The Speech
I knew I would need to start writing my speech at some point, but there were much better things to be doing than homework. The speech had to be about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. I had terrible writer's block. The topic and instructions given by my English teacher were vague. I was sure I would never get the speech done.
The Washington D.C. trip was a big deal in the eighth grade. Everyone was so excited to be able to take a trip so far away. Before we could go on the trip we had to have the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier speech contest. The contest pitted the entire grade against each other to see who could write the best speech. You first read your speech to your English class and the English teacher chose the speeches he/she thought were best, then best speeches were sent to three teacher judges. The teacher judges would read the speeches and chose the top eight. The top eight people would give their speech to …show more content…
I ended up starting my essay with a number. I started with the number of American soldiers that have died since the revolutionary war. I can remember the number now, but it was huge.
I followed that with the number of unidentified soldiers. I thought that I would start my speech with something dramatic to get the audience interested.
I then wrote about my brothers. Both of them are in the military and both have been deployed.
I wrote about how we got a call one day that said an unidentified soldier had been killed in action and my family thought it was my brother. I wrote about how soldiers give up everything to protect the United States. I wrote about the Tomb of the Unknown soldiers meaning.
The words started to flow together, as the writer's block melted away. I felt more confident about giving my speech. I was excited to share my thoughts and to hear other peoples. I wanted my words to move my
I knew I would need to start writing my speech at some point, but there were much better things to be doing than homework. The speech had to be about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. I had terrible writer's block. The topic and instructions given by my English teacher were vague. I was sure I would never get the speech done.
The Washington D.C. trip was a big deal in the eighth grade. Everyone was so excited to be able to take a trip so far away. Before we could go on the trip we had to have the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier speech contest. The contest pitted the entire grade against each other to see who could write the best speech. You first read your speech to your English class and the English teacher chose the speeches he/she thought were best, then best speeches were sent to three teacher judges. The teacher judges would read the speeches and chose the top eight. The top eight people would give their speech to …show more content…
I ended up starting my essay with a number. I started with the number of American soldiers that have died since the revolutionary war. I can remember the number now, but it was huge.
I followed that with the number of unidentified soldiers. I thought that I would start my speech with something dramatic to get the audience interested.
I then wrote about my brothers. Both of them are in the military and both have been deployed.
I wrote about how we got a call one day that said an unidentified soldier had been killed in action and my family thought it was my brother. I wrote about how soldiers give up everything to protect the United States. I wrote about the Tomb of the Unknown soldiers meaning.
The words started to flow together, as the writer's block melted away. I felt more confident about giving my speech. I was excited to share my thoughts and to hear other peoples. I wanted my words to move my