You picked your piece and really thought about why you wanted it. You’ve made a list of all the parts you want to keep. Perhaps you already know that you have too much to keep all of it. Now….what should you eliminate when you are cutting it?
Tag: Membership
Cutting a Piece Part 2/3 – What to Keep
Every work of literature is made up of five literary elements. You may have had an English teacher that made you study these ad nauseam! (I may have been that English teacher!) But these five mechanisms make any story work. They affect the reader or audience in specific ways. They are manipulated by the author to specific purpose. Understanding what they are and how they work helps you make a good cut for your interp.
Cutting a Piece Part 1/3 – Where to Start
Cutting your interp piece can be a DAUNTING task. There simply are not that many scripts out there designed for 10 minute presentations, so chances are, you are holding a book that you need to squeeze down into just 10 minutes. Where do you begin?
Platform Speeches- Picking Your Topic
Spending some quality time researching and thinking about what you want to speak about is a pretty great idea. It's an important decision on your "Platform Journey". I actually keep an on-going list of ideas (and I'm not even a competitor). You should too! With phones that take notes and access to computers, jotting down a few ideas that you can explore when your ready to dive in, is pretty easy. This list doesn't start when the speech season starts... It's on-going.
There are so many fascinating subjects, people, events, etc. I honestly don't know if I was competing, if I would ever be able to choose?
Thinking about Biblical Presentation
In 2015, the NCFCA introduced a new Speech category- Biblical Presentation. Having coached several qualifying National BP's, including the first place National Champion. I analyzed the Biblical Presentation category and saw this as an exciting opportunity for competitors to learn a new interpretation skill. Here is how we tackled the learning curve of this new speech...
Forming a Duo Team
By: Heather Neumann
Every year I can't wait to see what partnerships God will bring together! Duos can bring a lot of joy to one's heart, however sometimes it can bring frustration and disappointment. As a duo- you are a team. And if you are not siblings- your team includes your duo partner’s family.
Rules, Rules, Rules
You are working on a hot topic. You have a killer idea for a speech this year. You want to try something outside-the-box in one of your interps. This is the kind of thinking I LOVE! I get excited when I have conversations along these lines with my students. But I always advise them to check the rules BEFORE they get too deep in the development.
Original Interpretation
By: Heather Neumann
You have ten minutes… That's 600 seconds to convey your Original Interp. Don't let that scare you! But you do want to make sure you answer some important questions…
Preparing an Impromptu- or Any Written Speech (Part 4)
By: Kristi Eskelund
STRATEGIES There ARE things you can do at a tournament, before a round to help you have something to talk about in impromptu. The need is to have LOTS of bits and pieces brought forward to the front of your mind where they are ready for you to use them. Here are a few ways to do that:
Preparing an Impromtu- or Any Written Speech (Part 3)
By: Kristi Eskelund
STYLE Less critical than structure or content is using a bit of your own style.
Preparing an Impromtu- or Any Written Speech (Part 2)
By: Kristi Eskelund
CONTENT Content deals with the WHAT of your piece. What is it about and what exactly are you saying about it? Are you expressing an opinion of your own? Are you refuting or agreeing with someone else’s opinion? Are you answering a question?
Preparing an Impromptu- or Any Written Speech (Part 1)
By: Kristi Eskelund
When I was a student myself, I competed in a UIL event called Ready Writing. This essentially was an impromptu essay competition that required competitors to produce an essay on the spot after any given a prompt. It was judged on a number of factors including the articulateness of the response, the ability of the writer to allude to other sources, the use of stylistic devices, and of course, correct usage of grammar and spelling! Years, later, when the College Board added an essay component to the SAT exam, the parameters of that exam looked an awful lot like my old Ready Writing requirements, and at that time I began teaching workshops on how to write that essay for a maximum score. I realized in the process that most of my material actually crossed over into preparing for limited prep speeches as well! The main points I always hit on are developing your structure, content, and style and then getting a LOT of practice! After that, you can develop some real strategies.
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