Writing and delivering speeches

Once the children's cities begin to thrive, they write short reports on the current events in their cities. Sometimes we have done this as a SimCity Newspaper, at other times as "a day in the life of a SimCitizen on the street." Later each child must write a State of the City or a mayoral re-election address, complete with Ross Perot-type explanatory graphs.

In preparation for their own speech writing, our students examine the message of Pericles' speech to his fellow Ancient Athenians. They identify the values that Pericles used to inspire his audience. The basic concepts of democratic government were all there, even though the concept of "city" was more like "nation" at that time. Students also watched thirty minutes of President Clinton's State of the Union speech with the job of analyzing the values he emphasized as he sought citizen support. They observed and could imitate Clinton's speech-making style and gestures in a way that comes naturally to children.

The students wrote their own speeches and made their graphs, seeking editorial and presentation advice from peer "speech-writing consultants." Finally, each student, dressed for the occasion, delivered his or her speech from a podium and answered questions from the "press."