It’s Speech Time!

Over the past week we have been working hard to plan, research, draft and write speeches.  Students first decided on a topic.  The topic needed to be an interest of the student but also something that his classmates wouldn’t know much about.  Our ultimate goal is to tell our classmates some new information.  Coming up with a topic seemed to be the easy part.  Coming up with a main point was a bit more difficult.  Then the research began!  It was a lot of reading, summarizing, and finding important information!

Now the writing part is complete and it’s time to focus on the oral part.  While writing we talked about the difference between a written voice and an oral voice.  Now it’s time to put that into practise and deliver an effective speech.

Check out this video.  It’s a very inspirational speech! As you watch think about what makes this speech effective?  What features of oral language did the speaker put into play to get his message across?  What was the main point of this speech?  Respond to this post with your ideas!

Critical Thinking with Wendell

We’ve read chapter three.  Wendell has participated in the LAME test and his prospects don’t look promising.  Mr. Oglesby says to Wendell, “The way I see it, you have an advantage. No one expects anything of you.”

Now, watch the short video below.  The speaker in this video has a different opinion about expectations.


 

Compare Mr. Oglesby’s opinion of expectations to the opinion presented in the video.  Who do you agree with? Explain.

Connecting Wendell To The World

We have discovered that Wendell is a firt.  He says, “Magic is like that.  You’re either born with it or you’re not and at thirteen years old, it is pretty clear that I’m a firt.”  A firt is a non-magical wizard.  Wendell does not seem to have a very good opinion of himself. Look at the picture with his descriptions.

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Why does the magical world mistreat the firts?  What groups in your world are mistreated? Why does this happen?

Judging A Book By It’s Cover and Trailer

This week we are beginning a new read aloud adventure! Wendell the World’s Worst Wizard by J.C. Spencer.

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Look at the front cover and watch the book trailer below.  Do you think you can judge a book by it’s cover? Reply to this post with your predictions about this story.  What do you think will happen? What do you think the book’s themes will be? What connections do you think you’ll be able to make? Remember to explain the reasoning behind your predictions.


Once you have made your predictions visit Mr. Braman’s class blog and read his students’ predictions. How do they compare to your own?
http://kidblog.org/braman5/tag/wendell/