July/August 2013 - Falmouth Academy

2013 Eighth Grade Declamation Day
When Monica Hough began the
Declamation Day tradition in 2002 with the
class of 2006 she called it “The Thing.” Her
assignment sheet to the students read;
In Old Norse, the Thing was an assembly, a
parliament where all the tribes gathered. It also
meant “object of value.” You, my valued ones,
are about to embark on your own Thing, and it
will be of mythic proportions.
Presentations in that inaugural year were
diverse. They included an excerpt from Book
of Five Rings, a Japanese warriors manual
linking martial arts to writing poetry complete
with a karate demonstration. A criticism
of Degas’ Dancers Practicing at the Barre
extolling the “difficult and sometimes ugly
work that goes into a beautiful ballet en
pointe.” There was even a stirring recital
of Susan B. Anthony’s speech upon being
arrested for casting a vote in the 1872 presidential
election.
“What was most wonderful for me,” Mrs.
Hough said, was the students’ incredible
support for each other. If someone momentarily
drew a blank the kids were patient
and encouraging. They rehearsed with each
other and welcomed each performance with
warmth and delight.”
“We’re not sure how this event will carry
over next year,” Mrs. Hough said. “But this
year’s Thing was certainly a success!”
Now more than ten years later Declamation
Day has become a rite of passage for
eighth graders, a graduation
ceremony, as it were,
5
pulling together skills they have been working
on - textual analysis, deep self-reflection,
and communicating with an audience.
In an era when so much of their communicating
is done only through technology, it
is essential to have students learn about the
power of face-to-face communication.
Students still select and memorize a
written passage at least 24 lines long. They
write about the piece, both an analytical
and personal response. They present their
introductions and declaim their passages in
front of the whole eighth grade and an audience
of interested upper school students,
faculty, and parents. Afterwards, they walk
to Peking Palace for a celebratory banquet,
another tradition that started with the class
of 2006.
Topics are as varied as ever. This year’s
audience heard two speeches by President
Reagan, one on the Challenger disaster, one
on religion, a song from Les Miserables, a
speech by Teddy Roosevelt on the value of
hard work, presentations on baseball, dance,
poems about the Irish, and many more.
Students still present with nervous excitement,
but more importantly and perhaps
more distinctly FA, they continue to be
welcomed by warm supportive audiences
of their peers and an atmosphere of mutual
respect and admiration for each other’s hard
work.