Syllabus

Teacher

Mr. Doug DeGroot

Course Title

Speech (one semester, required for juniors)

Course Description

This course is an elective and is one semester long. Speech is required for all juniors.

Speech teaches what the communication process is, how it works, and how it breaks down; the history of the English language, where it comes from and how it has changed; The course focuses on the writing traits of ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and presentation. Students do extensive speaking. Students present multiple speeches. Speeches are informative or entertaining or persuasive. Students have major speeches and minor speeches.

Speech Expectations

Major Speeches Students will dress formally when giving a major speech. Students have four major speeches: first quarter are college/university speech (expository), and demonstration speech (process); second quarter are thesis speech (persuasive), and graduation speech (special occasion).

Minor Speeches Students are not required to dress formally when giving a minor speech. Minor speeches include: introductory speech, show and tell, debate, oral interpretation (story telling), readers theater, acting (skits, puppet show), and presentations

By Quarter: dress up for underlined speeches

  • Quarter 1, first 1/2: First speech, show and tell, demonstration speech
  • Quarter 1, second 1/2: show and tell, Timeline of Public Performance, college/university speech
  • Quarter 2, first 1/2: show and tell, debate, persuasive speech
  • Quarter 2, second 1/2: oral interpretation, readers theater, skits, communication in mass media speech, graduation speech

Students give speeches in a predetermined order.

Class Schedule and General Order of Topic

Quarter A, first half

  • Explanation of communication process
  • Speech do's and don'ts
  • Senders and receivers in communication
  • Channels of communication
  • Uses of Communication: meeting social needs, making decisions
  • How setting affects communication: informal versus formal settings
  • Developing the communication process
  • Speeches: 1. First Speech, who you are, 2. Show and tell, 3. prepare for History of Public Performance speech (Expository)

Quarter A, second half

  • The Audience: Adapting to an audience
  • Encoding and decoding information
  • Interpreting feedback: verbal vs nonverbal, stated vs implied
  • Interference and noise: physical, psychological, and semantic
  • Messages: verbal vs nonverbal
  • Verbal Language: system, symbolic, conventional, learned, changes
  • Standard American English, denotation, connotation, jargon, slang, dialect, body language, paralanguage
  • History of English: Old, Middle, Early Modern, Modern, Next
  • Voice: resonators, the sounds of English, articulation, vocalization, problems with articulation
  • Listening and factors that affect listening
  • Critical listening
  • Active listening
  • Evaluating a speaker's reasoning
  • Propaganda vs Persuasion
  • Propaganda techniques and faulty logic
  • Speeches: 1. Show and tell, 2. College/University (Expository speech); assign persuasive speech

Quarter B, first half

  • Intrapersonal communication (self talk)
  • Perception, aspects of perception, differences in perception
  • Self-concept: forming, accuracy, errors in
  • Assessing needs and sources of behavior
  • Communicating with others: attitudes and goals, public vs private self
  • Predictions about others
  • Interpersonal communication (talk with others)
  • Relationships: stages of, developing, responding to others, criticism, maintenance, improving, trust, assertiveness
  • Thesis: finding and creating one
  • Finding and using facts and evidence
  • Speeches: 1. Debate, 2. Persuasive Speech

Quarter B, second half

  • Oral interpretation
  • Readers Theater
  • Skits
  • What is speech: expository/informational speech and persuasive speech versus narrative/personal or creative speech
  • Modes of speaking: prose, poetry, drama
  • What to say: dozens of sentence-types that can be added
  • Transitional devices
  • Repetition
  • Forming a thesis; turning a topic into a thesis
  • Finding a workable, manageable thesis
  • Speeches: Process Speech, Messages and the Media speech; Graduation speech

Classroom Expectations

Other people will respond to you in the same way that they see you treating others. If you are nice to people, then others will be kind to you. If you allow others to talk, then they will listen to you when you want to be heard. If you say mean things (even if joking), they will remember and will do it to you.

Try: Learning takes effort. You can't be passive. Everything about school has something that can benefit you.

Cooperate: We are here together. There is much that you can both learn and teach.

Keep these in mind:

  • I will respect others--including myself
  • I will respect property--including my own
  • I will not bully, hurt, or mock
  • I will not use “joking” or “friendship” as an excuse
  • I have a right to learn
  • I have a right to to be heard
  • I am not the only student
  • I will respect other students’ right to learn
  • I will respect other students’ right to be heard

High School Expectations

  • Phones are allowed during lunch, not during class. Your phone will go to the office if you are caught using it.
  • Food and drinks are allowed during lunch, not during class. Either will be taken away until lunch or after school.
  • Stay in the room: bathroom breaks and trips to the locker are allowed during lunch and between classes.

Grading

Students are graded on daily work, worksheets, essays, quizzes, tests, and speeches. This list is not definitive and other assessments exist.

Grading Scale

A 93-100

A- 90-92

B+ 87-88

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 0-59

Last

Grades that are As and Fs are both earned. Many tests and many assignments and many questions are easy. Anyone can pass with a little effort. Getting a D or C or B is common. Some classwork is NOT easy. Some questions are hard.

How to Earn an A: Do all parts of all assignments. Be thorough in your work. Keep track of details in factual information. Ask yourself, Do I know 92 or 93 percent of this information? That is one difference between an A- and an A.

How to Earn an F: Do NOT turn in assignments. That is about the most common reason that students do not pass a class, missing assignments. Always turn in something.