You assignment this week is to create a comprehensive outline for your planned speech, and I will show you how I would complete this in the following blogpost. I will first lay out the steps I would take, then go into detail on each before finally showing what the final version of my homework would look like.
Come up with a topic, problem, or event that I feel passionate about
Complete the SOAPStone part of the homework
Decide on a format based on how most people view my issue and identify arguments I will make.
Try to think of some clever rhetorical devices
STEP ONE
My Brainstorm
Black lives matter/All lives matter, Syrian refugee crisis, oppositionalism in congress, student apathy, teenage depression, bullying, Apple/FBI encryption issue, Supreme Court Judge nomination, cost of mobile phones, cost of videogames, importance of handshake, raising children to question authority, importance of leisure reading, news bias
First I need to think about an issue I feel passionately about so I begin with a brainstorm of topics, which I have included. Of all these ideas, the one I think I most want to talk about is the issue of student apathy. I choose this one not because I am most passionate about it, but because it is a topic that is often ignores or overlooked. I also feel like most of the issues are being discussed so loudly in our culture that adding my voice might not add very much; speaking about an overlooked topic like student apathy makes my voice - and speech - potentially more powerful and effective.
STEP TWO
I need to complete a SOAPStone next, so I do. I'll make comments on the right about what I was thinking (in italics), where relevant.
I identify who I am in relation to the issue and how that gives me reason to speak
Speaker: I will be speaking as a concerned educator, someone that has taught long enough to see the behavior I'm talking about first hand
This focuses on the specific reason I stand to deliver a speech and why I am compelled to speak on this issue at the moment.
Occasion: This speech is especially important now because we are nearing the final quarter of the 2015-16 school year and I am seeing this behavior in many students. This is an important time to reach students and get them to make a change. This is a speech I might deliver during an assembly, or during the upcoming open house.
I try to consider who my specific, primary audience is and who else might hear word of it as well. Sometimes this secondary audience is just as important as the primary.
Audience: My audience is students in general, but to some degree I specifically want to appeal to my actual students. I may also consider parents as a secondary audience, as they may hear about what I've said through their children. If delivered at the open house, this would be delivered directly to those parents.
This is an opportunity to ensure that I know the action that I want my audience to take and to note any additional, ancillary purposes.
Purpose: I want to create a connection with my students that ultimately results in them making improvements to their academic behavior. This is not my only goal, however. I also want my students to understand that they have my support and that I do not blame them for their apathy, even if I want them to improve.
Subject: The subject is the apathy that students may be feeling toward school during this point in the school year and how that may be negatively affecting their education.
Tone is really important; with the wrong tone, my audience might totally ignore what I say or why I am saying it. I try to write both what I want from my tone and what I don't.
Tone: It is really important that I do not come off sounding like a condescending adult, or that I am not being genuine. I need students to know that I am sincere, supportive, and here to help. My tone must convey that I the issue is serious, although I may use some humor to connect to my audience if possible (there is a limit to how serious teenagers want to think at any one moment).
STEP THREE
Structurally, I know that I cannot start with my claim. No matter how good my rapport with students, I am confident that teenagers of all generations tend to take less seriously anything that begins with "I know what you are going through" if an adult is saying it. (The specific phrase doesn't need to be used, just the sentiment.) With this in mind, I want to start by making my position and my experience more relatable, as this should help with my credibility, so I will begin with an anecdote of my own high school career. Now that I know how I want to start, I can outline my planned structure.
Opening
Begin with an anecdote of my own experience that connects to the issue. Try to present my experience as similar to that of my audience, but do not explicitly say this out loud; I want my student to make this connection, and it cannot be forced.
Make it clear that this kind of behavior is my subject, but do not introduce my claim
Evidence
Use evidence that shows how my experience is a common one. Evidence might include:
Statistics on how common the issue is
News articles on the subject
Personal accounts of others with the same experience, especially if they are well known to students
Counterclaim
Teenagers often receive pressure while they are already struggling with this issue, so I want to respond to those concerns next.
My opponents might say that success in college or in a career is related to early success in high school.
My opponents might also suggest that life only gets harder and learning to "get over it" is necessary.
Use evidence that might show that this problem can be blown out of proportion as a response to the opposition
This single anecdote is weak evidence, so find details that support the reasoning that student apathy in high school doesn't necessarily impede success later in life.
If I find evidence about well known figures having this same experience, I might point to those figures success (do NOT focus on non-successful figures)
Evidence
Return to my own personal experience
Show how my high school behavior affected me later in life and what my experience was in college (especially how different it was).
Conclusion & Claim
I want to wrap up my conclusion by making an emotional connection with my audience that will make my claim and call to action more effective.
I will introduce a claim that student apathy is natural but can be overcome.
I will close with a call to action that students should reach out. Overcoming apathy by yourself is hard, but involving someone else with just a brief comment is like ripping off a bandaid.
STEP FOUR
The last step is to try to come with some clever uses of language that will enhance my speech. I try to make a list of some brainstorming I do. I may not use many (or any) of these.
Allusions to well-known figures and their experience.
Aphorisms
Fixing a problem is easier when you realize that having a problem isn't the problem.
A single small step forward is still a step in the right direction.
We get to choose what actions we take.
Anaphora
I think making use of a phrase like "there is a moment" or "a single moment" might be effective.
Repetition of "don't let..." might emphasize the significance of innaction
Alliteration
"single small step"
didn't have a "perfect plan"
things I would "never need"
Juxtaposition
Don't have any ideas at the moment. Maybe putting high school life next to adult life?
Rhetorical questions
No ideas just yet.
So that is how I would do it. The homework I would turn in is essentially steps 2-4, although without all the commentary I put in for your benefit. It may be that my work is more comprehensive than what you do, and that is just fine! Keep in mind that I have been in school for a long time and so I am more practiced at completing these kinds of things. If you have any questions, you can ask directly in the comments section below. Also let me know if there is anything I did (or didn't do) that could be changed to make this more effective.
Good luck.
(Originally Published Feb 26th, 2016)