Practicing the Speech
Building Up to the Grand Finale
Practicing the Speech
Objective: After completing this lesson, the student will be familiar with and be able to apply several different methods of practicing a speech.
Materials: Students need the materials and visual aides of their speeches.
Steps:
1. Have students internally review their speech at their desks, carefully going over
the important components that make up a speech (attention grabber, main points, thesis, topic sentence, etc).
2. Have the students split into pairs. Half of the pairs stay in the middle of the
room while the other pairs go to the walls.
3. The pairs of students at the walls should face the wall. Separately, the students
recite the components of their speech to only the wall several times until fluent. The pairs of students sitting in the middle of the room should take turns reciting their speeches to their partner.
4. Switch paired groups.
5. After the groups have completed both working with a partner and reciting their
components to the wall, have pairs join together to form groups of four. Have each student then take turns practicing in front of the three other members of the group. If time is minimal, have the students recite only the components of the speech.
6. Have the group members critic each of the speeches, stating their likes and
dislikes, and what the speech giver should work on or mannerisms he or she should be conscious they are doing when speaking.
Results: Students will have experience giving their speech in front of others prior to their performance for a grade, and have experience in several different ways to practice for giving a speech.
“Measure Twice, Saw Once”
Practicing the Speech
Objective: In groups of 2, the students will rehearse their speech as if they were presenting it to an entire audience. They will need to complete the speech in the allotted amount of time, taking into consideration all the elements for effectively delivering a speech.
Materials: A deck of cards. The students will need only the speech that they have prepared (as well as any props they may need for their particular speech). Stopwatches will be provided.
Steps:
1. Divide up a deck of cards, selecting only 2 of each card (2 Aces, 2 Kings, 2 Eights, etc…).
2. Shuffle the selected cards and place one face down on each student’s desk.
3. Have the students find the other person in the room with the card that matches theirs.
4. In the groups of two, using the stopwatches provided, have the students take turns rehearsing their speech in front of their partner while keeping time for each other. (They may need to spread out for this activity, utilizing areas in the hallway, etc…in order to make it easier to hear each other).
5. When they have finished presenting, both of the students should be able to provide feedback to their partner explaining what they did well and what may still need some work. (This should be a good opportunity for both pupils to practice good listening skills as well). Have them write down what they noticed.
6. Before leaving class, have the students show their “critiques” to the teacher. They may then keep their own critiques in order to refer to them later while practicing.
Results: This activity should provide an excellent opportunity for practicing their speech in front of an “audience”. It should allow them to get an idea of what they may still need to work on, as well as what they may be doing well. They should have a more clearly defined approach as to how they need to deliver their particular speech, taking into consideration, movement, gestures, tone, volume, eye contact, etc… It should also provide them with an idea of how much they may (or may not) know their material.
As an assignment have the students take home their in-class peer critiques and work on what may still need improving. Have them practice at least once more at home in front a parent or another family member, getting that individual’s initials on the critique.
Kit Mentzer
Sept. 9, 2009
In the Dark
Practicing Your Speech
OBJECTIVE: Students will recite all the different parts of their speech from memory.
Materials: None
Steps:
1. Tell students to get comfortable by sitting or standing any where in the classroom.
2. Explain to students that you are going to shut the lights off (or dim them) to help them relax and to take away distractions.
3. Then you will call out a part of their speech (i.e. introduction, thesis, first point, transition, second point, conclusion) and students will begin to recite that part of their speech to themselves from memory. You will call out a different part, not in order, after students have practiced for a few minutes.
4. Let students know that they might find this difficult or confusing at first but it will eventually aide them in memorization, ignoring distractions (other voices around the room), and identifying the parts of their speech that still need work.
5. Turn the lights off and begin!
Result: Students are closer to becoming confident in their individual speeches.