Speech and Debate I Outline
1st Semester:
Ø Improv games (Chaos Drama, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, etc.)
Ø Personal User Manual Writing Assignment
Ø Teamwork/Group Survival Activities
Ø Children’s Literature
§ Read children’s literature for maximum 1 minute using minimum two voices
Ø Life as an Object Speech (Videotape)
· Choose an everyday object and give a 1-2 minute speech on life from its perspective
Ø Introduction to Speech
· The Fear of Speaking
· Warming Up for Speaking
· Vocal Variety
· Articulation and Tongue Twisters
· Body Language
· Power Pause
· Power Poetry
· Watch famous speeches from history and in the movies to demonstrate points
· Watch and Analyze The King’s Speech for speech elements
Ø Awards Acceptance Speeches (Videotape)
· Have students pair up, interview each other, and then create a creative award to present
Ø Storytelling
· Group Trust Exercises
· Tell a story from your life with a visual that will engage an audience
Ø Elements of the Speech
· Power Openers (Power Quotes—create their own quote database)
o Odd Book Titles Activity
o Book Pitch speech
· Body and Conclusions of Speeches
· Watch and analyze Dave for speech elements
Ø Commemorative Speech (Videotape)
· Appropriate attire guidelines for formal speeches
· Choose an historical event of significance and write a speech commemorating it on its anniversary
Ø Cartoon Character Eulogy Speech (Videotape)
Ø News Broadcast Group Speech (Videotape)
· Fairy Tale News Activity (work as a group to report on a famous fairy tale as a news story)
Ø Famous Person Speeches
· Give Example Speech with PowerPoint on Life of Adolph Hitler
· Choose a famous person, research, and create a PowerPoint to present to the class.
· Dress as the person for the speech.
Ø Demonstration Speeches (Videotape)
· Watch Julie and Julia for elements of demonstration (also show clips of Julia Childs’ cooking show)
· Improv Olympics Activity
· Teach the class a skill by demonstrating a process
Ø Pet Peeve Speech (Videotape)
Ø Persuasive Speech** (Videotape)
· Introduce elements of Persuasion
· Choose a topic and write a 3-5 minute persuasive speech on the topic
· Watch and analyze Footloose for persuasive elements
**Make sure you address being an objective presenter/debater, especially with the persuasive speech, as you need to lay the groundwork for debate.
Speech and Debate I Outline
2nd Semester:
Ø Analyze first and last speech from the previous quarter
Ø Teamwork/Team Building Activities
Ø Watch The Great Debaters to analyze debate techniques and format
Ø Using Evidence in Debate
§ Website evaluation
§ Watch and analyze Nuremberg for analysis of evidence used in the Nuremberg Trials
Ø The Structure of Debate
§ Lincoln-Douglas Debate structure
§ Creating an argument
§ Closing your argument (use excerpt of closing argument in A Time to Kill)
§ Resolution Breakdown
Ø Parking Debate
Work in groups to write and argue a debate about parking for high school students
Ø Value Debate: The Value of Believing in Santa Claus
§ Watch Miracle on 34th Street for argument analysis and evidence for debate
§ Have students argue both sides of the following resolution:
Parents should encourage their children to believe in Santa Claus.
Ø Debate Skills
· Refuting
· Attacking
· Cross Examination
· Logical Fallacies
· Flowing (practice flowing with example debates on National Forensic League’s site)
Ø Public Forum Debate
Ø Watch Outbreak and have students write a persuasive argument about the issue of bombing innocent civilians to contain the outbreak.
Ø Court Cases and Argument
· Watch Matilda and have students act out a court case where the parents are suing for custody of their daughter
Ø Lincoln-Douglas Debate
§ Review structure of Lincoln-Douglas Debate
§ Students choose topics and write individual cases, researching both sides of the issue.
§ Random drawing determines which side they will argue.
Ø Dramatic Interpretation
· Using Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, students take a scene from the play and work with a partner to memorize and creatively interpret the scene, acting it out as part of their final exam.
· Watch 10 Things I Hate About You and Kiss Me, Kate to give them an idea of the full plot line.
All of the above items are subject to change.
Exam:
33% Impromptu Speech
33% Written Portion
33% Essay
Ø Life as an Object Speech (Videotape) Sept 6
Ø Awards Acceptance Speeches Sept 13
Ø Storytelling Sept 20
Ø Commemorative Speeches Sept 27
Ø News Broadcast Group Speech Oct 4
Ø Famous Person Speeches Oct 11
Ø Demonstration Speeches Oct 18
Ø Persuasive Speech** (Videotape) Oct 25