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"If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough ." David Foster Wallace
Living in Water - A Senior Final based on 3 Commencement Speeches : This lesson was designed for my Senior Final Exam - the students listen (and watch when available) three commencement addresses. The first is by George Saunders ("You are not Special"), the second is by Nobel Prize Author, Toni Morrison, and the third (and my favorite) is by David Foster Wallace ("This is Water"). There are handouts for the students to take notes as they listen - though you can easily modify the handout (there are Word & PDF flavors) for whatever you want - I designed it so they can take notes on ideas, thoughts, and texts that are linked to something that we've studied throughout the year (novels, stories, poems, etc.).
I give them a reminder list of some of those things we've done - and, of course, this too could be easily modified by you to what you've done throughout the school years. The commencement speeches are incredible - to my mind, some of the best ever done - and in addition to reminding students about what we did this year - all three of them of remind us of what it means to be human. Make sure you view the speeches before presenting them to your students. There may be material that you or your students find objectionable (for instance, "This is Water" mentions suicide).
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
This can be a two part lesson. The first part - the first class period, is dedicated to playing the video or audio of the three commencement speeches, while the students take notes. The speeches are by George Saunders, Toni Morrison, and the third by David Foster Wallace.
The second class - if you choose to take this step - would be to have the students take their listening, their thoughts, and their notes - and create an essay. I must say that I never took this second step myself - the main purpose of the lesson, for me, being to have the students listen to what was said - carefully - and to connect it with what they did throughout the year - thereby slyly giving them both a review of what we've done (and we did a lot) and a fresh lens (the three commencement speeches to view our material with).
Listening and Taking Notes on the Handout
Listening and Taking Notes on the Handout
Here are the instructions for that part, taken directly from the handout (which can be found below): Listen to the following Commencement Speeches (and interviews) – briefly (spend most of your time listening) jot down any connections you see to either specific works that we have covered in this class or to ideas that we have covered. PLEASE BE SURE you are copying on the right chart. You may also note big ideas that you find speak specifically to you – at this time of your life – regardless of their connection to this class. If you joined this class later in the year – you may also connect them to texts, and ideas from your previous class. A list of the works from our class can be found below (I may have missed something!) – I do not list the poems we did before each major work, nor do I list the many songs that went along with those works – but please feel free to include any of those.
On the handout - right after these instructions are a numbered list of the major works that we covered in class that year (with the exceptions of the Poems Before Novels that we did with each book). That handout has spaces for students to write their ideas down and they can put the # of the text they made a connection to (saving them time as they listen and take notes).
A Printed Copy of the Speeches
A Printed Copy of the Speeches
I also (though they don't know it as they are listening) give them a printed copy of each speech - just in case they further want to do delve into it on their own time - and as a keepsake (these are pretty amazing speeches and a number of the students - a few days away from their own graduation) end up being quite moved.
The Notes are the Final
The Notes are the Final
Because my World Literature Students do so much throughout the year (on which they are tested) AND because they - at the end of the year - have completed the class project (a 35-40 minute Illuminated Text created by the entire class). The notes - and the connections they make serve both as their final exam and a reminder of some of the wonderful things that happened in our classroom that year.
The Three Commencement Speeches Handout
The Three Commencement Speeches Handout
Three Commencement Speeches Instructions and Connections Handout Docx PDF
See the lesson description above for more on the handout. The first page gives the instructions and a brief numbered list of most of the major works that we covered during the year up to that point. The handout (in both Word and PDF format) can easily be edited to give your own numbered list of what you and your class did during the school year.
The second part of the handout (pages 2-4) are a worksheet where the students can write down the number (saving them time) of the text from that year, along with a space to write down a connection or a comment to the respective commencement speech. This worksheet and the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the students' connections is what I ultimately graded.
A Transcript of the Three Commencement Speeches
A Transcript of the Three Commencement Speeches
Three Commencement Speeches Transcript Docx PDF
I actually gave this transcript out on the last day of class - along with a going away card that I designed and signed. To me it's one of the best parting gifts that I could think of. My class - after all - is all about words - so what better way to end than with a collection of some of the wisest, most thoughtful valedictions ever written. I did not want the students to have a copy as they listened to the speechs - I believe it would actually be distracting and lead to them not listening as closely - and not taking as good of notes as they always ended up taking.
George Saunders Convocation Speech
Syracuse University - 2013
George Saunders Convocation Speech
Syracuse University - 2013
George Saunders G'88, professor of English and author of The New York Times best-seller Tenth of December (Random House, 2013), delivered the following speech at The College of Arts and Sciences' undergraduate convocation ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2013, in the Dome. To commemorate its 10-year anniversary,
Toni Morrison Commencement Address
Wellesley College - 2004
Toni Morrison Commencement Address
Wellesley College - 2004
In her commencement speech at Wellesley College in 2004, Toni Morrison emphasized the importance of language and storytelling, urging the graduates to embrace their power as storytellers and to utilize language to create and understand the world. She encouraged them to find the right words, even if it meant trying different approaches, and to recognize the power of language to shape reality.
David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech
Kenyon College - 2005
David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech
Kenyon College - 2005
David Foster Wallace's commencement speech, titled "This Is Water," emphasizes the importance of being consciously aware and empathetic in everyday life. He argues that true freedom comes from choosing how to think and act, rather than being trapped by default, egocentric settings. I strongly urge teachers to avoid the "illustrated" or animated versions of this video - let the students concentrate on the words.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
This lesson works great remotely - in fact I did it that way the first year of the Pandemic. It was nice to be reminded of normal life - and we appreciated in a new way the things that we had taken for granted (like getting together for graduation).
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
As I said in the Remote Enhancements note above - when we did this lesson during the Pandemic, it was almost surreal. There was a sadness knowing that the students would not have a normal graduation ceremony - but I felt it also gave them something - something they would not have - and honestly, that was something I tried to do all year long.
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