Kimberly Trott's Ninth Grade Persuasive Speeches

The samples below are only rough drafts.  I had a student teacher this semester and did not get to start the project until late in the semester. The final products are not due until May 3rd.  Once I have selected several examples I will go back and update this page with the final selections. 

This is my persuasive speech attempt here.  Persuasive Speech Mars.doc

Student rough drafts:

Student Samples.ppt

Kimberly Trott's Reflections on the Persuasive Writing Unit of Study

This was the actual packet of material I handed out to the students.  I have one Honors class and two College Placement classes.

Persuasive Essay Rubric.doc Persuasive Essay Outline CP VERSION.doc Persuasive Essay Outline.doc Persuasive Directions.doc Conferencing with a Peer.doc Literary Terms 5.doc   Literary Terms 3.doc Persuasive Speech Info.doc

I had dozens of speech samples to select from when creating this unit.   I was trying to find samples that were rich in literary devices and that were actually relevant to my content area.  Next year I will start the unit at the very beginning of the semester and work on noticings as a speeches relating to the content becomes available and by the end of the semester they will create their own. 

For this unit we really focused on two speeches because I was short for time this semester.  I had a student teacher in my room who just finished three weeks ago so I had hate to say it but I had to cram this in.  I chose to use the speeches by Brutus and Marc Antony because we cover Rome in our curriculum and there was a video that presented the speeches also. 

Speech Worksheet 3.rtf Speech Worksheet 2.rtf Speech Worksheet 1.rtf Speech Worksheet 4.rtf Brutus.docMarc Antony Speech.doc

The best part of this is the web site American Rhetoric which has hundreds of speeches online and some of them have visual downloads.  This was great for showing the physical side of giving a persuasive speech.

The next speech we discussed was Marting Luther King's, I Have a Dream.  I selected this speech because it was the richest speech in the use of literary devices.  It was also realitively easy to grasp.  His speech looks to have at least a dozen literary devices within his writing.

Six Minutes Speaking and Presentation Skills I HAVE A DREAM.doc Lesson Plan MLK I Have a Dream.doc

Next time I use the I Have a Dream Speech, after we create the noticings chart,  I am going to make them take there topics and create five examples using selected literary devices that Martin Luther King used and apply it to their topics and have them turn them in just to make sure they understand the concept and how to apply it to their paper.

What I have realized is that it took longer than anticipated for the students to research their topics and longer to type them than expected.  It would be nice to continually work on them every day until they are done but Its hard to devote and find lab time consistently to get this done.  It is important to add alot of accountability check list to the assignment.  Due dates, a rubrics identifing a set number of literary devices you want to see attempted in the speech, and a rubric for verifying that students actually found credible evidence to back up their speeches, not just their opinions is really necessary to have a high quality final product.  I did not have it that detailed this time but will include it the next time.  I have found that unless you mandate it in the paper they will not automatically do it.