Speech Instructions

Do: Tell audience

  1. Who you are and what makes you qualified to talk
  2. What you are going to talk about
  3. When you will be through
  4. Where the speech is going to go
  5. Why audience should listen: what is in it for them
  6. How you will make speech interesting
  7. Start with the most important idea the audience needs to know

Don’t:

  1. Don’t say, “Before I begin….”
  2. Don’t get names wrong
  3. Don’t admit that you’d rather be anywhere else
  4. Don’t admit that you’re not prepared
  5. Don’t admit that you’ve given the identical speech a million times for other audiences
  6. Don’t use offensive humor
  7. Don’t announce someone else wrote your information
  8. Don’t ask about how much time you have
  9. Don’t start with a joke--ever; just get to the point
  10. Don’t start with a story--ever; just get to the point
  11. Don't start with the words, "Have you ever wondered why ...."
  12. Don't start with a description of what you were doing when you found out that you were giving this speech and how you felt about it and what you thought about it


Show and Tell: Bring something that you are familiar with. Make a slideshow about that item.

Required for Presentation:

  1. 5-8 slides; each has few words, all have an image/picture. Paragraphs are forbidden!
  2. Lesson, a moral, teach us something
  3. A reason to listen to you
  4. Humor, humor is part of part of your slideshow; humor is not the point of your slideshow
  5. Include two vocabulary words; vocabulary word must appear on slide

Short Words

    1. bane
    2. deign
    3. eke
    4. knell
    5. mete
    6. moot
    7. mulct
    8. plumb
    9. quail
    10. roil
    11. ruck
    12. shunt
    13. svelte
    14. thrall
    15. tryst

Government

  1. anarchy
  2. bourgeois
  3. bureaucracy
  4. demagogue
  5. ethos
  6. gerrymander
  7. imperialism
  8. Machiavellian
  9. martial
  10. muckraker
  11. partisan
  12. reactionary
  13. schism
  14. suffrage
  15. totalitarian

Graduation Speech

Include these items in your speech:

    • acknowledge parents, educators, guests of honor, and graduates
    • Acknowledge the importance of this occasion
    • Give a purpose for your speech
    • Give audience a legitimate reason to listen to speech
    • Give advice to the graduates
    • Give a challenge to the graduates
    • Congratulate the graduates
    • Mild, brief humor is permitted but speech must be formal in tone
  • Use humor. Be festive. Celebrate.

College Information Speech

Information Speech—Colleges and Universities

This is general information that you should look for—not everything needs an answer. Information should NOT be put into the order that it is listed below.

Provide information to the class on one college or university. A general overview of the college or university should include the following information:

· Name and location of the school

· History of the school

· Areas of study offered by the school (degrees offered by school)

· Entrance requirements—what requirements does the school have for a student to be granted permission to attend the school?

· Cost of tuition, cost per credit hour

· Cost of room and board (dorm), average number of roommates

· Cost of living expense (lunch ticket)

· Does school allow freshmen to live off-campus?

· What is the student body population?

· What are the demographics of the student body ( __% is Hispanic, __% is middle income, __% were in the top half of their high school class, __% are majoring in Accounting, …)

· Notable items about the school

o Guaranteed graduation rate?

o Famous alumni

o Famous department, college, or area of study?

o Famous athletics?

· What is non-academic life like at this school?

o What opportunities are available for students’ leisure time

o What’s the population of the town that the school is located in

o Does the school host famous speakers, celebrities, authors, experts, professors, artists, business people, athletes, inventors, religious leaders, orchestras, philosophers, politicians, etc. to visit and either lecture or perform at the school for the students (and general public) or not?

· Your speech should answer this one question: If I’m going to go to school there, what can I expect? (Please note, this is a rhetorical question, not a literal question.)

College Information Speech

Below is an additional check-off list for information speech on colleges, these items do not need to be included in your speech but can add focus to your search and details to your speech.

o Distance from Hartley both miles and time to drive

o Is the college a two or four year institute?

o How much is tuition?

o Is tuition billed by credit hours?

o How much is each credit hour?

o What’s the minimum # of hours the school defines as “full time”

o What is the school’s mascot?

o What is the average age of students who go to this school?

o Does this school offer classes on-line?

o Does the school offer any financial aid, grants or loans?

o What is the student/teacher ratio? (20 students to every teacher or what?)

o How big is the town the school is located in? Population?

o What is the school’s web address?

o Who is the president of the school?

o How many people make up the school’s faculty (professors)?

o How many hours does the school require a student to have in order to earn a General Education degree?

o Approximately how many degrees does the school offer?

o What sports does the school have?

o Can anyone join or are there try-outs or walk-ons?

o Does the school give scholarships for all of its sports or only some?

o What organizations or groups or clubs are at this school that you could join?

o Are there fraternities and/or sororities at this school?

o What else have you discovered about this school that you want to share but have not found a spot to place it in?

(End of College Information Speech)

Campaign Speech

Pretend that you are trying to be on student council and you need votes. Persuade the high school that you should be elected. There are two other people also trying to be elected. These two people are the other people in your group. Only one can win

All items on your report must be school appropriate.Your speech must include these items, but you may put them in any order you want.

  1. Statement of Reasons: Name your thesis (vote for me) and give four reasons why; start with 2nd best reason, then 3rd, then 4th, then best reason
  2. Problem-Solution: Name three problems that exist and show how those problems would go away or be solved if you were elected.
  3. Acknowledge the opposition: your audience has three choices: you, someone else, or another someone else. Describe the two other people.
  4. Negative Method: Say one bad thing about yourself. Then tell how that same thing would be worse if either of the other two people were elected.
  5. Comparative Advantage: Say one good thing about each of the other two candidates (you can pick a different thing for each), then describe how that same thing is actually even better with you
  6. Criteria-Satisfaction: List three things that the voters are looking for in a candidate, then describe how you meet those three criteria.
  7. Bad Logic: Chose three types of bad logic, use each in a separate paragraph.
  8. Repeat Thesis, repeat best ideas

Use one fact: Use this fact any where you want and in any way that you want; you must correctly document this fact. You do not need a separate works cited page for this one fact, you can simply add the documentation to the end of the report.

(End of Campaign Speech)

Bad Logic

    1. Appeal to the people (bandwagon): Everybody agrees or is doing it. If everyone is skipping school that day, it’s okay for me to do it too.
    2. Appeal to authority: Higher authority or power is used as the last word on the subject. My mom always used [ingredient], and it always turned out fine.
    3. Appeal to emotions: Tell a sad story. If un-adopted, these puppies will die.
    4. Stack the Deck: Only the good side is mentioned; ignore unfavorable facts. This product whitens teeth but may also cause gum disease. You must write and then strike through the information that you will are not revealing.
    5. Broad Generalization: Broad statements with little substance are made. Math is for losers. All high school boys are immature.
    6. Circular Thinking: The conclusion just restates the beginning. This is a boring class because it is not interesting.
    7. Appeal to Ignorance: It must be true because no one has proven it false. There must be life on Mars because scientists can’t prove that there’s not life on Mars, can they?
    8. Either/Or: Analyzing a complex situation as if it has only two sides. Either you are with us or against us.
    9. Oversimplification: Making complicated issues or problems seem overly simple or easy to solve. Having open campus is about one thing: fairness.
    10. Straw Man: Exaggerating or oversimplifying the other side’s point of view so it can be rejected as ridiculous. Those who support no open campus do not care about students’ happiness.
    11. Irrelevant Evidence: Using information that is not related to the issue. Most students have a job; therefore, students should have open campus.
    12. Loaded Words: Using words that are associated with strong emotions. Many radicals support that idea, which will hurt hard-working families.
    13. Plain Folks Appeal: Common, everyday people support it. A grandmotherly person is rolling biscuits by hand in an advertisement for fast-food restaurant.
    14. Assertion: assertion is an enthusiastic or energetic statement presented as a fact, although it is not necessarily true.
    15. Glittering Generalities: words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects, but are linked to highly valued concepts.
    16. Snob appeal: involves making a claim that one should act or think in a certain way because of the high social status associated with the action or thought.
    17. Lesser of Two Evils: tries to convince us of an idea or proposal by presenting it as the least offensive option.

Go to Speech Rubrics

Reasons Checklist Worksheet Name ____________________________

Write a different answer for each question. Many questions below seem similar--they are NOT. No two answers can be identical. Each must be phrased with different words or perspectives.

    1. Thesis Write a complete sentence. Use the word should. Do NOT use the word not.
    2. History What is the history of your issue? What’s been tried in the past?
    3. Opponent Who has the power to change what you want changed?
    4. Concessions Name two items that you will NOT argue about. These are items that your opponent might or could talk about and if they are mentioned, you would lose.

Item 1

Item 2

    1. Alternatives Name two alternatives to your idea your opponent would likely make

Option 1


Option 2

    1. Still Better Explain how your idea is better than each option..

Option 1

Option 2

    1. Agreement Write three statements that your opponent would agree with

Agreement 1

Agreement 2

Agreement 3

    1. Disagreement Write two statements that your opponent would disagree with

Disagreement 1


Disagreement 2


    1. They are right Identify two ways that your opponent is actually correct

One way

Another way

    1. Your response? How would you respond to those two ways

Response to one way

Response to another way

    1. Reasons Give three reasons why we should do your idea. Support each with two facts.

Reason 1

Reason 2

Reason 3

    1. Outdated We once had reasons NOT to do your idea. Things change. What changed?
    2. Solutions Your thesis is a solution. Name three problems that your thesis solves.

Problem 1

Problem 2

Problem 3

    1. Efficiency Name three ways your idea saves resources: time, effort, money, work, etc.

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

    1. Harm Who or what is being harmed by NOT doing your idea, how is it harmed?
    2. Values Connect your thesis to a value. Explain that connection. (Value: liberty, security, independence, trust, reliance, sportsmanship, emotional health, creativity, morality, etc.)
    3. Negative Name one way that your idea is bad but explain how not doing your idea would be worse.