Genocide in Rwanda, Day 5 - Class Recap

My mom, Amanda Fritz, giving a speech after she was elected to Portland City Council in 2008. Photo taken by my dad!

Hi everyone,

Today was our last day of preparation for the Rwanda speech in front of the United Nations! Lots of tips and stuff to talk about. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 21: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 2: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Selected because you get to "make that change" with your speech, and also, practicing in front of a mirror is a good strategy to prepare for a speech. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/12/14:
News Brief - Ben
Race: The Power of an Illusion
Brainstorm: Public Speaking
Group Speech Work

Homework: Read the blog. The Rwanda speech in front of an administrator is next class, so try to dress up! I will provide a tie if you need it (or forget), just to add a bit of formality. Next news brief: Blake.

News Brief: Ben had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: TIME.com - Person of the Year: Ebola Fighters. We found Liberia on the world map, and talked about the heroic doctors and healthcare workers there. Read the article I linked to if you are interested in learning more!

Blake was selected to do the next news brief.

Race: The Power of an Illusion: I showed this clip to the class, which was emphasizing that race, biologically speaking, does not really exist. I know we all conceptually get that all people are human beings and part of homo sapiens, but this was just some scientific frame work for why it is important to not ignore our fellow humans.

Brainstorm: Public Speaking: We talked in class about some tips for giving a good speech. I used two video clips for this:

The 2014 National Champion of Original Oratory, Andrea Ambam.

I only showed the first two minutes or so of this in class, but the point was hopefully made clear. She does a great job of knowing her material, standing straight, using hand gestures to be engaging, making eye contact, and varying her tone of voice.

As a class, we thought of good public speaking tips. Here's what we came up with:

- Eye contact
- Memorize as much as possible
- Speak so people can hear you
- Vary your gestures
- Change your tone of voice
- Use emotion
- Try to avoid “like” and “um”
- Know your subject really well
- Use phrases to help you communicate, like: “for example”
- Stand straight
- Don’t lean on anything
- Speak slowly and emphatically, if possible

Next, I showed this five minute video from Toastmasters (an organization devoted to helping people with public speaking):

I hope that all of this made everyone feel better, or at least, provide some tips on how to feel better, about the speech!

Group Speech Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to working on the speech in groups - getting the order down, practicing, and refining. The groups are (some may have six, which means that the group will have four middle speakers on speech day):

1) Gavin, Bhavya, Patrick, Mary, Natalie, Skylar
2) Jillian, Alex D., Devon, Vlas, Nouri.
3) Haley, Brenden, Maddy, Zac T., John
4) Rui, Jovani, Jonathan, Andrew, Alice
5) Nick, Kento, Alex W., Austin, Zac V.
6) Sierra, Alyssa, Ben, Braydan, Jordan
7) Jacki, Blake, Tarence, Kelsey, Tyler

Here's the assignment sheet again, if you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

Please make sure to bring a revised final copy of your speech (if you have not turned it in already), for me to grade, next class! Be prepared and confident in your speech - I know you will all be great! Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!