As some of you have perhaps noticed at this point, I love language. I love when it is beautiful and elaborate and magnificent. Sometimes my crew thinks I am a bit overly dramatic, or that I am just really romantic--which would obviously be the reason why I bring in Jane Austen. Though she certainly tugs at my heart strings, the truth is I feel so strongly that children need to hear this kind of language. They need to be able to absorb the kind of language that pushes them to think.
This fall I taught this crew Cicero's steps of oration. Silly to teach to 2nd and 3rd graders? Perhaps. But it was wonderful. My little guys planned persuasive arguments and wrote with their opinions, and my older guys gave speeches. They now love to hear speeches, and recite them, and memorize them. We have a different significant speech from American history every week. This week, for example, my dudes are working on memorizing parts of "Order of the Day" given by President Eisenhower in 1944.
Today one of my third grade guys came to ask for a conference about the conclusion paragraph of his personal essay. He had started his paragraph with "As you can see..." which is how he had concluded the previous paragraph. I asked him if he knew what redundancy meant. He proceeded with these thoughts:
"Ooh do you mean I say the same thing over and over again? Like in a bad way? Not in the way that really good speeches have. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke with repetition. But he did it on purpose."
Thank you, brilliant rhetoric.
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