Speech Class for Teens: 28 Speech Class Lessons Plus Handouts and Forms

I was looking for a speech curriculum for a 7th/8th grade class meeting 3 times a week, and this book provided a great start. I used it for our first semester and had to add to it some. but it was the basis for our class. I was very impressed with how well the students progressed.

There are a lot of interesting activities in the book, but they all begin with fill in the blank worksheets. In an age when we are striving for higher order thinking skills, fill in the blanks aren't exactly the best choice. I have read the book from cover to cover, and found several acronyms included in the lessons that aren't explained anywhere in the text. At the back of the book are a lot of blank forms to utilize in conducting the speech class. They are great if you have small classes of 10, but I have classes of 30, so there isn't enough space for my needs.Lesson 1: Communication Theory, lots of interpesonal communication games.Lesson 2: Evaluate to Motivate: Teaches students to write helpful comments to evaluate other speakersLesson 3: Organizing a Speech: Good one.Lesson 4: Ways to Start and End a Speech: This is another good one.Lesson 5: Effective Eye Contact. This is a great lessonLesson 6: Vocal Varitey. Another great lessonLesson 7: Using Body Language and Props This is a confusing lesson. After reading the book, I still don't know what it is really about.Lesson 8: Storytelling.Lesson 9: Researching Topics. Another winning lesson.Lesson 10: Influence and PersuasionLesson 11: Conflict Resolution. A good interpersonal communications lesson.Lesson 12: Using humor in Public Speaking. I am not crazy about this one as the example provided makes fun of fat people. Not good when you have overweight kids in your class. I would replace this lesson with a Pet Peeve Speech.Lesson 13: Tell Us Your Testimony: this one can't be used in public schools as it talks about finding God.Lesson 14: Reader's Theater: More religious content.Lesson 15: Improvisational acting games. This fits better in an acting class, but they are fun if you have small enough classes to make it work.Lesson 16: Rhetorical Devices. This one is fantastic.Lesson 17: Interpretive Reading-Prose and PoetryLesson 18: Using DialogueLesson 19: Introducing a Speaker. This is a good one.Lesson 20: Memorized Historical Speech. I like the idea of bringing in famous speeches, but I am not sure there is much value in memorizing them. I would modify the lesson and have the kids write their own speeches using the format of a famous historical speech.Lesson 21: Structuring SpeechesLesson 22: Dining Etiquette and Conversation. Great if you have a small group.Lesson 23: BrainstormingLesson 24: Group Problem Solving/ConsensusLesson 25: Panel DiscussionLesson 26: Sales TalksLesson 27: InterviewsLesson 28: DebateThere aren't enough lessons incorporating technology into preparing, presenting and evaluating speeches.There are ideas in here that I am going to use, some that I won't use, and some that I can't use becuase they don't fit into the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills that I am required to teach. Thanks for the new way of looking at a familiar topic. After teaching Public Speaking for 25 years, I needed some new ideas to spice things up.

This is a fantastic resource for teachers like me who are new to teaching public speaking course. I'm teaching in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in a class with 30 students. Following Windingland's guidelines in this book, students learn speech composition and delivery incrementally, with brief weekly lessons followed by opportunities to practice. There are assignments and activities designed to keep most (or all, depending on the size of the class) of the students busy, so that lessons truly are student-centered. In addition to the weekly lessons, the book is full of resources, including handouts, assignments, matrices for scoring and keeping records, and more. Perhaps not every teacher will find all the resources useful, but everything can be adapted to suit individual needs. It's an outstanding textbook for busy teachers.

Not what I was wanting but got some good ideas from the book. I was hoping for some lessons that were actually informative and talked about teaching strategies, etc. This is really a book of some worksheets and then some information on learning to give speeches, but not much more. Doesn't really explain thoroughly how to give the various types of speeches, just scratches the surface and at times seems confusing.

This is exactly what I needed for a once a week Speech class I will be teaching. I did not where to begin, and then discovered this book! I'm very grateful to Miss Windingland for compiling and publishing this.

clear, a good workbook for a high school/middle school speech class

Not a bad book but I guess I was looking for more. I have used several times.

I am looking forward to using this with my boys and hopefully a few others this coming year. It's nice to have it organized for me.

I am just starting a public speaking class in middle school and there are a number of lessons in the book that will help me out.

While this book offers useful handouts for classroom use, there is almost NO explanation for teachers. The "answer key" simply lists answers with no explanation or background information for teachers.

Amazing book