SPEECH UNIT AND CONTEST

An introduction to the categories

These first three categories are based on the works of others. Your job will be to make these works come alive for your audience through your performance. In other words, the meaning of these works is made clear to your audience through your presentation.

DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION:

A. Serious or humorous excerpt or scene from a play OR first person prose or poetry.

B. You must create an introduction that includes title, author, character description, background, and subject matter of the scene (i.e. what is it about?). Does not need to be in this order.

C.Your introduction and your selected passage must be memorized and 4 to 7 minutes long; no costumes or props are allowed other than a chair.

D.Consider selecting a passage from a story or novel that you truly liked. Also consider selecting a passage appropriate to your age and experience-- the narrator in a recent winner, from No More Dead Dogs, is a young, ruthlessly truthful middle school aged student who has to cope with the difficulties presented by the world of adults, in this case his parents and a rather close-minded English teacher.

E.Some worthwhile websites:

POETIC INTERPRETATION:

A.Make a THEMATIC selection of two or three poems or one longer NARRATIVE poem.

(Making a thematic selection means selecting poems that share a common idea or describe a common situation found in life; some common themes are friendship, love, war, racism, nature, family, and time's passage. There are as many possible themes such as ideas found in life. A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story. )

B. If you are presenting a number of poems that share a common theme, you will need to write an introduction that first introduces this theme and then introduces the first poem. Then you need to write an introduction for (or transition to) each poem that follows.

C.If you are presenting a single narrative poem, you will need to write an introduction and then memorize your poem. A recent contest winner used "The Pied Piper of Hamlin," a narrative poem about a town that foolishly attempts to cheat a piper who has rid the community of its terrible rat population.

D.The poems, the introduction, and transitions must be memorized; no propsor costumes. Speech must be 4 to 7 minutes long.

E.Some worthwhile websites:

DECLAMATION:

A new category.

A.A declamation speech is one where the speaker is delivering passages from an important speech given in the past. The source could be a political, graduation or commencement speech, a eulogy (a speech given at a funeral) or a sermon. The speaker re-interprets the original, attempting to make this speech come alive now, in this moment, showing how these words from the past have a relevance for today.

B. In this category:

  • You must create an introduction that provides the context for this speech—who gave this speech? In response to what event? What idea is the speaker attempting to communicate to his/her audience? What does the speaker wish the audience to think, feel, do after hearing this speech?
  • Typically, this speech will require that you make a selection of passages from a much longer speech, and together, your introduction and your selected passage needs to be memorized and 4 to 7 minutes long; no costumes or props are allowed.
  • As you make your selection, consider topics, significant individuals, and/or historical events that you find compelling. Spend some time looking over the web links you can find below—there are a number of genuinely interesting speeches to be found here if you give yourself some time to look over what is available.

C.Some worthwhile websites for DECLAMATION:

(a strange yet manly website with many useful links)

The next three categories require that you create an original speech, a speech that is completely your own.

ORIGINAL ORATORY:

A. This is an informative, persuasive speech written by the speaker. Your topic should be current, interesting, controversial, and important to you. Research is required. The importance of the topic must be stressed. Your speech cannot be copied from a magazine or on-line source.

B.Your speech must:

  • Introduce your topic and explain why it is one of importance in our lives;
  • Explain your position on this topic and the reasons for your position;
  • Anticipate and answer the strongest argument(s) likely to be raised by an opponent to your position (why would someone say that is your position wrong?);
  • End with a call to action you are urging the audience to take on this issue.

C.You should select a topic of genuine interest to you; this issue must be one you feel is important and compelling. Look at the list below for

D.On the library's website, there is a collection called Issues and Controversies that identify and describe significant issues that face the nation. Use it. Click on the link above to be taken

E.Speech must be researched, written, edited, and then memorized, and be 4 to 7 minutes; visual aids are allowed.

Issues that might make for interesting original oratory speeches:

  1. Injuries related to playing in the National Football League
  2. The use of Native American imagery in sports
  3. The status of NCAA athletes-- amateur or professional?
  4. The growth of advanced placement classes in American high schools
  5. Limits placed on the use of cell phones in schools
  6. The proper role of homework in the lives of US students
  7. Having schools stay open year-round
  8. Elimination of the penny from US currency
  9. Issues related to copyrights and the internet
  10. Using the internet to vote
  11. Preservation of the US Postal Service
  12. Expanding the national space program
  13. Limits related to extreme sports
  14. Changing the federal minimum wage
  15. Restricting political/religious protests at funerals
  16. The use of drones in domestic surveillance (or in war)
  17. The need to preserve network neutrality
  18. The continuation of stop and frisk policies
  19. The coming crisis with antibiotics
  20. The taxation/regulation of sugary drinks
  21. Overfishing of the world’s oceans
  22. The problem of ivory trade
  23. Making English the official language of the US
  24. The growth of factory farms in the US

25.The search for extraterrestriallife

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

A. With this category, you present an original story about an important experience in your life. The story should not only be unique but also have affected you in a significant way.

Your experience should also reveal some universal truth about life that your audience could understand in terms of their own lives.

In other words, you should have been moved by this experience (had what is called an epiphany where you gained a lasting new insight about life) and hearing about your experience should move us.

A recent contest winner described a trip he took with his reporter-father where they visited some of the impoverished, persecuted citizens of China.

B.You will need to write out your story in a manner that reflects a clear sense of structure. Be sure to include an attention getting introduction, vivid descriptive details, and a provocative conclusion.

C.Most weeks the New York Times magazine section has on its final page an essay called "Lives," which are essentially personal experience essays. See my eBoard for a few examples that I find effective and powerful.

D. The speech must be memorized and 4 to 7 minutes in length; the speaker may have a note card with 10 guiding words.

HUMOROUS INTERPRETATION:

A.Here you create a funny and original (perhaps narrative) presentation on a topic that everyone can laugh about. The topic may not be offensive or in bad taste.

A recent contest winner found the humor in medical and pharmaceutical commercials seen so often on television.

B.You will need to write out your speech and then rehearse it so the presentation has a natural flow and rhythm. Remember that the speech is not MERELY a series of jokes or stand up comedy. The humor must be unified around a topic.

C. The speech is memorized; 4 to 7 minutes long. No props or costumes, but a chair may be used.