Friday, October 30, 2015

You've Been Drafted, Part 2: October 30, 2015

Focus: How do I form a strong rough draft?

1. Warming up with attention-grabbers: Click HERE to peruse popular TED talks

  • Watch the first 30 seconds of several TED talks. Which attention-grabbers did you like? What ideas can you steal for your own book talk?
  • If you're in need of inspiration, watch one TED talk in its entirety and consider how the speech is organized and how the speaker delivers it compellingly (voice, posture, pace, etc). 

2. Thinking about what needs your attention most right now:
  • Your speech?
  • Your rough draft of the hero's journey essay?
3. Drafting, drafting, drafting away while Ms. Leclaire conferences with Talia, Gabrielle, Ian, Chris, YiRu, Camryn, Morgan, and Louis their Kite Runner journals/annotations

Book Talk Q & A from yesterday:

Question #1: What is this speech supposed to be about? I know I'm supposed to talk about my independent reading book, but...

Here's what it boils down to:
  • What three aspects of your book fascinated you the most?
  • Why?
  • Why should the audience care, too?

Question #2: Am I supposed to summarize my book?
  • You don't need to dedicate a significant portion of your speech to summarizing. Just give us what we need to understand your main points.

Question #3: What should I put on my slides?

Click here for an example of how NOT to use your slides.

My advice:
  • Use them sparingly.
  • Include a title slide.
  • Use them for emphasis or for things you can see but not say, like a picture or video.
  • Proofread them carefully.

HW:
1. For Monday: Finish the first half of your rough draft. For example, if you're discussing The Kite Runner first in your essay, then complete your analysis of your example from The Kite Runner.

2. Draft your speech at least a few days before presenting; this way, you'll have time to practice.

13 comments:

  1. Here's my favorite stanza I wrote in response to Jovan:

    When I dream I am behind the theater curtains,
    peeking around the props and sets
    of plays I thought were finished.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite stanza today was...
    I am a small stain
    The pattern representing my past and the whites around me represent my future
    Just trying to make my mark on history

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite stanza today was:

    When I dream, I am the student that goes to school, the one who succeeds and do better at school even though I am struggling

    ReplyDelete
  4. Power is dangerous but we are all drawn to it
    It is passed down, passed across, and passed on
    We are hopeless with both too much power or none at all

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're the stain that can't be removed
    The stain people try to reject, ignore, forget about. But you're still there

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I dream, I am an athlete that is humble and gracious of his mother who carried her children on her back just so they can stay warm.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If the stars could speak, they would wonder why we don't shine like them.

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  8. When they come for my body the life that I lived was here and gone but the memories of others will eventual dawn.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We are all splashes of red wine on red shirts, never fading away, yet always trying to blend in.

    ReplyDelete
  10. step on up to the circus and see all of the freaks who feel popular, doing things you never could

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am the stain that won't wash out, the stain that is in the dead center of your shirt, the type of stain that will be there forever

    ReplyDelete
  12. My favorite stanza from Jovan is...

    I hear that little bird because that little bird is me
    I was captured, locked away, and they threw away the key
    They never wanted me to live, to fly, to see
    So I turn my face to the sky, and I begin to sing.....

    I like this stanza because it is very powerful and describes his childhood when he was 8

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am a sweat stain,
    Work hard.
    Play harder.

    ReplyDelete