Analysis Of Senator Michael Johnston's Convocation Remarks

Senator Michael Johnston’s Convocation Remarks

Teachers play a critical role in the fundamental values children develop during their years of education. Teachers serve many roles in the classroom that affect a child’s behaviour and attitude for the rest of their lives. They fulfill the main role of educating students placed in their care, but beyond that expected service teachers also mentor and nurture students, become role models and they create a warm and inviting classroom environment for the children to learn and develop their character in. Today, Michael Johnston is state senator in Colorado but prior to his duties Michael was a teacher and principal in high schools and universities in Mississippi and Colorado. Johnston has a strong

passion for education. His passion flourished when he became a part of the Teach for America Program in Greenville, Mississippi. Based on his experience in that setting, Johnston wrote a book called “In the Deep Heart’s Core”, explaining the challenges he faced as a teacher in Mississippi. Johnston then moved on from that experience and become a principal at a troubled school in Colorado. The graduation rate was 50% when Johnston first took over as principal but he managed to hit 100% in his first year in charge there. The speech Michael Johnston delivers at Harvard’s convocation for teachers reveals how he increased the graduation rate so drastically and how his passion and true emotion for the education system affected many students.
Michael Johnston’s speech is a well-constructed speech that is based upon three personal stories he has experienced through education. Johnston’s states in his speech, “I want to share three short stories from the young people I have had the pleasure to know since I left this stage the last time, and share the enduring lessons they have taught me about the nature of our work, in hope that they might offer you some guideposts for the values you want to bring to the profession you are poised to lead.” Johnston emphasizes three main points in each of his stories. The first point is the “right to know”, the second point is the “power to decide” and the third point is the “will to love”. Johnston delivered a very persuasive speech to the convocation at Harvard University. Each of the points he emphasized carry a lot of meaning and persuade the audience to have that same passion and work ethic he has towards the education system to see the positive results he saw. Along with the three refrains in the speech, came an actual story of a student who benefited from the right to know, the power to decide and the will to love. By including those real stories, the speech that was delivered was more personable and it provided proof to the audience that if you are dedicated and motivated to do something you can succeed in all aspects of your life. The theme he tries to carry through the whole speech was truth and hope. He achieved this by including true stories and hope was displayed through the hopes and dreams he had for the future of the students in their next chapter.
Every piece of writing contains a genre. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, outlines different genres that correspond to the different audiences that one is addressing which can be found in the three species of rhetoric. Michael Johnston’s speech is written as a deliberative rhetoric speech because it aims to persuade the audience that a future action is advantageous. Johnston wants the audience to believe that the people graduating from Harvard university and going in to the world of education as practitioners, policymakers and parents are certified, well-educated and that they have received all the information necessary for them to be successful. This deliberative rhetoric speech was written for an audience of spectators or legislators and voters. Spectators make judgments on individual’s character and legislators and voters have to make a decision on a future action to decide if it is advantageous or disadvantageous. The audience has the chance to judge an individual’s character all throughout the speech when Johnston explains each students story in the three refrains and at the end of the speech when Johnston proposes his thoughts on the education system and how much passion he has towards it. The audience also has the ability to decide if the future action is advantageous or disadvantageous because they can take the information from the speech and determine whether their values are for or against what Johnston is persuading the audience.
Along with Aristotle’s evolution of the three species of rhetoric, he also created the rhetorical triangle. The rhetorical triangle’s purpose is to show the persuasive strategies that an author uses through credibility, logic and emotion also known as ethos, logos and pathos. An example of ethos in the text is at the beginning of the speech when Johnston establishes common ground for the presentation. He says “congratulations on your incredible achievement today. You have completed an intense course of study that has prepared you to enter the world of education as practitioners, policymakers and parents.” This statement also persuades the audience that what the graduating students have completed is a huge milestone in their lives and they are well prepared to go out in the workforce. Another instance where Johnston establishes common ground is when he explains each of his refrains. For the “right to know” Johnston says, “teachers and school leaders have this same right to know early and often. They have the right to know how we are performing and where we can improve, because that information informs the path we choose.” The last example of ethos in the text is when Johnston describes people’s backgrounds. This establishes credibility towards them. As stated in the speech, Michael Johnston is a “4th-generation teacher” which allows the audience to infer he is well-educated and experienced. Logos is also found in Johnston’s speech to persuade the audience. Some examples of logos are when Johnston states “the only essential ingredient for power is information”, “prepared with the right to know, our work can begin” and “the power to decide is the fundamental expression of our freedom, when we gather diverse sources of information, we weigh them together, and we choose the best path forward.” These direct quotes are all stating logical facts about what is being presented in the speech. Johnston’s speech also includes citing from authority. Towards the end of the presentation Johnston quotes the Declaration of Independence while explaining the oldest and boldest promise that people have ever made. Finally, pathos can be found in the text as well to help persuade the audience. When Johnston was telling the personal stories that were included in his speech a lot of the text could be classified as pathos. There was a lot of emotion and meaning behind what he was saying. Johnston was sharing people’s personal stories and how they overcame hard times. It is important to comprise a speech with items from the rhetorical triangle so you can effectively persuade a crowd of people just like Michael Johnston did at Harvard.
While reading a text, it is important to make sure you are grasping the concept of what the author is saying. This can be done by asking critical reading questions while interpreting a text. There were many critical reading questions answered in Johnston’s speech. The first question answered was “what is the general subject?” The general subject of the speech was announced in the beginning when Johnston explains why he is speaking and what the speech is about. The second question answered was “what is the thesis and overall main point?” Johnston says “…focus on the foundational values that support what we do and why we do it…and share the enduring lessons they have taught me about the nature of our work, in hope that they might offer you some guideposts for the values you want to bring to the profession you are poised to lead.” This is explaining how Johnston wrote his speech for the purpose of sharing his knowledge to graduating class on education and recognizing all they have done so far. The third critical reading question answered was “does the writer use dialogue or quotations?” Johnston does utilize some dialogue and quotations in his speech to add illusion to the stories he tells and to quote famous people and sayings to add factual proof to his speech as well. The final question answered was “are important terms repeated throughout the text and why?” Johnston does repeat the terms “right to know”, “power to decide” and “will to love” throughout his speech to put emphasis on the main points he wants the audience to understand and take away from his presentation.
In order to develop this speech on education, Michael Johnston had to utilize writing strategies to form his speech.

Whether he was aware of it or not, Johnston used patterns of development to write his speech. The most prominent patterns of development found in the speech were narration, definition and description. Narration describes how something happens which is usually in chronological order. In Johnston’s speech, the three refrains make up the narration of the speech. He expands on each refrain and tells the stories in chronological order making his persuasive speech easy to comprehend. Definition explains what something is and gives a precise meaning to the readers. In Johnston’s speech, there were some abstract terms that needed to be defined such as deference, perilous, suffice and convocation. Once these terms were defined it made the speech flow and much easier to understand all aspects Johnston was trying to convey. The last pattern of development found was description. Description is the use of sensory details to give a clear impression of a person, place, thing, or feeling. This can be found multiple times throughout the speech. An example is when Johnston is explaining what Raquel looked like, the girl in his first story about the “right to know”. Johnston says “she is a perfect combination of her parents: a native Spanish speaker with high cheekbones like her mom, and sunshine blonde hair and bright blue eyes from her dad.” This statement clearly put an image in my head of what Raquel looked like and allowed me to be more engaged in the story about her. The patterns of development are constantly being used in our everyday life subconsciously and they serve as strategies to compose and understand

language.
Michael Johnston is a passionate figure in the education world. He is well-educated and experienced in this field. He is using his knowledge to an advantage and sharing his own personal stories to future education practitioners, policymakers and parents. Johnston delivered a powerful speech to the convocation of Harvard University. He spoke to them in an inspirational, encouraging tone and used formal diction throughout his speech. Johnston’s main goal of the speech was to focus on what is possible and what is next for the future of these students. He conveyed these thoughts through the theme of truth and hope. Johnston delivers his speech with passion and true emotion which moved the crowd and inspired them to succeed in all aspects of their new lives in the workforce. Michael Johnston’s dedication to education is incredible. He made a positive impact on many students lives. Reading this speech will reaffirm your faith in teachers.