Improve high schoolers' public speaking with an engaging activity. Class members select three personally relevant quotes from a list. They then write a short speech for each quote, explaining how the quotes are personally relevant....

Present vital information and persuade your audience. The class views and discusses two video segments regarding a Chinese school government election. They prepare and deliver persuasive speeches that require them to describe how they...

Practice using concrete evidence from various sources to back up an argument. The lesson emphasizes the use of support in a persuasive speech, as well as the importance of appealing to an audience's logic and emotions. You could modify...

Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...

Pupils create multimedia speeches of introduction which focus on women and Hispanics. They introduce their famous person and, using a video camera, video tape their speeches. 

Explore non-violent protest in this social values and world history lesson. After viewing the movie Gandhi, and discussing important events in Gandhi's life, young orators write a speech defending Gandhi's position on the value of...

Critical thinkers consider how word choice in speeches impacts the meaning and effectiveness of the message being presented. They examine and respond to some of the speeches made at the 2004 Republican and Democratic National...

Use this communication skills lesson to emphasize evaluating a speaker's main point and argument. After reading Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream Speech" and John F. Kennedy's speech, "I Believe in an America Where the Separation of...

Determine how African-Americans have broken barriers in this history lesson. Middle schoolers discuss the 15th Amendment and the American civil rights movement prior to analyzing Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union," taking care...

Students demonstrate the appropriate classroom public speaking and listening skills that would be necessary to influence or change someone's mind or way of thinking about a topic. They define the elements of persuasion and recognize the...

What makes a speech effective? Middle schoolers critique a speech for content and presentation. They view a video of a middle school student presenting an informational speech, They outline the content of the speech and critique the...

Students practice their public speaking skills. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students study speeches delivered by Lincoln, Wilson, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy. Students write the text Obama's inaugural address and...

Pupils report classroom news. First, they write complete sentences using adjectives and adverbs to describe events. Next, they take turns presenting interesting news to the class using appropriate volume and clarity. As an extension,...

Discuss the differences between the North and the South and how those differences led to the Civil War. Middle schoolers examine and analyze a famous speech or writing by President Lincoln in order to better understand the speaker's...

Explore literature through the completion of reading comprehension worksheets in class. After reading the classic book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, middle schoolers review each chapter by completing study questions and story webs....

Students research on the Web and in books with city statutes or call city officials to find out the local ordinance on posting signs on utility poles. If illegal, students explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens decided to...

Reinforce the importance of the writing process with this publication lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers compose a parts of speech book which includes one page each for nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,...

Students write persuasive speeches to recruit soldiers for a Civil War company. In this Civil War U.S. history and writing lesson plan, students work in groups to create a recruiting poster and write a speech to persuade soldiers to join...

Students examine rhetorical strategies. In this political debate lesson, students research issues of presidential campaigns and deliver persuasive speeches about the issues they research. Students then participate in debates based on the...

Students discuss and research arguments about philanthropy. In this persuasive speech writing lesson, students choose a needed project for the community and present the reasons for the project through an original persuasive speech....

The class explores and debates, from multiple perspectives, a petition to allow Hopi Indians to take golden eagle hatchlings from a federal wildlife sanctuary for use in a religious ceremony. Pupils defend their personal views on the...

Students write and deliver a short persuasive speech using the POAM method. They also incorporate one of the three persuasive appeals into a written speech. Students apply what they have learned about persuasion and speech presentation...

Practice your speaking skills! Using a chosen visual aid, pupils present a previously written essay to the class. During the oral presentation, the listeners identify and write down the author's purpose and a question for the author. At...

Students write a proposal for a speech. Students prepare appropriate visuals for use in the proposed speech. Students produce one or more graphs that summarize the results from the experimentation. Students deliver an effective speech in...