Every year when I’m teaching public speaking, and how to organize a speech, I like to try an exercise with my students.
They write speeches by rows.
The first person writes an introduction, the second person writes the next paragraph, and so on to the back of the row. It’s supposed to be a little silly and fun, but still drive home the point that without a clear introduction, the audience will be lost.
I’ve tried this for three years now, and today, it worked! The students in my 3rd hour English 11 class did some really nice work, demonstrating some solid skills.
So today I’m grateful for my English 11 class, who accomplished a task and (I hope) refined a skill they’ll be assessed on in a couple of weeks.
Bonus: they made me laugh with some of their goofy examples and presentation styles.
