Shih, Ru-Chu. "Blended learning using video-based blogs: Public speaking for English as a second language students." Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 26.6 (2010): 883-897.

 

The first resource that I chose concerns speech communication instruction in high school English language arts classrooms. Specifically, it recognizes that the majority of English teachers never had to take any sort of speech education during their college years. Because of this, they are ill-equipped to teach their students the significant intricacies of making speeches, debating, and effective communication with audiences. As English teachers, it is our job to instruct our students on how to make effective speeches and speak publicly. This resource is more informational and research-centered than instructional, but still serves as a great resource and eye-opener for secondary English educators. The second resource deals specifically with incorporating video-based blogs to develop the public speaking/speech making skills of English as a second language students. The study that this resource is based off of originally aimed to establish an effective blended instruction model for an English public speaking course.

 

The first resource is a great one to use because it takes a good, hard look at where many English teachers are lacking, and offers solutions. The authors state that “Previous research indicates that secondary credential English subject matter programs generally do not require communication related training and so it seems unlikely that English teachers are trained to teach speech and listening according to integration standards” (Barnes and Hayes). Additionally, 230 English teachers were interviewed and submitted data about current practices. The research is legitimate, the results are shocking, and it serves as an eye-opener for current English teachers. Lastly, potential barriers are discussed.

 

The second resource is interesting for me, being that I know next-to-nothing about English language learners. Those learning English often have anxiety about speaking in front of the classroom (as do native English speakers!) With the excellent advances in technology integration in the classroom, many seek to incorporate blended learning methods. Video is a hot topic, and its benefits for speech/public speaking instruction for ELLs is becoming more and more evident. It was found that ELLs, when asked to prerecord speeches on video, did better than those who did not. Initially, their first videos were fairly weak. Speech was either rushed or too slow, words were pronounced poorly, and it was difficult to understand what was going on. However, they could then watch the videos back with the teacher, receive real-time feedback, and make improvements beyond everybody’s expectations. This method (stated in much greater detail in the article) is highly useful and should be read by all English language arts teachers who also teach ELLs.

 

I would use the first source for myself for its investigation into the potential barriers pertaining to the effective instruction of speech/public speaking in high school English classrooms. I would suggest it to others to make them aware of the problem. If we haven’t ever learned anything about effective speech techniques, is our instruction going to be good, or are we “winging” it? Why aren’t more teacher education programs requiring appropriate content-area courses related to speech or public speaking? Raising awareness, plus the insight into potential barriers, is why I’d both use and recommend this resource. I’d use the second resource so I could better prepare myself for the technologically changing classroom and for having ELLs. I’d suggest it to all English language arts teachers who plan on instructing speech at any time, whether they have ELLs or not. 

Sesay-St. Paul, Mariama. “Public Speaking in English Class.” Scholastic. 2016. Web. 27 Jul 2016.

Summary

The first resource is a teaching guide for public speaking made available through the University of Nevada. There are several lesson plans available that address various aspects of public speaking along with activities and suggested graphic organizers. These topics include components of a good speech, body language, and dealing with nerves.

The second resource is a unit plan on public speaking from Scholastic. This resource includes 3 separate lesson plans that give suggestions on how to create speech topics and give constructive feedback to peers. There are also several resource lists that include topic ideas, books for developing a speech topic, and feedback forms.

Analysis

The teaching guide listed as the first resource I found to be helpful because it reaches students at their level and where they are. It does not expect anyone to be an expert at public speaking and teachers students how to deliver a successful speech, not just assign them a topic and hope for the best. I liked many of the graphic organizers that were available throughout the resource as well. If I were to use these graphic organizers, I may modify them slightly to fit my own needs and to improve the appearance of them, but the content I think is good quality.

The Scholastic resource for me was good because of the suggested topic lists and the feedback forms that are available for teachers and students. I am not sure I would use the teacher feedback form (the grading system seems a bit weighty and I think I would want to make my own rubric), but I like the idea of using the student feedback forms both because it gives students who are listening to speeches a specific activity to complete that requires their attention and also because it is user friendly from a teacher perspective (just print, copy, and distribute).

Reflection

I think I addressed this mostly in the last section, but I would recommend both of these resources for the graphic organizers/print outs that are available to print and distribute to students, but also because they lay out a practical framework for students to follow to practice developing a topic, outline, and speech and delivering an effective presentation. Especially for beginning public speakers, these are the skills that they need to develop before moving on to being able to develop speeches about more extensive or involved topics. In the Scholastic resource especially, I liked the suggested speech topics that were given. They are topics that most students would find interesting (Who is better? Alicia Keys or Beyonce?) both to argue and to listen to and takes the pressure of developing that topic off of the students.

 

 

 

Moss, Lauralee. "Public Speaking Activities." The Language Arts Classroom. 20             Apr.     2015. Web. 25 July 2016.

 

Both of the sources I chose for this week’s assignments pertain to public speaking, although I think both can be adapted to teaching speaking in general in an English classroom. The first source I chose titled “Teaching Strategies That Teach Speech Skills” and it discussed steps to take before, during and after speeches in a classroom. All steps that it takes are centered around the idea that some of a student’s greatest fears stems from public speaking. With this being said, the steps are meant to alleviate those fears and help students develop into confident speakers in any situation. The second source I found is a blog from an actual teacher that has five activities to do with students to help gain confidence and calm their nerves about speaking in front of others. This teacher has much experience with judging speeches, and has developed this list based off of the best practices she has found for students.

 

Teaching Strategies That Teach Speech Skills is a great resource that recognizes the fear of speaking in students and addressed typical reasons of why they may have such fears. The author has broken down speeches in the three most important parts, which are before, during and after. Each part has several ideas to address when teaching speech to students. This source is easy to adapt into a small list of concepts to tackle as you are planning your instruction on speech for your classroom. Public Speaking Activities is another great source that is written by a teacher who is rather credible. Seeing this teacher’s experience leads me to believe that these activities she has supplied have been developed through much practice, and therefore they should be helpful when I plan to instruct. This source is targeted more for teachers as it is a basic write up of activities and how to implement them in the classroom.

 

After reading thoroughly through both of my sources I have chosen, I am certain that they are great picks to share with others. I say this because they are both written by actual teachers who have experience, and they are detailed enough that anyone would be able to read and insert it into a plan immediately. They both recognize the fact of how daunting the task of giving a speech may be, and so their practices are designed around that certain fear. All of the activities seem to be those that I would enjoy as a student, and would help me get over my fear. Neither of the sources rely on many materials, which makes them easy to add to the classroom, too. I hope you all enjoy these sources as much as I do!