On How To Give a Speech

The following lesson was designed with the intent of expressing the importance of speeches in everyday life, and to help educate kids on how to be effective speakers themselves. This is accomplished through a series of discussions and presentations on what makes an effective speech. Of course the core concepts of this lesson can be adapted for any classroom, and any speech could be used. I, personally, chose to use Sarah Kay’s speech because she is not only a young speaker, but she is an individual who followed her dreams and used her own skills to become a successful individual. I wanted my students to see the importance of being a good speaker and the impacts speakers have on our lives every day.

Know: Students will be able to know and identify elements of a successful speech.

Understand: Students will be able to understand the influence and importance of interactive speeches, and understand the kind of impact a well given speech can have on those who are listening.

Do: Students will be able to apply their new knowledge of what a speech is and their new understanding of the importance of speeches by composing a two minute speech, which contains all of the elements that they were instructed to learn in the know portion of the lesson and effectively incorporates their own style and voice.

Overview of lesson: First students will watch a speech given by Sarah Kay. During the speech they will take notes about what they think makes the speech an effective and compelling one, or what they found didn’t make the speech effective and compelling. Once we are done I will split the students into groups, one for the creative thinkers and one for the more practical/analytical thinkers. These groups will then come up with a series of criteria that they believe make a good speech, they will then share these criteria with their peers. We will, as a class, create a worksheet where we determine what we think makes a good speech.

            Students will then be allowed to pick a topic they wish to present a short speech on. Once they have chosen they will compose a small speech, which they will then present to the class. Each student will take notes during their classmates presentations about what they thought made it an effective presentation, based on the criteria we had already outlined as a class. 

            Objectives: Students will be able to compose and present an effective speech. They will then be able to, ideally, replicate public speaking in the future. Students will also be able to recognize and identify the importance of public speaking and the influence it has on them.

            Assessment: Assessment during this lesson will be an ongoing process. The biggest portion of the assessment is going to be based on where the students started and where they ended in terms of knowledge of the topic. Assessment will also be based on how well the students participate and contribute to their group and class discussions and on their final project/presentation.