Sample OUTLINE WORKSHEET MOTIVATED SEQUENCE DESIGN –by CATS class
SPEECH TITLE: Should we have school uniforms?
I. Introduction
A. Attention Material: Have you ever been picked on for something you’re wearing?
B. We’ve all had that uncomfortable moment, and it can become a scar on our childhood.
C. Credibility Material: I’ve found several articles from Education magazines, supporting
the use of school uniforms.
D. Preview: I believe that schools should adopt school uniform policies because they
promote school safety, improve the learning environment, and diminishes the clothing
competition.
II. Need Step- We need school uniforms.
A. (Statement of Need for Action) We need school uniforms, because we have problems in
our schools
1. Sometimes this is because the students receive hand-me downs from
siblings. Or maybe the student comes from a poor family, and can’t afford
to buy name brand clothes.
2. Jodee Blanco is now a successful, published author of a book called
Please Stop Picking on Me. Her memoir details painful years of being
bullied, and the effect it had on hers and others she knows.
B. (Importance of Problem) This is an important topic, because it has had a positive impact
around the country, and could have a positive impact here.
1. This problem is widespread. Most people can recount at least one story from
their childhood in which they felt out of place, under-dressed, or uncool because of
how they looked.
2. “Overall improved student behavior as a result of uniforms results in fewer behavior
incidents on campus." John Ginn, principal at Sacramento City USD's Bowling Green
Charter School.” From Uniforms: Are They a Good Fit? Article.
3. Former president Bill Clinton has even said, "to teach character education, to teach
good values and good citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other
over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to
wear school uniforms."
C. Everyone has attended schools at some point in time, and if we added school uniforms
to Sayre SD, we could improve life for the students.
1. 21 states have some sort of school uniform policies of some sort.
2. I know a teacher who teachers in the southeast side of Washington DC in rough
areas. The crime rate is high, and it’s not unusual for there to be a shooting or
stabbing near the elementary school where he works. His students wear uniforms.
He said that if it wasn’t for the uniforms, he thinks that a lot more gang and street
violence would be prevalent.
(Transition): So you may be saying to yourself, so what?
III. Satisfaction Step
A. So what? If we continue to ignore this issue, we are doing a disservice to students. We
can fix this problem by adding school uniforms to our dress code.
1. This solution involves making revisions to the current dress code, which is,
honestly, lacking.
a. This idea will help promote school safety, improve the learning
environment, and diminishes the clothing competition.
b. (How Solution can be Implemented) We can implement by doing
research on other schools’ uniform policies.
B.(Plan of Action) After we finish the research, we can take the plan we develop to the
school board.
1. (Steps of Plan) One key factor we can try and get support from is the PTG.
(Transition) What will things look like after we make these changes?
IV. Visualization Step
A. Imagine yourself walking down the hall, not hearing students picking on what they wore
to school that day.
1. (Describe Expected Results of Action) See them sitting in the classrooms,
focusing on the school work, and not each other’s shoes.
2. (Describe Consequences of Inaction) But if we don’t make this change? Expect
more of the same old, the same bullying, the same environment, and the same
competition.
(Transition into Conclusion) What can we come away from this message with?
V. Conclusion
A. A need to make things better for our students. And one way that we can do that is with
uniforms.
B. Summary: Uniforms promote school safety, improve the learning environment, and
diminishes the clothing competition
C. Tie Back to Audience: Think back to that time when you were picked on for what you
wore. What if you had been wearing a uniform?
D. Concluding Remarks: (Call for Action!) I ask you today, to join in and support the effort
to get school uniforms at Sayre.
Websites Used (copy and paste here)
Title of Article: Cool to be Cruel?
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_commo
n.jhtml.34
Title of Article: Uniforms: Are They a Good Fit?
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_commo
n.jhtml.34