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Year 9 Humanities

Daniel O'Brien —

Year 9 Humanities

We began to focus on the development of speeches and the persuasive writing that underpins a strong argument. The class studied Nancy Duarte’s TED Talk on the science of delivering a speech. The students discovered that all great speeches move from the ‘what is’ to the future ‘what could be’. We used this to examine Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech and discovered his constant reference to the problems of his time while offering hope of the ‘what could be’.

The second speech was delivered in 2007 by Steve Jobs at the launch of the very first Apple iPhone. Our students had to be reminded that smartphones are relatively new and that what they understand as an everyday item was actually groundbreaking when it was launched. Jobs followed the same structure as Martin Luther King Jr, offering the challenges of the present with the solutions of the future.

In an era where many of our young men will work in employment that currently does not exist, this week has been an eye opener, not only in how to deliver a great speech, but also what future we can create.