The Ninth Grade Speech Class

 

  My palms are sweating.

The rhythm of my heart increasing. 

   There’s no forgetting, 

The memory of speaking, unceasing. 

  Ninth grade speech class,

It is now my turn to speak.

  Fragile as glass,

I have never felt so weak.

    In ninth grade I chose speech as my elective. We met in the choir room so there were four rows of graduating tiers. I think we had desks, the kind with the movable desk top. Mrs. Johnson had blonde hair, pulled back in a fence twist. She often wore sweater sets in pastel colors. She was soft-spoken, kind, yet unrelenting when it came to meeting deadlines. Each Thursday and Friday we gave speeches. It took two days to hear each student. I felt impressed with her objective to enable us all to communicate better. Speaking in front was scary but I believed Mrs. Johnson when she explained that if we followed an outline our abilities would evolve.

• Present a catchy introduction and tell what you are going to say
• Make your first point
• Give an example
• Make your second point
• Give another example
• Summarize what you said.

We learned about persuasive speeches, how-to-speeches, story telling, and speeches to inspire. 

There was a definite flash of light in this semester of learning. I still use the basic outline whenever I speak in front of a group. There was one other point I still remember to this day.

Consider your audience. How can you communicate best in this situation?

Math learning comes and goes, science facts change, but communication is always a challenge and requires skills in speaking and writing.

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