For this lesson, I use two famous commencement speeches, one by Steve Jobs and the other by Ana Quindlen. Both are definitely interesting in their own way. The one by Jobs is already well-known and has been quoted many times. He gave it in 2005 at Stanford University. The other, by Quindlen precedes Steve Job's speech and was not delivered, a speech that was to be presented at Villanova University in 2000. Her speech is also very popular. Prior to the reading of both speeches, I have the class watch a fun video that explains rhetorical devices.
The next video I show the class is one by Nancy Duarte, who is well-known for creating interesting presentations. In this video, she gives an analysis of Martin Luther King's " I Have a Dream" speech. She explains the rhetorical devices that King used in his speech.
Duarte's Analysis
Next, I have the class read the Job's and Quindlen's speeches, following it up with a handout.
Job's Speech
Quindlen's Speech
Questions
Finally, I have the students select a speech from here and ask them to write an essay identifying the rhetorical devices that the speaker used in his or her speech. The students can also incorporate the questions that they answered for the Job's and Quindlen's speeches for this essay assignment.
1 comment:
I like your ideas! I have had my students respond freely to Jobs' speech on their blog and they really picked up on the rhetorical devices he used as well as the way he engaged his audience. Your lesson would work great for an introduction to rhetorical devices! Thanks!
Another great speech, but I haven't really watched for rhetorical devices so I don't know if it would work in this situation, that my students just adored and responded like crazy to was J.K. Rowling's speech to a Harvard grad class.
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