Debate Self- Evaluation

This week for your blog you will be evaluating your debate.  Go to your student folder and watch the debate. Then you will write a reflective essay that discusses your individual and  team's performance in the debate. Be sure that you address the following questions in your essay.

1. What do you think you did best in terms of your preparation for and participation this debate?

2. What do you believe you could have done better in your preparations and your debate?

3. How did you feel about the overall performance of the members of your group? Did you work well together and share equally int he preparation for the debate? Explain.

4. If you were to assign an overall point value (110-0) for your participation in this debate what would it be? Why?

5. What did you learn about debate and your topic?

6. What could you have done better as a team and what could you have done better individually?

7.  Anything you would do differently in your next debate?




Be sure to use good writing techniques, including attention to grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.

Judge's Decision Extra Credit

Just a little more practice and a chance for extra credit.  Watch the judge's decision for the death penalty debate.  Write an evaluation similar like the one for the last blog post.

Judge's Decision

Last week we began debate, and we watched the middle school debate banning boxing.  While the kids were still young and some of their arguments not very good, I think it was good to see how a parliamentary debate flows, how points of order work, how heckling works and the speak slow enough they are easy it is easy to take notes.  While I will expect your own debates to be well thought out and mature. I think we can gain some insight into the world of debate by watching these students learn the basic. One reason I have chosen middle school debaters over high school or college, is that debaters tend to talk incredibly fast.  I think while introducing and learning to take notes it is easier to go with a little bit slower speaker, than the more advanced.  However, I encourage you to watch some college and high school debates on Youtube, some are quite good and you can learn a lot about style, argument and how debate works. You all have opinions on the students did on the debate, now you will listen to the judge tell the students how she thinks they did on the debate.  I think she makes a few good points.  I also would like to hear your feedback on what you think not about the topic, that is simply your personal opinion.
Your blog this week will be:
1. Watch the judge's decision and comments.
2. I want you to compare what the judge has to say with what you think about their arguments, refutation, presentation etc.
3. Write your blog telling me what you think about how the students debated compared with what the judge said, use your ideas from number two and write them down.

Eulogy Self Evaluation

Your Eulogy is in your student folder.  Take some time to watch it carefully.  After watching your speech, you need to comment on your speech in several areas. Be specific and thorough. You will not receive full credit for short/one-word answers. I am looking for true analysis and critical thinking.

1. What did you notice about your use of gestures (Did you use them? Did you use enough?
Were they distracting? Did they match what you were saying? Were you needlessly
fidgeting?)?
2. What did you notice about your voice (i.e. volume, tone/vocal variety, rate, etc.)?
3. How did you feel about the content of your speech (Was it interesting? Did it make sense?
Etc.)?
4. What were the strengths of this speech?
5. What were the weaknesses of this speech?
6. What will you work to improve for next time? Here you may also express any final overall
impressions of your speech that you did not discuss in the previous questions. If you wish to
state how successful you were, this is the place to do it.
7. How well did you thank or pay tribute in your speech?

Self Evaluation of Special Occasion Speech

Your Special Occasion Speech is in your student folder.  Take some time to watch it carefully.  After watching your speech, you need to comment on your speech in several areas. Be specific and thorough. You will not receive full credit for short/one-word answers. I am looking for true analysis and critical thinking.

1. What did you notice about your use of gestures (Did you use them? Did you use enough?
Were they distracting? Did they match what you were saying? Were you needlessly
fidgeting?)?
2. What did you notice about your voice (i.e. volume, tone/vocal variety, rate, etc.)?
3. How did you feel about the content of your speech (Was it interesting? Did it make sense?
Etc.)?
4. What were the strengths of this speech?
5. What were the weaknesses of this speech?
6. What will you work to improve for next time? Here you may also express any final overall
impressions of your speech that you did not discuss in the previous questions. If you wish to
state how successful you were, this is the place to do it.
7. How well did you thank or pay tribute in your speech?

Self-Evaluation of Recorded Speech

After watching your speech, you need to comment on your speech in several areas. Be specific and thorough. You will not receive full credit for short/one-word answers. I am looking for true analysis and critical thinking.

1. What did you notice about your use of gestures (Did you use them? Did you use enough?
Were they distracting? Did they match what you were saying? Were you needlessly
fidgeting?)?
2. What did you notice about your voice (i.e. volume, tone/vocal variety, rate, etc.)?
3. How did you feel about the content of your speech (Was it interesting? Did it make sense?
Etc.)?
4. What were the strengths of this speech?
5. What were the weaknesses of this speech?
6. What will you work to improve for next time? Here you may also express any final overall
impressions of your speech that you did not discuss in the previous questions. If you wish to
state how successful you were, this is the place to do it.

Braveheart Freedom Speech

Watch the speech. Then in a formal blog post summarize the speaker's purpose and then identify three rhetorical techniques and their intended effect on the audience. Discuss how well their chosen techniques worked or what he could do better.

Advertisement Analysis

For this week’s blog you will choose an advertisement either print or television.  You will need to place the advertisement on your blog.  Then you will write your post answering the questions in an essay format. This should be one of the advertisements that you analyzed on the Advertisement Analysis Worksheet.

1. How does the advertisement attempt to get your attention?

2. What is it an advertisement trying to sell? (Note- This should include the product and anything else they are trying to sell: lifestyle, image, fun, newest, best, etc)

3.  Who is the target audience or demographics for this product? Explain their age, ethnicity, class, profession, interests etc.

4.  What is the “text” of the message? What we actually see and/or hear: written or spoken words, photos, drawings, logos, design, music, sounds etc.)

5. What propaganda techniques were used? Explain their usage.

6.  How does the advertisement try to convince you buy  this product. Does it use pathos, logos, ethos? Explain.

a. How does the message make you feel?

b. How doe the images reinforce this/these feelings?

c.  How does the music/ sounds reinforce this/these feelings?

d.   Is the name of the product significant? Explain.

9. What information do you think has been left out of this advertisement? Why?

10.  Rate this advertisement on its effectiveness- does it catch and keep your attention? If you were in the market for this type of product, would you purchase it from this company?Why or why not?

11.  What would you change about this ad?

12. Where was this ad used? Magazine? TV? Internet? Explain the reasoning the manufacturer probably chose this venue.

13.  Assess how ethical is this advertisement.

Final Essay on MLK and Malcolm

Your final assignment from last week's blog and the in class assignments will be to write an essay answering the central question, " Were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.'s messages as different as people often portray them? Using the biography information, analysis of their speeches from the blog last week and in class videos, and other documents support your conclusions.  You should set up your essay with a thesis and textual support.  I expect to see specifics in your essay. This will be your blog for the week and due on Thursday by 4:00 instead of Wednesday.

Converging Ideas

This week we are examining a few different speeches by two men working for Civil Rights.  Below are two speeches to watch.  I would like you to listen to their words.  Instead of our usual analysis of the speeches, I would like to know what you know about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.  I would also like you to listen to these two speeches and then based on what they are saying write what they have in common and what is different about their messages.  In class we will also examine a few more of their speeches and continue comparing and contrasting these to men and their ideas on Civil Rights.  Remember to think about their intended audience and what techniques they use to build their ethos, logos and pathos.

Transcript for "Where Do We Go From Here Speech"

Transcript for "I have a Dream Speech"

The transcript for this speech is in the show more info below the speech on Youtube.

Transcript for "Ballots and Bullets" Speech Below is the complete speech, we only will listen to a few excerpts from the speech.  Listening to the full speech is optional and you do not have to listen to the full speech.

Sonia Shah: 3 Reasons We Still Haven’t Gotten Rid of Malaria

After watching this informative speech analyze her techniques and what she did well in presenting her information.  This is the next type of speech you will be doing for class.  Be sure to note things you might be able to emulate in your own speech.

* Be sure to read previous comments I have left for you, so you can correct things that may be costing your points.

Blog Post Week 2 Steve Jobs Speech

We have heard a lot about story telling in speeches.  Steve Jobs uses the story telling technique to make some great points in this graduation speech. Use your analysis tools to write your analysis of this graduation speech. Listen carefully and be a great audience.  You will definitely learn a few things from this speaker.

Blog 1: Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

We watched this video together as a class.  I would like you to analyse and critique this speech on your own now. Use the handouts on how to analyse a speech to help you take notes. As you watch the speech again.  Then use your handout on how to write a critical analysis of a speech to help you write your critique of Adora Svitak's speech.
A few simple reminders to help you:

 -What do you like about this speech?
 -  Is it necessary? Why or Why not?
 - What were key points did she/he use? What techniques did the speaker use? Were these techniques effective? Why or why not?
 - How ethical was the speech? Did you find the speaker believable? What techniques did the speaker use to gain our trust? Were they effective? Why or why not?
 -What do you dislike about this speech?
-  Is it necessary? Why or why not?
-  What is the most powerful moment in the speech as a listener? Why?
- What is the least interesting moment in this speech as a listener? Why?
-What was the purpose of the speech? Did the speaker do an effective job? What did she/he do well? What could she/he have improved upon?
-What can we learn from this speaker and their  speech techniques?

When writing your analysis be sure you use precise language to describe with examples from the clip.

Welcome!

Welcome to Speech and Debate! 
The purpose of this class is to help you develop solid thinking skills as well as learning how to most effectively speak in public. I hope this semester you will know what you believe and why, that you will be able to analyse media and other spoken communication to disseminate what is truly being said and why.

 Therefore we will learn to:
Examine the underlying premise of a position
Learn to locate the values/mindset and assumptions behind positions expressed by others
Articulate your position clearly & persuasively
I believe that students who have the thinking skills to analytically process the ideas they are confronted with in our culture, are better equipped to stand firmly for what they believe when challenged by opposing worldviews.

Most often you will have speeches to watch, analyse and respond to for your blog assignments.  Occasionally there may be other prompts or activities for which you will be required to respond.
Your posts will be due on Wednesdays at 4:00pm. Your first post will be due on September 4.