hr6 ELA12 for america’s sake
Read the adaptation of remarks made by Bill Moyer from his speech For America’s Sake and blog your response. (link to video clip also provided)
Reference your handout regarding what to expect from the genre of speech. While reading, pay attention to the essential questions of this year’s disposition… leadership qualities and to the power of story.
Your blog should mention all of the following: author’s purpose/thesis, structure (genre, point/purpose/theme. Does he use story? If so, where? Consider word choice, sentence length and placement. How might this affect audience? Point out the call to action. What does he want listeners/readers to do? Point out his use of allusion. Is he effective? If so, how?
DUE before class 09.11
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070122/moyers.html
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070205/moyers_video
Now try the President….
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDqQJuGAC0Xb5hUlwfuOZ-0hr5_gD9AJ0AK80
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/08/obama.school.speech/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
September 10th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Moyers’ purpose is really clear; though he starts off adressing that democrats really don’t deserve the office… which is an opinion statement, it was a pretty lengthy intro to what he was getting at, which is that everyday people are being left behind everyday. Instead of having freedoms and living the dream, millions are shut out and need help, and he thinks the first activists and leaders to adress that fact will be the people who do the most for our country. He said that people years ago were alot better off than we are, because even though they werent getting rich they were getting along. Basically the thesis is that America leaves no one behind, and he rallies the people up so that they hear his words and act on them. Moyers makes alot of allusions to the past, talking about John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and the New Deal. His sentences are rather lengthy, and his vocabulary is huge, which might have confused some people because i definately had to reread it… but it also gives him a sense of importance, like he knows what hes talking about and his words sound powerful. It affects the audience because he throws in refrences they can understand like the great depression and how our worsening economy, and they want to change it and therefore he has persuaded them he is right. He challenges the audience to reach out to people for america’s sake, telling them they are on a journey to keep america in good hands. He tell stories about how the vikings doomed themselves, and how we musn’t do that. He finally asks the audience to go tell everyone that our story of power is the promise that America leaves no one out, and that is what they shouldv’e got from his speech. I think it was a very affective speech because his refrences to stories had the audience thinking about their own part in America, and it opened their eyes to what america is supposed to be like.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Obama’s speech primairily has focus on the responsibilty of students, parents, and teachers to all put forth their best efforts so students can accomplish their dreams in our country. He uses stories from his life and how he grew to success, his wife’s life, and other lives that were looking towards a rough future but they worked hard in school and eventually fulfilled their ambitions. He has a wide vocab, but he uses words that people can easily understand, and his word placement does the job of getting his message across, his message for the teens of our world to work hard for their future. He is calling out to the audience to set our own goals for our education, saying that if people are commited, then they will achieve. He uses examples that are well known like j.k. rowling and michael jordan to catch attention and prove his point. it affects the audience because they can relate to what he is saying and take action, by means of trying harder in work, school, basically anywhere a challenge resides. He is affective because he constantly challenges us to be responsible and no one can resist a challenge, and that is also what he wants us listeners to do.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
President Barack Obama utilizes a smaller sentence structure to stress the importance of what he is saying. He uses a smaller more focused vocabulary that everyone can comprehend and all makes excellent use of lists to show the options that are presented when perseverance and self commitment are used.
He uses American pride, real life role models, and historic events to gain the support of parents across America and to motivate and inspire the kids in America to work harder.
He calls out our pride by saying that kids in school like us have won our independence, kept our nation unified, or won a 2 world wars. He shows that Americans who make the difference are the ones who keep on going through the tough times.
He utilizes real lie stories of kids whose lives are harder than the average American child’s to show that people can use hardship and turn it around to turn it into success.
The President uses role models as a way to show that even the most successful people in the world have failed time and time again. People such as Michael Jordan or J.K. Rowling who are revered all over the world to show that they didn’t just wake and win or write and ground-shattering novel. they had to work at what they are doing and it took perseverance and dedication to make someone extraordinary that everyone looks up to.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Moyer’s takes a long time and many large words to get a simple point across.He is saying to stop leaving people behind.He is talking for the people without a voice.He is trying to get the reader to support a cause.He tells many stories of famous political figures and of the vikings.He uses a large vocabulary and good sentence length. He calls out to the audience to tell everyone that America leaves no on out and he does it in a very effective way.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Bill Moyer had quite a sentence structure that helped to influence the audince, which is that now everyone in america is equal or have equal opportunnities. He is trying to point out that everyone has failed as a country, by discriminating about everything including social class. He believes that people long ago were better off then the people now. the storys he refrences about like the vikings, helps the audience think. He asks the audience to reach out and not leave any americans behind.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Bill Moyer’s thesis was very clear to me. He was trying to share his opinions and influence the listeners to understand his perspective. He was trying to tell the listeners that we have failed as a country and need to step up, take control, and come up with solutions to our faults. He also attempted to paint a picture for us of the Gettysburg Address. He did this because he feels that we should follow the ideals set out in the address. He also did a very good job on not making his sentences drag on. No reader/listener wants to sit through that.
This speech, in my eyes, is very effective. It presents us with our problems that we know of and even some we don’t and he lays it out step by step what we can do to straighten out our mishaps and misfortune. This man is a great speech writer and helped me understand more about whats going on with our country.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
What Moyer is trying to get across is that average americans are supposed to be living the american dream. His intro went on about how democrats and republicans fight for office and how niether of them deserve it, but he said what we really need to do is to learn to confront failure. His first point is that human beings are more than economic opportunities, meaning that americans are more than people with jobs or people that are giving the country money every day. He also says, “our country is more than an economic machine.” What i think he means by this is that America is a free country and should be looked at as a country with good character and well being. Instead we are looked upon as a country with money and we are always looking for more. When watching the part of Moyer’s speech he says the story that we have to tell is unfolding. he is trying to point out that every generation in america is a new chapter in this countries story. There has been discrimination, slavery, economic instability, and those are failures of our country. His message to us was that we must tell our own story about our free country to everyone we see no matter what type of race, religion, gender, job, or income. His whole point to the speech was to not leave any american people out because they are americans as well.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
President Obama’s speech towards school students was a great one! He encouraged students of all ages to try their best and get involved in school. Although he talks about himself ALOT, he makes alot of great points during his speech. He also spells out the role of students as well as teachers and parents. His speech was very effective. It encouraged me to try my hardest and put out the extra effort to be the best student i can be. President Obama’s speech used many complex words but not to the point where it was un-understandable. Overall Obama’s speech was preety good. He had many valid points that made alot of sense.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
di thought that Bill Moyer’s thesis was very clear to me and it was very stright to the point. he was rely addressed the democrat party. and hes sentince structure was amazing. it showed that the average american can stand up and fight for that american dream every day of there life. saying that the average man should have a diferent thing then going to work and dieing
i thought in my eyes he was a good talker in my eyes he got th point across very well
September 10th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Obama’s main focus in his speech is education and how important it is to try hard and stay in school. he points out that we can do anything we want in the world,but we won’t know that unless we learn it through school. He also says that we can’t drop out of school and expect to get a decent job, we have to work for it, train for it, and learn for it. he made it clear that we are the future that america depends on because if we fail then we will have failed our country. Obama also makes it clear that it’s not easy throughout your school career, but with his story about his life and his wife’s he made it clear that it i very possibel to get through it. Those three children he talked about, they all have it worse off than we do, but they have found ways to get through school and succeed. Obama gives the roles that teachers, parents, and students ahould play. He also talked about setting goals for ourselves, committing to those goals, and he never wants us to stop reaching for those goals. he made a clear point that he never wants us to give up, because if we give up we not only failed ourselves but we have failed our country. this speech is very compelling because it has a sense of leadership. We lead our own lives, and obama wants us to lead ourselves, along with the help of teachers and parents, down the right path so we can be successful in life. Another point that was brought up often was failure. obama said that some of the most successful people in life are the ones who have had the most failures. He used J.K. Rowling and Micheal Jordan as examples. They have both had many failures, but J.K. has 7 very successful books and micheal was a pro basketball player, now in the hall of fame. we shouldnt be afraid to ask questions or ask for help, snd sometimes we have to try more than once. the thesis for this speech was easy to pick out because his whole speech was about education, and how important it is to stay in school. His last message to us was that being successful is hard, but as long as we get serious and put forth our best effort we too can be successful. His speech was very interesting to listen to because it was full of challenges not only to the audience around him, but they were also aimed to get the sttention of every american student.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Obama Speech.
I like in the Obama speech how he states that he did dumb stuff in school and he is not ashamed to say so. I like how he says that there is no excuse for missing class or treating the teaches bad and that he states that only you can change your future.
But when he goes through all the students that had problems with school and there home lives i felt that none of it pertained to me. Because they had problems in life dosen’t mean that I do. I feel that the speech is just like the first day of class. He is telling us that you need to show up for class and that you have to do good in school. All he is doing is stating the obvious.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Moyers made it extensively clear that he believes our country has been increasingly leaving behing some of our lower class citizens. It’s good that he get’s his ideas out, but I think he could’ve shortened his speech up juuust a tad. It kind of drags on and is REALLLY boring to read, but the objectives of his talk were pretty good. Moyers shared several Americans sad little stories of poverty and discrimination which was smart of him cuz’ it made his speech more emotionally approachable to listeners and when you hit a heart wrenching nerve in people, then I think that makes them like your ideas a bit more.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I thought Obamas speech was pretty good, especially since he says that he messed up in high school, that puts him at a more personal, realistic level with the students that listen to him. He pretty much pointed out the basics: staying in school=a better life and what not. The Prez lets us know that he believes that it doesn’t take an individual alone to succeed, but the support of good educators and caring parents.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
moyers was trying to show his opnion. He stated that some of the lower class citizens are being forgtten. moyer says that democrats dont eally deserve the to be in office, moyer said that people before use were better because they new how to get along no matter who had more money. The thesis is that AMERICA LEAVES NO ONE OUT. there are many allusions in moyers long sentences. moyer uses some vocabulary that will really confuse some people. u kind of need to be realy smart to understand what he is saying. moyer is trying to pursuade people that our economy is getting much worse and we need to change it soon. the whole concept of the story is to include all peole in america. that nobody should be left ot because we ALL need to help change.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
obamas speech made him seem more like a person saying that while he was in school he didnt do good sometimes. All of obamas sentances and vocab was alot smaller then moyers. mostly the concept is that kids need to try hard and stay in school. he says that the kids now are the nations future. That kids now will end p in the office.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
In Bill Moyer’s speech he talks about how not so wealthy americans are not being treated equally compare wealthy americans. He wants the people to take a stand and speak up. His thesis i believe is “america leaves no body out”. He uses a strong structure and pretty lenghty sentences. This affects the audience because it grabs the audiences attention. It gets them thinking about what he is talking about and making them have an opinoin on the issue he is talking about. He tells a couple stories one about the daily struggle of ordianry people, along with younger adults. He also talks about a lady named Carol Ann Reyes and how she wasn’t treated equally becuase she was not given the medical attention needed because she did not have health care. I believe he said this speech to get the readers to stand up and tell the government what they want. He also talked about the past on John F. Kennedys speech on the cold war. He also talks about God. I believe this speech was effective because it got a lot of people thinking and i believed it helped many americans see what was happening around them.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Obama’s speech was very clear and easy to grasp. I believe that his thesis was that even if the schools and teachers are amazing its still up to the students to take the responsibility to doing their best at their classes, whether it be attendence in general, doing their homework, or just paying complete attention to the teachers. I believe that his purpose behind this speech was to inspire us to be better students, to give our all no matter what class it is, what teacher, and whats going on in our lives at the time. Also to inspire us to go onto college and get a higher education so we can keep america running. He used a few instances of story, one of which was his life story of his father leaving early in his life about 4min into the speech, and the others were stories of kids that came from nothing and went on to acheive great things and these were a few min later in the speech. He used smaller sentances and a less complicated vocabulary in this speech, this affected the audience by making it more easily understood and would keep their attention more readily than if he was using 20syllable words. He gave the students a call to action to work hard at what ever they do in life and to achieve a higher education and to craft their own destinies in how they see fit. He used a few allusions, Michael Jordan and JK Rawlimg. He was very effective because he showed how you learn from failure more than success.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Moyer’s speech is a long winded one to say the least. His thesis seems to be that the democrats have only recieved the government by luck and because bush lost a war people are deciding shouldnt have been fought. Also that the rich are growing more powerful and are no longer held accountable to their actions because they can just pay off the government. I believe his purpose behind this speech was to attack the democrats, show how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting more poor, and that because of their money the rich are able to buy the government so they can do what ever they want. His sentence structure is very long and complex included the vocabulary he uses in this piece, i believe that it was too long and boring but thats my oppinion. This probley affected the audience by confusing them at some points, making it not as easy to grasp, and also it most likely could’ve lost their attention. He uses a few story references through his speech, the first is of a lady named Carol anne reyes who was a 63year old lady that was homeless and had dementia and got to a hospital but the hospital turned her away. Next he spoke about JFK and then after that he mentioned Reagon. The call to action i got out of this was that we nned to do our best to follow the american dream and achieve it, since barely 14%of all americans did. He used an allusion to shakespear very early on in his speech, it was effective in getting his point across that the democrats won the presidency and congress by luck instead of merit
September 11th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Bill Moyer’s purpose of the speech, “For America’s Sake,” is to inspire and influence the audience to support a cause. This cause is to spread the word that “the promise of America leaves no one out.” This is the thesis/theme of his speech.
He uses stories many times throughout his speech to support his thesis. He tells stories of people who have not had fair treatment by the government, as in the case of Carol Ann Reyes, and stories about the people who have tried to change that, like Abraham Lincoln and FDR. He uses these stories to explain his position more clearly and effectively.
Mr. Moyer uses short sentences to emphasize his main ideas, and uses longer sentences to support them. This helps his audience to see what his point is. He uses words with both undesirable connotations and undesirable denotations to influence his audience away from a certain way of thinking, and words with positive connotations and denotations to describe the “story of America” which he supports.
He wants listeners and readers to do something about the path America is going to decide on. He wants his audience to tell everyone that “the promise of America leaves no one out.” He wants us to influence our leaders to effect the kind of change in this nation that will help everybody.
He uses allusion very frequently in his speech to support this call to action. From the very first paragraph, where he says conservatism used a figurative Trojan horse, to the second to last paragraph, where he mentions the parable of the mustard seed from the New Testament, allusion is everywhere. He uses these allusions very effectively by explaining thoroughly but quickly how they relate to his theme. His choice of allusions is also good, because many of them are well known, but not over-used.
President Obama’s purpose of his speech is the same as Bill Moyer’s purpose of “For America’s Sake”- to influence listeners to support a cause. However, this cause is not the equal distribution of the promise of America, but the struggle for success in the classroom. His thesis is that “we can have the dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world, and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter, unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities…you gotta do your part too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year.”
He uses multiple stories to support his thesis. He tells about people like Jasmine Perez, who have achieved success only after difficult struggles. He tells about how Andoni Schultz has fought brain cancer since he was 3, but never fell behind and is heading to college this fall. He uses these examples to show how these people never gave up despite their circumstances.
He also tells a story about his childhood and his struggles with school. He talks about how he didn’t have a father and how he would get into trouble, but that he was lucky and he got second chances. The most important lesson in this story is that we have to make good use of our second chances when we are lucky enough to receive them.
One thing I noticed is that Obama will tell an audience his idea and clarify it a few times in different ways before he moves onto another idea. This helps everyone in his audience to understand, and each time he clarifies the idea, he emphasizes something about it. This helps get his point across by explaining to everyone in the audience exactly what he wants them to get out of each idea, without sounding condescending.
His call to action is that we, as students, need to fulfill our responsibilities to make this country great. He is calling out every student in America to do their jobs, and to work hard to be the best people they can be.
He makes allusions to the careers of J.K.Rowling and Michael Jordan. This is effective because his audience knows who these people are. It also works well because it draws from both the literary world and the athletic circles, so more people can relate to the examples.
September 11th, 2009 at 6:21 am
President Obama’s thesis in his speech was pretty easily pulled outfrom the start. It was that we the students are the ones that have to take the responsibility for our education and our destiny. His purpose for this speech was to inspire the students to never give up in school and always try their best at whatever they choose to do in thier lives. He told the story of his dad leaving when he was two and how hard it was growing up without a father, he mentioned a girl named Jasmine to, she came from nothing and couldn’t even speak english when she came to this country and now she’s on her way to becoming an M.D. He used less complicated words and shorter sentances to get his point across to the audience. This inturn would make the audience have an easier time understanding his speech and what it meant to all of them instead of confusing them. He deffinetly wants the audience to follow his advice take school seriously and go all the way to college. He made allusions to Micheal Jordan and J.K. Rowling about how they failed many times before they succeeded. They did a great job at getting his point across.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Obamas thesis is that it is up to the student. His purpsoe is to inspire students to try their best in school.He used allusion when he talked about Michael Jordan which really got the point across.he didnt use huge words or complicated structure which added to the speech because of who his audience was.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Moyer’s speech is about leaving no one behind. This is the thesis of his speech. He paraphrases stories and uses their lessons to benifit his speech. He also used some real-world relations and told about people who tried to fight for equality such as Abraham Lincoln. I believe that Moyer’s speech implicated that the rich are only getting richer and the poor are getting left behind.
Obama’s speech was more straight forward then Moyer’s. His thesis was about how the students of the United States need to take control of their educations and their lives. At one point Obama talks about how he had a hard father-less childhood, and he is glad he got second chances. He encourages students to make the most out of all second chances and never let your day go to waste.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:26 am
moyer states that the democrates don’t belong in office and that they will miss use the power given to them thats his opinoin statment. he hooks the audence with metaphors like “Trojan horse of conservatism was hauled into Washington” which is also an allusion that basicaly means that he think the democrates are decieving people. he doesn’t stories more like short examples so people stay hooked. he asks us to leave no body behind.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I think Moyer’s speech was way too long and complex in its sentance structure and words. this most likely made the audience confused and bored. his thesis seemed to be that the american dream isn’t getting achieved anymore and that the rich are too powerful. it seemed like the purppose he wrote this speech was to complain and critisize the democrats. he told a story about a sixtythree year old woman named Carol Anne Reyes that had dementia and was homeless, some how one night she made it to a hospital and instead of giving her the help she needed they threw her in a cab and sent her away. he entirely wants the audience to try and get the american dream. the only allusion i could find was the one he made to shakespear. which again made fun of the democrats and worked.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Bill Moyer’s speech was riddled with fancy words that really weren’t necessary. It is not like they were incomprehensible but sometimes some of his choices in words were a bit ‘eeeh’ yet his lengthy words gave off an aura of confidence, it helped reassure that he knew what he was talking about.. However, he did keep the speech focused on one central idea which was how as a country, America leaves no one out. He uses forceful comparisons and makes references to allusions that even the most unintelligent man could comprehend and go ‘oh, hey! I know what he’s talking about!’ Obama’s speech was very clear and concise. He said he was going to talk about education and he did. He did not push the children of American into the left side or the right side. He kept to his topic and made sure he used simple enough examples that kids between the ages of K-12 could understand. He spoke of J.K Rowling and Michael Jordan and showed us how success does not come easy like some celebrities or rappers make it out to be. He also was not afraid to use his past as an example which helps kids relate to him on a personal level. He did not speak for too long or too short. It was honestly a really good speech.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Obamas speech…
In obamas speech he talks about how kids from grades kindergarden to 12th, mainly 12th, need to try harder and do their best in school. His thesis is, “There is no excuse for not trying.” He uses shorter sentences with strong describing words. They are to the point and have a lot of facts. This affects the audience because it helps the audience, no matter what age, understand the point he is trying to get across; Work hard in school. It also grabs the audiences attention. He is trying to get the kids to try their very best in school and become someone. His speech is very effective because he gives a lot of points on why you should try hard in school, for example, if you don’t try then you wont find out what your good at. Also you cant drop out of school and get a good career without an education. Some stories he talks about are his past and how his father left when he was 2 years old making it hard, but he never gave up. Also how his wifes family didn’t have a lot of money, but she still made it to college. He refers to the past alot too. Some examples would be how America didn’t quit when times got tough, but rather tried harder, and how 75 years ago survived a depression, won a world war, and got a man on the moon.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Bill Moyers speech was long and had a lot of crazy words in it. You could tell that he knew what he was doing up their but sometimes you kind of drift off listeing to him because its boring in my opinion. In Bill Moyers opinion he thinks that democrates shouldnt be in office and thats his opinion statement. his speeches central idea was, American, and how we leave no left out and no one is left behind. One phrase that really caught my ear that some may have heard also which is about a trojan horse. Here he was using allusion. His word choise was big like i said but sometimes too big. He used things that kids could understand like talking about J.K rowling and Michael jordan.
Obamas speech was aimed toward k- 12 grade students and hes basically telling everyone to word hard and you will accomplish a lot was his thesis and also their is no reason to make up excuses and not try. I like his speech a lot better than moyers because i liked obamas word choice because it was very easy to understand and didnt bore you to tears. He was also saying in his speech that we will leave no one behind. I like how he told the story about his mother and how he worked very hard to support him even thought they had no money. A lot of the stories he talked about showed that hard work really does pay off. He uses short scentense i think because its directed towards a younger audience so no matter what grade they can understand it. He talks about how we accomplished a lot of things in the past too like putting a man on the moon in 69′ and winning a hughe WW. i think his speech was worth saying but it influenced me to work and in school and throught my life and i will succeed.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I couldnt access the bill moyer and obama stuff last week so i had to do it today along with the other blog
September 14th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
obama is saying that our education is important not only to are future but to the future economy of america. he tells about the first time he went to school and how he didn’t like it and how he now knows how important it is. he wants his audence to do the best they can in school.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
in the speech “for americas sake” i think Bill Moyer was trying to get the point across that we arent all as rich & welathy as everyone thinks. but i also think his speech was very drawed out and was too complex for auidneces who are younger, if he really wanted to get the message out to everyone..he should of made it a little more understandable.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Obama’s speech is mainly on education, on the responsibilities of students and teachers, to make all the effort they can so that they can accomplish their dreams and goals. He used stories about his life and his wife’s life to help accomplish his point. It also helps so that the audience con relate to their own lives. He reaches out to the audience to make their own goals for the future and to work towards them. Obama uses a very large vocabulary that the audience can understand he utilizes a smaller sentence structure to stress the importance of his point.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I could not access the written Obama speech but I watched the video. First of All Bill Moyers, a very strong willed Republican who speaks and shows his feelings for democrats and the lack of work that they have done in office and congress to help this country in need. Bill provides very stable theories, some are facts and some may be fiction but they are down right convincing. He is right that the public relies too much upon the information that is ascew provided from the media on the television, it is changed and worded differently all the time. I believe Bills thoughts and I believe that with Obama in office that he is more of a celebrity than a president, he talked about all this change while trying to be elected into office such as taking troops home from Iraq and boosting the economy. He now is talking about sending MORE troops to Iraq and even though he said that he would make change to the economy it hasn’t changed at all and will not change as quick as some people think. Bill has also made the point that the government has changed so much since first being established, The way that people in office are more about the wealth than the people that they are in fact governing. Now Obama’s video on education has some very strong points and he is right about how it is the student’s responsiblilty to change. It is our responsiblility and it has to happen.