World History students have been grouped and assigned an African country at random. Each student’s job is to give a two minute speech focusing on one of the effective speaking traits (Poise, Voice, Life, Eye Contact, Gestures, or Speed) while sharing information about their African country.

Speakers will be allowed to use a confidence monitor, which contains notes, or highlights of their speech. Speaker notes can be Google Docs or handwritten & displayed via doc cam. Note: this is not a teleprompter. The notes do not move.

Purpose: This speech will demonstrate: (P) – poise when describing the history of an African state.

Country: Liberia began in 1822.

Background: Liberia was founded by freed American slaves.

Issues/Problems: Authoritarian rule through the 1980s. Civil War in the 1990s.

Conclusion: I chose to focus on poise because…

Resources:  PVLEGS.com & The CIA World Fact Book
View these videos at home and take their advice.

Poise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgryBn5QYjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEXpNg8j_Fc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBwEVJGDkkY

Voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX58HTFsplk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OInNqqQpXLc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjocTqrKz-k

Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXA-DQ2gNOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuuJsl-KBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b01_1Hhm-CA

Eye Contact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZfqCBUpOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i–CdKh_dHc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44oel0peahU

Gestures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wDTRCIV4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFLjudWTuGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_SMBIW1mg

Speed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idh6-E-1pyI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj9e8w4vNxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiRhvlKmSu8

Thanks to the National Social Studies Supervisors Association for publishing this article. One picture was missing and should be inserted on p. 20, after the second paragraph.

This student’s fundamental lack of WWII knowledge was both horrifying and hilarious. Would instructional video have helped this student?

In honor of National Speaking Week, (May 16-22), I am co-hosting this week’s #TeachWriting chat about the power of speaking assignments. The Twitter chat takes place on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 9pm EST/6pm PST. Speaking and listening standards have become the forgotten part of the Common Core. Despite the huge premium employers place on these skills, almost no testing consortia, states, districts, or schools are formally assessing them and too many teachers avoid speaking and listening assignments altogether.

Chat Questions:
:07 Q1 List some of your favorite orators and include links to speech(es)/TED Talks you use in your class.
:14 Q2 What do great speakers do? What are the essential elements for speaking well?
:21 Q3 How impressive are your students in speaking assignments? What are their weaknesses?
:28 Q4 @Erik_Palmer says We assign speaking, but we don’t teach speaking. What should Ts start with first?
:35 Q5 How do you approach discussion-based activities in your class? Include your grade & subject.
:42 Q6 What are your favorite student speaking assignments? Why were they successful?
:49 Q7 What are your favorite tech tools for recording, practicing & sharing speaking projects?
:55 Q8 How do you accommodate the introverts who would rather die than speak in front of their peers?

In June, Erik Palmer, Corbin Moore and I will launch a free MOOC on Teaching Speaking & Listening. The class is open to teachers of all K-12 subjects. Here are a few resources to get you started: Listening & Speaking Demystified. A framework for teachers including more speaking assignments in their instruction. Effective Speaking  Pop Up Debates. Look what’s Number 1. Here’s the archive of the chat.