Saturday, September 29, 2007

Opinion Speech Workshop

Opinion Speech Partnered Workshop

Students completed the Opinion Speech workshop with a partner today. Students took out the begin speeches of their Opinion Speech--including their "new and improved" thesis that does not include the beginning phrase "Today I will GP you that..." See the post for January 03, 2006.

Pre-Speaking Blocks: Brainstorming & Drafting

They also took out their pre-speaking blocks. Common mistakes in checking the work included (1) having a GP that was longer than two words long; (2) having a SP that did not include "so that the audience will" section with the desired audience action; and (3) having underwritten audience analysis statements.

One-on-One Opinion Speech Workshop: Sharing

Students double-checked each others pre-speaking block and worked with each other to discuss his/her topic and each of the five reasons that he/she has arrived at his/her opinion.

We then moved to perhaps the most important part of today's workshop: gathering "personal experience" or "life experience's" of other people (friends, parents, teachers, relatives) that support this opinion.

It is important to realize that this speech is not to be researched on the internet or in books. Instead, it is to be supported with stories and life experiences. This is how most of our daily opinions about everthing from restaurants, movies, books and classes are formed.

Like always, our "filters of perceptions", biases and slants all have an impact on the forming of these opinions.

Homework: Revision/Independent Practice

Students are to choose three of the five reasons that he/she developed and work on supporting those opinions with actual "personal experiences" or "the experiences" of others to prove that the reason(s) that they have chosen are valid. These are to be put in the form of a T-Chart.