve made. Describe the situation, the pros and cons, what process you went through to decide, what your decision was, and whether you think you made the right decision.

Tuesday
2/9 Answer question #8 about the meaning of "A Poison Tree." Read "The Road Not Taken" several times and write a paragraph reflecting on the poem. Remember that the poem is not titled "The Road Less Traveled."

Wednesday
2/10 Finish answering the questions on "The Road Not Taken" and update your paragraph interpreting the meaning of the poem. Print out your song lyrics if you have not done so already.

Thursday
2/11 Work on the first draft of your poetry essay. First drafts will be due the Tuesday after we return from the February break.

Friday
2/12 Read in your IR book—read a lot if you got behind from speech practice over the last few weeks. Take a reading quiz when you return from February break. Enjoy your time off.

Week 21

Monday
2/1 Practice delivering your speech. Now that you know the entire speech really well, focus on your delivery. Practice emphasizing key words, pausing, and gesturing. Practice in front of the mirror or someone who will give you feedback on your delivery. If for some reason you still do not know the content of your speech really well, make sure you get that down tonight.

Tuesday
2/2 Continue working on delivering your speech. Practice pausing, adding emphasis, speaking loudly and clearly, appearing interested, and gesturing. Final delivery on Thursday.

Wednesday
2/3 Finish practicing your speech. You will deliver it to the entire school tomorrow. Remember, the best way to feel confident tomorrow is to be over prepared. Know your speech perfectly.

Thursday
2/4 No homework!

Friday
2/5 Read in your IR book—read a lot if you got behind from speech practice over the last two weekends.

Week 20

Monday
1/25 Continue learning your speech. Make sure you know the first 2 pages of your speech by Thursday, January 28th.

Tuesday
1/26 Continue working on delivering your speech. Practice pausing, varying your intonation, speaking loudly and clearly, and memorizing your speech.

Wednesday
1/27 Finish learning the first 2 pages of your speech.

Thursday
1/28 Continue working on your speech. Make sure you learn your entire speech by Monday, February 1. Work on your delivery techniques.

Friday
1/29 Read in your IR book and finish learning all of your speech. You will deliver your entire speech to the class on Monday, February 1st.

Week 19

Tuesday
1/19 Work on revising and writing the final draft of your speech, due Thursday.

Wednesday
1/20 Finish the final draft of your speech. Due tomorrow.

Thursday
1/21 Complete the assignment on “A Dream Deferred.” See the link for details. Write a paragraph interpretting Hughes' main point in "Mother to Son."

Friday
1/22 Read in your IR book and finish learning the first page of your speech. You will deliver your opening to the class on Monday.

Week 18

Monday
1/11 Work on the first draft of your speech, due Wednesday. Remember to think about your speech length. If you want your speech to be about 5 minutes, write about 3 pages, 10 minutes = 6 pages (or a little less).

Tuesday
1/12 Finish writing the first draft of your speech. Due tomorrow.

Wednesday
1/13 Finish reading your IR book if you have not done so already. Most IR tests must be taken this week. You may take a test on a single book on Tuesday the 19th if you can’t get everything done this week. Schedule your book tests today. Start working on the second draft of your speech, due Friday.

Thursday
1/14 Based on peer editing comments and your own ideas, revise and write the second draft of your speech. Due tomorrow.

Friday
1/15 Finish up your Independent Reading if you have not done so already. Tuesday is the last chance for a final book test.

Week 17

Monday
1/4 Begin researching for this year’s speech contest topic: Universal Health Care: How Will it Affect Us? Go to the GoogleDoc and browse articles there first, then move on to researching on your own. Be sure to get facts, statistics, and general information only from reputable sources and not from random websites. Your speech will be much stronger when you quote CNN or Time Magazine rather than wisegeek.com, Universal Health Care Action Network.org, or Bill O’Reilly’s blog. If you’re looking for opinions or thought-provoking quotations, a blog or politically aligned source is fine, but when you’re looking for facts, do the best you can to get information from neutral sources. See the GoogleDoc for examples. Bring in your highlighted articles. Schedule an IR test this week if you can. Otherwise, finish up your reading ASAP. All tests must be taken by next week.

Tuesday
1/5 Continue researching for your speech. Bring in all the highlighted articles that you read yesterday and today to class tomorrow. Read in your IR book if you haven’t finished yet.

Wednesday
1/6 Continue researching. Begin finding the article you need for your particular angle. Bring in your highlighted articles.

Thursday
1/7 Continue researching and finish your IR books.

Friday
1/8 Work on writing the first draft of your speech and finish up your Independent Reading if you have not done so already. First drafts are due Wednesday. Schedule your IR test for next week if you have not done so already.

Monday
2/4 Finish learning the words to your speech. Be prepared to deliver your entire speech to the class tomorrow.

Wednesday
2/6 Work on the delivery of your speech. Practice varying your intonation, pausing, gesturing, and adding emphasis when necessary. Say your speech in front of your family or the mirror. Work on the 4 Ps: Poise, Pausing, Power, and Passion. You will deliver your entire speech again tomorrow.

Friday
2/8 Keep practicing your speech and be ready to deliver it to the entire school on Monday morning. Invite your parents to come see you :)