When I was in 7th grade I took my first debate class and gave my first speech.

Cognitive hooks

The first thing my teacher did was give the story of Patrick Henery. He then recited the "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death!" speech with as much passion as Patrick Henry did. He then invited us to have the same amount of passion for our speeches that he did.

He had us dance like sugar plum fairies in public to get over social fears.

He used acronyms to help us remember the format of an outline for a speech.

Favourite quote

sensory connections

I wasn't wearing shoes and I could feel the soft carpet.

I could hear the loud sounds of students getting excited and passionate.

I could feel the pounding in my chest and my hands shaking when I got nervous.

I can hear the weak applause after my speech.

Declarative or non-declarative?

This memory is declarative because it is a vivid memory of an event in my life that requires some effort to think about.

Reconstruction errors

I could remember the order of events that occured incorrectly.

I could confuse the feelings I feel now about the memory with the feelings I actually felt at that moment.

My teacher may have given scenario to help us learn how to debate, but I could be wrong about that.

other memory fragments

He had us dance like sugar plum fairies in public to get over social fears.

I gave my first ever speech about why books are better than movies.

Teacher was very animated and helped us learn how to approach speeches and debate.