Well Here's Something

I was concerned I wouldn't have anything to use the SB for while my kids are rehearsing their speeches in class but I was wrong! Maybe this is a little bit of a stretch but hey, I think it's worth something...

So as we started going through the speeches, I found that some kids are just struggling to get through reading theirs. We can't really work on much expression until they have the words down (and yes, you'd be surprised how hard it is to read your own work when it's spelled properly). So then there's a second group of kids. They can read their speeches just fine and now we have to work on presenting them not just reading off a sheet of paper. Well it's hard to teach kids how to show passion in their voices and it's plain to me that there really is passion in a great deal of the writing.

We were just about through the whole class worth of speeches when suddenly I had a brain storm. I thought well, it's hard to describe passion so why not show it?

I thought I may run into some issues showing an Obama speech to my students. I don't want to get in a political debate with them (or their parents!) but I did want them to see the president giving a speech with every ounce of his being. So, second best option-- The West Wing! Thankfully there are hundreds of clips from this amazing show available for viewing on You Tube and since I didn't think it would be necessary or appropriate to show them a whole episode, I just pulled up a few 2-3 minute clips. They watched in pure silence as the actors demonstrated exactly what I was talking about. One student turned to me when the second clip was over and said, "Mrs. B! I think I get it!"

Could I have possibly shown all the students these clips using one regular computer? Sure, but it would have taken the entire class period. I have found yet another wonderful use for this incredible board!!