Writing persuasive speeches

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Writing persuasive speeches
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Words and deeds

• Jimmy Reid was a Scottish politician. In 1971, he
  was elected Rector of Glasgow University by the
  students to represent them on the management
  board of the university. His speech at the
  ceremony which installed him as rector became
  known as one of the greatest speeches ever made
  in Scotland the New York Times reprinted the
  text, calling it the greatest speech since
  Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

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• An extract of Reid's speech can be found here
• http//www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotlandshistory/20th
  and21stcenturies/jimmyreid/
• Your teacher will give you the text of the
  speech.
• Watch the extract and read the text. Discuss and
  analyse the ways in which Reid delivers the
  speech to persuade the listener.

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Text of the speech extract

• To the students of Glasgow University I
  address this appeal. Reject these attitudes.
  Reject the values and false morality that
  underlie these attitudes. A rat race is for rats.
  We're not rats. We're human beings. Reject the
  insidious pressures in society that would blunt
  your critical faculties to all that is happening
  around you, that would caution silence in the
  face of injustice lest you jeopardise your
  chances of promotion and self-advancement. This
  is how it starts, and before you know where you
  are, you're a fully paid-up member of the
  rat-pack. The price is too high. It entails the
  loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as
  Christ put it, 'What doth it profit a man if he
  gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his
  soul?'

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What makes this a good speech?

• Look at the sheet which analyses Reid's delivery
  of the speech.
• How does the text persuade the audience?
• How does the delivery persuade the audience?
• How does the delivery add to the message?

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Delivering the speech

• Look at the sheets which give you the text of
  some other extracts of Reid's speech.
• Discuss how you would deliver the speech to
  ensure its impact.
• Think about repetition, pace, the use of pauses,
  possible ad libs and tone.

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Your own

• Take a piece of persuasive writing you have
  written.
• Think about all or part of it as a speech. How
  would you change the text?
• Annotate it to show how you would deliver it as a
  speech rather than as an essay.
• Try it with your peers as an audience!

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Self / Peer evaluation

• Evaluate your response to this lesson on the
  following scales, where 1 is strongly disagree,
  3 is neither agree nor disagree and 5 is
  strongly agree

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• I understand the difference between writing a
  speech and writing an essay.
• 1 ------------ 2 ------------ 3 ------------ 4
  ------------- 5
•  
• I understand the ways in which language can be
  used to persuade a listener as well as a reader
• 1 ------------ 2 ------------ 3 ------------ 4
  ------------- 5
•  
• I can effectively use language that is designed
  to be spoken rather than read.
• 1 ------------ 2 ------------ 3 ------------ 4
  ------------- 5
•  
• Make a comment about what you have learned from
  these tasks