Finding a Voice

Finding a voice speech
Diorio

Hey class has begun. Get to work while I take attendance. Hold up… Do we got any seniors in here? Or incoming seniors that is. You know you guys got it good. You don’t have to make up snow days and you get out early. But there are a couple things I want to tell you before you start. Some you may know, others not. They might even sound familiar.

First off. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You better remember that one. I mean you did learn that in Econ last year. Nothing’s free. Alright? Remember that one. If you go to the cafeteria with no money in your pocket or on you uhh your account, they might charge you or no lunch. No such thing as a free lunch alright?

Secondly, enjoy the time you have. You only got one senior year. Live it without getting into trouble. Be safe. Go to the football games and support the best sport in Wayland. Or if you prefer, you can play on the team. I can, I’m sorry, WE can always use a kicker to replace that fantastic kicker Larsen.

Lastly, the most important one on and off the field. No missing assignments. You miss an assignment, you let in a touchdown. You miss an assignment, you lower your grade. You lower your grade, the less chance you have of getting into college. But if you can go your whole senior year with missing assignments, failing grades, and still get into college… More power to ya.

Then you got all my basic rules. No Santa Claus. No free lunch. And supply and demand. How does supply and demand happen? Anybody? Come on guys! NATURALLY. Now get out of here. Have a nice day.

Reflection

Throughout my speech, I mimicked Mr. Diorio. The first device used in this speech was diction. It was more informal than formal with simplicity. No big words were used and that’s exactly how Diorio works. He uses big words rarely as he understands that sometimes, student may not understand what he is saying. I used utterances to show some informal speech.

A second device was arrangement. At times, Diorio will go on tangents. I used a tangent when I was talking about football. I started the paragraph talking about enjoying the time you have and somehow segued into football and trying to convince one of the listening students to play football. Surprise surprise. Diorio is known for trying to recruit kids to play football. Especially for the position of kicker which I mentioned at the end of the paragraph.

Idioms were also a device I incorporated into the speech. I put on my deepest voice and started using Diorio quotes. These were quotes that everyone knows. You can go up to a student in the school and say a quote and they will know who you are mimicking immediately. For example, “no such thing as a free lunch”, “Santa doesn’t exist”, “naturally”, and the most common quote, “supply and demand!”

Giving this speech taught me that different people give different advice. The advice I give would be similar to Diorio’s but some of the things he would say I wouldn’t. Specifically, the football thing. I probably wouldn’t recommend playing football to a senior. I also learned that certain things can make people recognize who you’re pretending to be. During the speech, I leaned back in a chair which is a typical teaching method for Mr. Diorio. Saying things can contribute to that also. Mainly the introduction. I opened saying, “Hey class has begun. Get to work while I take attendance. Hold up… Do we got any seniors in here?” That’s a classic Diorio move. Telling students to do one thing then totally changing his mind and starting a conversation. At first, I didn’t think this was a common occurrence but once James and Tyler started laughing hysterically, I knew that this happened all the time. All in all, this was a good experience. My advice to seniors? Everything that I said in the speech. Live your life, do your work, and remember that there is no such things as a free lunch.