Search CCRI 
Great Ideas for Teaching Speech
The Great Ideas for Teaching Speech (G.I.F.T.S.) sessions at the National Communication Association's yearly convention showcase a teaching idea, provide directions about how to implement it, and summarize typical results.
2006
| Activity | Presenter's Description |
|---|---|
| Award Speech: A Positive Alternative to the Traditional Introductory Speech | The goal of this assignment is to make the first presentation in a beginning speech class a positive experience for the student. Through the use of partnered speaking and positive affirmations, this assignment is often met with much less resistance than other presentation projects. |
| Creating Connections in the Classroom: An Audience Analysis Activity | To demonstrate to students the
diversity in interests and backgrounds within their speech
classroom; to serve as an icebreaker to help the students get to
know one another and reduce communication apprehension by making
interpersonal connections; to serve as a way for the instructor
to accelerate his or her socialization process with the students
by learning about them in their own words. |
| Delivering the Mini-Speech: Connecting Public Speaking Concepts | A "mini-speech" is a brief speech, lasting anywhere from 1-3 minutes in length, that allows the student to gain more experience in front of an audience. Instructors can assign any point value to these in order to give credit to students. |
| Deep Thoughts: A Jack Handy Impromptu Exercise | Impromptu speaking is the most common form of public speaking and we are called upon to do it several times a day. Rothwell (2004) says that students should do three things in preparation for impromptu speaking. First, anticipate the situation and start to prepare. Second, draw on your own experiences and knowledge when composing your speech. Finally, create a simple outline to use during impromptu speaking. All of these suggestions are incorporated into the "Deep Thoughts" assignment. |
| Developing Critical Thinking: Analyzing Contemporary Online Speeches | The goal of this activity is to (1) offer students practice in critical thinking, (2) improve students' ability to identify and apply different forms of reasoning as they research and develop persuasive speeches, and (3) enhance students' online research skills through web-based and computerized services. |
| Epiphany or Question Speech | The "Speech of Epiphany or Question" is intended to share with the class when the student experienced an "AHA" moment, or when, contrarily, they had a "HUH?" moment while reading the text. Just a minute or two, just a few paragraphs, really, is all I'm looking for - just something that shows they read and engaged the material. |
| Recapping: Reaching Hidden Targets | Introductory students frequently harbor extreme stress when it comes to impromptu speaking, so I wanted an activity where the speaking appears as a secondary focus. "Recapping" targets a variety of public speaking skills under the premise of "note-taking." It is often late in the semester before the students fully realize the derived benefits of this activity, but benefits accrue nonetheless. |
| Speaking Idol: A Four-Minute Exercise in Peer Critique and Impromptu Speaking | The goal of the "Speaker Idol Exercise" is to allow students to develop a richer understanding of the basic speech structure, indulge in a brief reflection on sensitivity, and offer them another opportunity to fine tune their delivery skills. With the whimsical addition of a popular television segment, students should also become more relaxed when facing the task of creating and presenting a limited-preparation speech. |
| Topic Ideas Development Bubbles | This activity assists students in visually and communally
selecting and narrowing a speech topic adapted to their
audience. |
| What You See Isn't Always What You Get! | The goal of this exercise is to introduce students to each other through assumptions and non-verbal communication. Additionally, it demonstrates how first impressions influence our ideas about who to meet and who to listen to. |
2005
| Activity | Presenter's Description |
|---|---|
| American Idol/Ethical Critiquing Activity | This activity is a good way for students to understand the difference between ethical and unethical critique. |
| Enhancing Group and Team Leadership | The objective in this activity is to have the students observe team roles, dynamics, and possible differences in what signals they are giving off vs. what others are reading the students as. |
| Games and Theory | By having the students first read the chapter and discuss the theory in class, we follow up the next class session by playing a game that I choose to reinforce the theory in question. The students then write a journal entry explaining how they saw the theory at work. |
| I Saw It in the Movies | This activity demonstrates to students enrolled in basic public speaking the power of public speaking as seen in famous movie speeches. |
| Just What the Students Ordered: A Final Dose of Public Speaking Experience in the Basic Communication Course | This final dose of public speaking experience is prescribed for students to reflect on their basic communication course experience, reinforce the skills they have acquired throughout the term to construct a final presentation, and make a final attempt at combating public speaking apprehension. |
| Persuasive Strategies: The Music of Social Protest | This activity helps students create more effective, persuasive speeches by showing examples of social protest music an asking students to recall their own cases. |
|
The Quotation
Exercise: A Prescription for Treating Speech Anxiety on the First Day of Public Speaking Class |
The Quotation Exercise provides speech instructors with an engaging and effective way to structure the first 15 to 20 minutes of the initial meeting of the basic course. This exercise decreases speech anxiety, builds esprit de corps, encourages active participation, and generates positive expectations at the outset of the course. |
|
Quote Unquote:
Research, Oral Citation, and Bibliography |
The following simple research assignment enables students, as Sprague & Stuart (200) suggest, to not only appreciate the relevance of including appropriate support materials from reputable sources, but also the importance of incorporating effective source citations to enhance speakers' ethos in a presentation. |
| Using 'Conversations' to Reduce Communication Anxiety | The goal of the conversation activity is to reduce communication anxiety in the classroom. In addition to reducing communication anxiety the conversation provides a forum for students to listen and interact with peers on a host of topics. |
| Using Drawing in the Public Speaking Course: A MINI-SPEECH | The activity listed is just one of the many that instructors can implement throughout the semester to foster drawing in the basic speech course. This activity works well in at-risk and communication-apprehension sections as well as regular sections of the basic speech course. |
