Narratives are stories that allow you to draw conclusions about a series of events

Narratives are stories that allow you to draw conclusions about a series of events

Narratives are stories that allow you to draw conclusions about a series of events. For example, Aesop’s fables are stories (narratives) with morals about human motivations and actions; lawyers, too, tell stories about their clients, the point being to argue for guilt or innocence” (Gronbeck, et al. Principles and Types of Speech Communication 228). Think of the narratives you use when talking to friends, family, or co-workers: your day at work; a first date; a movie you saw; giving your first speech in class, or other events in your life. While analyzing film and television content, media critic Michael Real claimed, “stories are fundamental to human life and claim a universal, permanent appeal in their dramatic structure and form. Bedtime stories, news stories, biblical stories, jokes, novels, films—our interactions and entertainments frequently take the form of stories” (Exploring Media Culture 124).

SPEECH CONTENT: WHAT’S MY STORY ABOUT?For this assignment, you are asked to engage in story telling. Your story should provide a moral or lesson; in this case, your audience should come away with a greater appreciation of you. Specifically, your story should be told through 2-3 objects you have chosen to represent certain key features of your own self concept.Give us the “story” behind each object. What do these things tell us about you? How did they come to be identified with you? Used by you? Representative of you? What’s the connection between each object in telling that story?

• Be creative in your choice. Look for interesting things that offer you a new perspective on how you view yourself.
• Start with yourself. Write down what you consider to be important aspects of your identity. Then make a list of things you find interesting, unique, enlightening. Look for ways to connect aspects of yourself to those things; your narrative should focus on your connection to these items and what this connection can reveal about you. What to the things you’ve chosen tell us about you? How do they connect to one another in the larger story of who you are?
• I’m asking you to focus on the positive connections you share with your chosen objects. Don’t worry about how you are not like something. The point is to find ways to connect yourself to and through these items in a way that tells us something unique about YOU.Please be aware of your audience in this class- myself and a room full of people with varying tastes and beliefs- when you choose your song/story. Make sure your choices will be APPROPRIATE for this audience…

SPEECH ORGANIZATION

You will only need two or three main points depending on how many objects you are using. Once you have chosen your objects and corresponding stories, organize them into a 2-4 minute speech. A successful speech will have three components:

Introduction- brief; creates interest in the audience; previews your story

Body- narrative that tells the story (longest section); really 2-3 little stories (one per object) connected by some underlying theme or concept

Conclusion- summary of importance of your tale; lesson or what story says about you