Speech Stories Inspired by Speak

Speeches and stories are similar. They have a purpose, a direct audience (a reader for a story, an audience for a speech). Both attempt to entertain. Both attempt to narrate a story or an idea or communicate something true about our shared lives--even if they are completely made up. They both start by hooking or grabbing our attention and keep our attention by being different...unexpected...daring...truthful, even if it's a lie. Stories and speeches both work on being specific, detailed, and interesting. They both are strongest when they share new ideas or new ways of looking at the same old boring crap with their audience or reader. In a word, they are: creative.

Last class (or during the break) you may have written in your journal on one of the following topics, taken from the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. If you didn't, don't worry. You're going to do that today.

ONE IMPORTANT RULE:

• Write today. After you choose a topic, write that topic. Write about that topic. Do not discuss this topic with your peers or friends. Do not spend all class period thinking about your topic. Write about your topic. Just write. Use your time to write in the lab. When you are done, you can either write more or read over your work silently, and write again. 

WHY, Mister?

We need you to get into the practice of writing. It must be infused in your bones if you want to be an artist. Even if you don't want to be an artist, you need to practice fluency! I understand this is difficult to do. If you get stuck, push through the discomfort. Skip a line and write the next part that you can write. But we've got to practice to get better at our art. There's no way around this expectation.

You will be writing a draft that you will be sharing with the class. Everyone will be expected to deliver their story/speech to the class. Length is up to you, but it should be good. Good writing is detailed, descriptive, interesting. It usually has a beginning, middle, and end. It should also communicate a point...remember when you said: I want to express myself? Well, now's your chance! Today we write. Honor the writer in you (and in your peers)!

TASK: Speak stories for speeches: Pick one or more of the following topics and write the story. Detail and describe and use imagery! Tell us a story. Be creative and original in your thinking! Answer the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW for most of these topics. When you finish, proofread, revise, add more detail or more imagery.

• Recall your first day at SOTA (or your elementary or middle school)
• Write about a time you felt like an outcast
• What are the lies they don't tell you? (they being authority figures, your friends, your family, your religion, your...you get the idea...)
• Write about a teacher you had that you didn't like or get along with
• Write about the first time you had to use a school locker
• Write about a childhood friend you used to have, but have grown apart from
• What is your "sanctuary"--your safe place when life gets complicated? Write about it.
• Write about trying to learn another language
• Write about why you don't like to do homework
• If you could change your name, what would you change it to--and why?
• Write about a principal (or another authority figure) you have or had
• Write about the importance or lack of importance of a certain class in school
• Write about your most embarrassing gym story
• Write about your experience joining a club or sport
• Write about why cheerleaders are (or are not) important
• Write about your parents or a member of your family
• Write about a math problem
• Write about the different kinds of peers or groups in school
• Write about Halloween
• Write about being bullied
• Write about your worst grade you ever got
• Write about your favorite or least favorite art
• What "clan" or group do you belong to? Describe it. Why do you fit into this group?
• Write about an important test that you did/didn't do well on
• Write about your dream job (or write about a job you would hate to have to do for a living)
• Write about what you are thankful for
• Write about a wish
• Write about your winter break
• Write about a rumor
• Write about the unfair chores you have to do at home
• Name your monster. How did or how will you defeat it?

Notes about the novel Speak:

• You should aim to complete the novel by Tuesday, Jan. 16. There will be a test on the book and a discussion on the book that day. Be prepared. Take notes in your journal, so you get credit and can use the notes to study for the test. It's really that simple.  
• The book's narrator (and protagonist) is Melinda. She has changed over her eighth-grade year of school and arrives in 9th grade (sorta like you) a different person because of stuff that happened to her over the summer. Like any teen, she doesn't like school, her peers, her family, or herself. Person vs. person. Person vs. self. Person vs. society.
• The setting is largely set in the school Merryweather High. It's a typical high school--it should be a familiar setting for you.
• The style of novel is the bildungsroman--the coming of age novel. As we've discussed (and as you've read others of this style of novel this year) a young or inexperienced protagonist (Melinda, in this case) has to "grow up" (accept responsibility for problems in her life). Along the way, she has to deal with a variety of difficult people, events, and horrible peer pressure, and find her own identity. Her main problem is that she doesn't talk about her problems. She doesn't "speak"--literally. She does, however, relate everything that she's thinking or dealing with in narrative. Lucky for us. It's her story.
• The book is divided into four quarters (marking periods). Just like in school. Four appears in a lot of stories and our lives: 4 seasons, 4 legs on animals, 4 limbs on humans, 4 cardinal points (east, west, north, south), 4 winds, 4 phases of the moon, 4 elements (air, water, earth, fire), 4 castes, 4 presidents have been assassinated while in office, a quatrain (4 lines) is the most stable type of stanza in poetry, etc. 

Done so early? Here are your choices:

• Proofread and revise, edit and polish your draft. Print out your work when done (or at the end of class, whichever comes first.)
• Write a second piece. Pick another topic from the list and write.
• Write silently in your journal.
• Read Speak or take notes on the novel's characters, plot, setting, themes, etc. Look for examples of how this book fulfills the bildungsroman style. You'll need this information for the upcoming test.
• Complete any missing work for this class (or work on work for Ms. Gamzon's class). 

HOMEWORK: Aim to complete Speak by Tuesday, Jan. 16. Complete your draft if you didn't finish it in class today--we'll be writing more next class...so finish what you started today or by next class.