Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 4, Individuality vs Conformity (5th-6th)
Hello SAVY families!
Today was SUCH a fun day, y’all!
Even though we had to be a little flexible in adjusting our schedule so that we had enough time to create substantive, structured, pathos-rich, powerful TED talks, we are on a roll and will pick up fresh and early tomorrow with polishing and practicing! Our talks are either inspirational and motivational, educational and persuasive with new ideas and strategies to enact change, or informative and activating!
In the morning, we learned how to expand and evolve our debate argument structure to write motivational speeches that showed our unique voices, ideas, and persuasive styles. We read a deep and compelling speech by Václav Havel after the fall of the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia that spoke honestly and in heartfelt and empathetic language to the people of change, fear, and embracing new futures and democratic change. Surprisingly enough – or perhaps not so surprising – the speech echoed the lessons we learned from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and revealed new truths to us!
Ask your student about some of the memorable moments in Havel’s address to the nation – and be very proud of your student for their interpretive and engaged minds because the speech is very deep, involves a lot of metaphors, and is also lengthy.
Next, we watched samples of impressive young people giving TED talks on the national “stage” and took notes about strategies that worked or didn’t work. Off to the computer lab to hone in on our topics, outline our speeches, get creative with our power points, and add lots of stories, examples, and pathos-filled language! Also, our TED Talk content evaluator team came up with a very detailed and analytical rubric and began structuring it into Excel so that they could use modern technology to begin the steps of what could be an analytical workflow project!
Tomorrow we will perform our TED Talks and then use our substantive content to also record a podcast episode about our unique passions, individualities, and strengths in the context of the creative and academic areas we have explored so far! I CAN’T WAIT!
Bonus food for thought question for students: What does a motivational speech need to include to evolve it from a straight argument into a powerful tool of emotional persuasion?
Until tomorrow,
Ms. Rho