This is the end, beautiful friend.

To begin, I wanted to say congratulations to all of you on a fantastic job during the Project Soapbox Speech Night! It was rewarding for us to witness the result of all of your hard work over the past three weeks. We are very proud of each of your accomplishments.

To conclude this experience, we ask that each of you complete one final blog assignment. This is a required reflection, but I hope that you will find it a meaningful way to pull together your three weeks of writing, editing, and speaking. Overall, our hope is that Project Soapbox was not just a "summer school" experience, but rather was a time for you to feel like you made gains in improving your writing and public speaking skills.

In the comments section, please write an extended, thoughtful reflection  that considers these questions as a starting point:

• How helpful was the writer's workshop in helping you improve your writing? Where did you improve? Where do you still see room for improvement?
• Did you find the blog useful? Did you enjoy posting on the blog and responding to your peers?
• How else did the workshop impact you?
• Do you see yourself as a more confident speaker?
• Do you feel the workshop helped you develop an understanding for effective communication?
• Do you see yourself now as an agent for change? How else did you grow?
• If you were to redo this workshop, which activities would you be sure to keep? Which would you change? What would you add/subtract? Why?
• Do you believe that you will continue to take action on your issue? Are you motivated to go forward and pursue the change you spoke up for? Why/why not?

Please go beyond just one sentence responses to each question - instead, use these questions as a springboard for deeper reflection. Remember you are SOPHOMORE Scholars now, and we continue to have high expectations for you, as you should for yourself.

Also, check out opportunities for further action from the Mikva Challenge, the foundation that created Project Soapbox and has inspired you all to speak up for social change in your communities.

Some wise words from Uncle Walt

Hopefully many of you have been busy revising your speeches this week. Another beneficial way of giving yourself feedback is to rehearse your speech. Time yourself. Record yourself. Give your speech to your parents, your friends, the dog that randomly wanders around your neighborhood and ask them for feedback. Sound your barbaric yawp (aka your speech) over the roofs of the world. The more you practice the more comfortable you'll be when it comes time to present them next week. And if you have time check out Dead Poet's Society, an excellent film. Or read Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" to learn all about his barbaric yawp.

Flying under the Radar

Several of you have emailed me asking for feedback on your speeches. This is great, but also consider giving yourself some feedback. Here's some helpful tips.

When you revise, think of it as four approaches - putting your writing under the "RADaR"

REPLACE
- words that are not specific
- words that are overused
- sentences that are unclear

"As I ran to the finish line, my heart was beating --> As I sprinted to the tape, my heart was pounding in my chest."

ADD
- new information
- descriptive adjectives and adverbs
- rhetorical or literary devices
- evidence to support your argument better!
- transition words/missing links between ideas and sentences

Shadows made the night seem scary --> Ominous shadows made the dark night seem even more frightening.

DELETE
- unrelated ideas
- sentences that sound good, but don't work in your piece
- unwanted repetition
- unnecessary details

REORDER
- to make better sense or flow
- details to support main ideas

Keep revising, and remember, the more you work on this now the less time you'll spend in a last-minute panic.