These video make many good key points to help with speech writing. It’s always good to avoid showing your vulnerability to your audience because this makes them focus on your body language and speech tone rather than the content of your speech. It is also good to avoid being to analytical in your introduction because it can come off as unprofessional to not give a proper overview and introduction. It can also help to have some humor the beginning of your speech because it can boost confidence and get your audience to go a little easier on you.

Pulling someone’s leg: This just means that you are messing or kidding around with someone. Not really sure the origin of it but it is a way to just say you are messing around.

Horse around: This definition is similar to “messing around”. A group of teenagers knocking over trash cans for fun would be an example of horsing around. You’re just having fun.

Jump the gun: This is also one that I am not sure of the origin of but it is one I use regularly. It means basically that you were too early on something. For example, a sports reporter expecting a player to retire reports that the player retired before he actually did. It was expected and may have happened but the reporter still jumped the gun.

Fishy: Exactly the same thing as suspicious. “Something fishy is going on” means that you do not trust what is happening and you think that something bad or illegal is going on.

Bite the dust: This essentially means that situation is already done. For example, if you have a 72% in  a class and you need a 118% on the final in order to get an 80%, then you can bite the dust on that because that’s impossible.

The danger of silence | Clint Smith – YouTube

Group Members: Parker Qualls, Zushan Liu, AJ Corral

Based on your brainstorming of ideas for argument speech in general, do some online research and select any one speech that you consider an effective example of persuasive speech. Then explain with examples what you find to be effective in terms of delivery:

Volume (appropriate to our space and audience): He seemed like he was talking among a group of friends, he did not need to be too loud because he was on a small stage with a small audience. He uses a speaker so he doesn’t have to be too loud.

Variety of tone (enthusiasm, confidence, and engagement throughout): He had that stereotypical “talk fast then get slower” type of motivational speech. This is used to create more of an impact on the audience with what he was saying. 

Eye contact with audience members (not floor, wall, or paper): He appeared to have consistent eye contact with the audience the whole time. 

Gestures and body movements that flow naturally and expressively: This speaker talks with his hands, so it does flow naturally and connect with what he is saying. He doesn’t really walk around either he just gets to the point and leaves. 

The argumentative essay can be many different topics I am considering going on something relating to the marketing strategies for a certain company option. I know of some video game companies that take advantage of people with their marketing strategies including the use of microtransactions and overpricing for certain products that are required to play games so this type of marketing is something that I can argue against persuasively.

One particular historical event that shaped that country that I live in was one that happened very recently and is still ongoing to this day. The Covid-19 pandemic reshaped the lives of many and affected the ways in which we see the world now. After having to stay in our homes for months of 2020 and we have learned a lot about the state of our country. It showed how people did not trust our government, it showed people’s true feelings towards racism during the BLM movement, and it forced people to work from home or lose their jobs entirely. People’s distrust in the US government was something that was already known, but it was especially evident when people went out of their way to call the virus a hoax. These types of people made the spreading of the disease more prevalent and it showed how ironic lack of unity in the United States. Speaking of a lack of unity, black people in this country have not been given the same opportunities in this country as white people. They have also been targeted by the police and the government and the tension hit a breaking point at the murder of George Floyd. This sparked the Black Lives Matter movement that showed who really cared about racism and who was willing to help put an eventual end to it. Finally among many other affects of the events of the unprecedented times, the Covid era brought upon the normality of working from home. Finally, people lost their jobs. There was a market crash, an insanely high unemployment rate and a large number of people having to work from home. Overall this major historic event negatively shaped the future of the country and brought little to no positivity in an uncertain and stressful era.

Race is a social construct because of how people are treated differently based on the color of their skin. It is obviously natural to be a different race than someone else but it is the unequal treatment that makes it a social construct. There has been racism in areas such as education where black people are excluded or rarely included in education. Anthony Jack explains that just giving access is not the same thing as inclusion. He explains how those who come from lower income families are not familiar with how different a private school is from a public one and they are not educated on that such difference. Racism in education has been a long standing problem and it is sad to see how it continues today and how little is done to prevent it in the future.

Group members: Alvaro Corral, Izabella Williams, Zushan Liu

Activity 1

For a long time, my stepson, Jonathan, was unhappy to have me as part of his family, for he resented that he didn’t have both biological parents at home. I tried to get to know him better, but he would complain that I invaded his privacy. As a newcomer, I understood that our relationship would require effort from both of us. It was not enough that I was friendly. Jonathan also wanted us to be friends, and I was not happy with the two of us being strangers, but I waited for him to feel more comfortable around me.

Activity 2: Anne Marie collects antique bottles and loves to turn them into works of art. She will buy bottles if she likes them, but she prefers to find them in the ground. She will find bottles everywhere, but she picks them selectively. However, she has the best luck at construction sites on old farmland, where she spends most of her time. Often, bottles appear on the surface after a good rain, but they disappear very soon. She will use special tools for excavating bottles, including a set of brushes. She does not want to break the bottles as she removes them from the ground. After finding a new bottle, Anne Marie will add it to her display case and hang it on the wall as an artistic piece.

Emma Gonzalez’s speech is very moving and has uses many careful strategies to move her audience. First of all, she establishes ethos by relating to other gun violence victims saying that those who have felt “the cold grip of gun violence” can understand. She also uses imagery to establish pathos uses many descriptive words to show the horrible situation of the people who were waiting to hear the extent of what had happened. The most striking part of this speech is when she stays silent. The loud, deafening silence heard as she stays that way for six minutes and twenty seconds, the amount of time the shooter was active. This silence gives the best possible showing of how long the shooter was at large and how much fear and tension was in the building at the time of the attack.

1. White rhinos are famous for their big horns, they are among the endangered species.
2. The teacher didn’t know if she should laugh or cry; but she knew it was quite hilarious.
3. Three things matter in life; perseverance, commitment, and aptitude for learning.
4. A dog trotted over to the computer in Sara’s office; typed out a perfect letter; and printed it!
5. The manager was stunned; but she told the dog; “The sign says you have to be good with the computer, just because you’re good at typing doesn’t mean that you are good with it”.
6. A man walked into a pet shop and ordered three things, centipede, kitten, parrot.
7. Sama was the best person for the job, because she had an excellent service record in one key area; community health training.
8. Amy served with 4 stars in the army, therefore, she was awarded the Medal of Honor.

CORRECT:

1. White rhinos are famous for their big horns; they are among the endangered species.
2. The teacher didn’t know if she should laugh or cry, but she knew it was quite hilarious.
3. Three things matter in life; perseverance, commitment, and aptitude for learning.
4. A dog trotted over to the computer in Sara’s office, typed out a perfect letter and printed it! 
5. The manager was stunned, but she told the dog, “The sign says you have to be good with the computer; just because you’re good at typing doesn’t mean that you are good with it”.
6. A man walked into a pet shop and ordered three things: a centipede, kitten, and a parrot.
7. Sama was the best person for the job because she had an excellent service record in one key area: community health training.
8. Amy served with 4 stars in the army; therefore, she was awarded the Medal of Honor.

In his talk “Access ain’t inclusion” Anthony Jack goes over the experiences and struggles that underprivileged kids that go to college often face. The issue is that even though the Ivy League schools may prioritise cultural diversity in their acceptances, they are not treated any differently than the kids who are privileged coming into college. The example he uses of this is office hours. The understanding that the kids from the lower income backgrounds had was that office hours was for teachers to work alone rather than it being for students to meet with teachers. This is one of many unspoken rules and languages that privileged kids coming into college already know. Even though they were both accepted coming into the university, they were not equal in their knowledge coming in and thus were not included. Access ain’t inclusion.