Sr. Speaker Materials 2015

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Guidelines for Writing a Commencement Address

The draft you write for consideration does not need to be a final version, but should give the panelists a clear idea of what you plan to say in your speech.  The traditional commencement address has had content which reflects back on the class's experiences and also gives advice or guidance for the future.  The tone should be one which inspires and motivates the listeners.

Although the Commencement Address is directed at the graduating class, the message needs to be meaningful and appropriate for the adult audience present as well.  Content, language, or style which parents or grandparents might find offensive is not suitable for a Commencement Address.

Humor can be an effective minor element of a Commencement Address.  The predominant message, and consequently the predominant writing style, should be serious, thoughtful and inspirational. 

Format:  This might be helpful.  It is an all purpose formula.  It is not required.  Feel free to be creative.  But as a starting point, you might want to observe the following steps.

Introduction--

* Attention getting anecdote

* Establish a theme -- Past speakers have used themes likethe qualities of Eagles or the symbolic importance of bridges

* Set purpose or message

Body--

* Reflect on events of past 4 years

* Reflect on present status

* Reflect on  where things are headed

Conclusion--

* Re-emphasize message

* Closing thoughts and anecdotes

A few helpful suggestions:

Though you may want to fill your speech with inspirational quotations, and heartfelt thoughts of hope, be careful of overusing clichés.  Because they have been used so often, clichés do not always hold much power within a text and tend to be easily forgotten by an audience.

On the other hand, the most memorable speeches are those that tell some type of story.  Typically, speakers will use either brief anecdotes or longer narratives to convey their message.  As opposed to citing bland clichés that are easy to forget, stories tend to stay with people and carry a stronger emotional and intellectual impact. 
Here are some samples of past commencement addresses.
2013
2012 

MCA Online Testing Materials

Tutorial Video 
Item Sampler

Writing about Reading

We generally think of writing and reading as two discrete language processes, but doing so overlooks the important relationship they have to each other. Asking students to write about their reading provides at least two fundamental benefits. First, those writings become an indicator of what students have learned from the texts. And second, those writings enable students to make meaning of those texts.

For starters, short writing activities (and I emphasize short, especially for those who work with struggling students), can be a good indicator of what students have understood of the text. It isn’t the only or even the best indicator. But, it is a good indicator none-the-less. It can be as simple as a “quick write” in student notebooks, or perhaps a more developed, formal essay. The writings (depending on the prompt and the essay requirements) can indicate if they are reading for “gist” or “meaning”, or whether the student is capable of inference and evaluation. With the help of carefully chosen prompts, you can even help students to read beyond the text to make comments about how it is structured or even what it might be missing. Student writings can help teachers assess the general needs of individual students and entire classes.

Secondly, writing prompts enable students to make deeper meaning of texts. When teachers provide writing prompts before readings, they help students to determine what might be important in that text. Writing opportunities also encourage students to return to texts to re-read, and possibly re-think their understandings. They also reinforce the practice of supporting their own claims with specific evidence from the text, which again generally means going back into the text.

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to a series of writing activities that can help students interact with texts. They are all generally quick and low-maintenance (meaning they don’t require much time to set-up or assess). While many of these activities have been around for awhile, I have taken them from Frey and Fisher’s Rigorous Reading as well as NCTE’s Read, Write, Think.

Read the entire newsletter here.