Writing speeches has been a challenging, yet exciting journey for our Grade One students. I call it a journey because just like any journey, it has a beginning, middle and an end. The children have come to realize that their speeches will follow a similar path. The students have selected topics that are dear to their hearts, and generated relevant ideas, which would capture the interest of their audience. Additionally, the importance of determining what messages they want to convey to their audience through their speeches has been strongly emphasized.The children’s deep interest in writing has led them to generate a myriad of ideas that they chose to include. In result, a major focus has been on the organization of these ideas, emphasizing that they should be written in a logical sequence, in order not to confuse their audience. During their writing process, it is evident that they struggle with translating their thoughts into an introduction, body and conclusion. They are beginning to understand the concept of paragraphing as a means of structuring their ideas, as well as the use of transition words, which are used to connect one idea with the other.

Overall, writing speeches has been a wonderful learning experience. It is a memorable one for our grade one students as well as for me, as we continue to learn about and from each other.