Teaching Diary 29: Persuasive Speeches

This is mostly a record for myself. However, over the last few years, when I've had persuasive speech units, I've purposefully directed students to smaller-scale issues, things they actually have a chance to persuade their audience on and have some immediate effect on. Part of it was a burning loathing of common middle- and high-school speech topics like abortion, gay marriage, school uniforms. Students usually just parrot whatever they find on the internet or what their peers or families say about the issue. I want to push students to find things that they are really interested in, things they might not otherwise explore. To introduce the sort of speech I hope they write, I show a TED Talk called You Deserve the Right to Repair Your Stuff. When students do brainstorming activities before choosing a topic, the questions are somewhat leading as they guide students to personal interests. It's not perfect, but I have gotten a lot more interesting topics out of this unit over the last few years. I'm trying to be hands-off regarding the topic and more direct with the techniques. We'll see how it goes.

Here is this year's list of topics. Some are still a little broad, some are niche and funny. Regardless, I'm excited to see what they come up with.

• Cyberbullying


• Wealth (Growth and Management)


• Benefit of Sports


• Cryptocurrency Investments (Pro)


• Consciousness and Death (this one is iffy in terms of persuasive speeches)


• Creating Teams/Camaraderie via MTBI groups


• Art as a Tool for Social Justice


• Human Rights (needs to be narrower)


• Changes in Technology (needs to be narrower)


• Love and Connection (importance of love besides romantic love)


• Fibromyalgia and Disability Access


• Video Games (pros)


• Sustainable Architecture


• Cheating in School (cons)


• Forensic Science (can't remember what they want to persuade rn)


• Stop Assigning Homework


• Monkeys as Pets (against)


• Value of Art


• Ways to Relieve Stress


• Problems with Fast Fashion


• Social Media and Misinformation

Some of these topics are definitely too broad, but I can't remember if their outlines had that narrowness. I just wrote down a broad list in my planner and copied it for the list above. But if they are not narrow enough, then this is an opportunity for the student to learn. Students will submit rough drafts this week, get feedback from peers, revise, and have the opportunity to get feedback from me before they deliver their speeches.