Public speaking creates discomfort for many students. Instead of seeking to avoid this inevitable discomfort, six speech-variation activities explained in this paper are intentionally designed for, a little bit at a time, embracing momentary discomfort in public speaking. By embracing the inevitable discomfort of public speaking head-on in a fun…

Courses: Public speaking. Objectives: This assignment reduces speech anxiety through the affect-reframing power of gratitude, and enables students to consolidate their gains by experiencing social support from a staff mentor.

This activity is designed to help students recognize ableist assumptions in rhetoric and how we evaluate what constitutes a "good" speaker and their ethos. It will highlight how ableism is embedded in social norms, using classroom public-speaking rubrics to do so. Students learn how to identify these ableist assumptions better and…

Courses: English Language Arts (9-12), Media Studies, Public Speaking. English Language Arts (9-12), Media Studies, Public Speaking. Objectives: The unit's goals are for students to build a foundation for analytical thinking, acquire tools for critical reading and analysis of graphic and digital texts, and use visual analysis to engage readers and…

Higher education frequently utilizes collaborative learning, and collaboration is also emphasized as an important skill in the workplace. However, students often feel apprehensive about group projects. The semester-long Collaborative Writing and Presenting course teaches students how to collaborate on communication projects using best practices…

Courses: Persuasion, Marketing, Advanced Public Speaking, Argumentation. Objectives: The aims of this assignment are to introduce students to the concept of data mining as a tool for audience analysis and to improve students' ability to adapt a message to a specific audience.

This essay overviews a semester-long course activity and framework for the basic public-speaking course. Using Paul and Elder's critical-thinking framework, the author discusses ways to address some of the common problems within the public-speaking course while enhancing critical thinking. Through this model, students develop skills in five…

Unaffordable textbooks highlight neoliberal regimes in higher education, whereby privatization and profit undermine student success. The cost of textbooks has risen more than 1,000% since 1977 (Popken, B. 2015, Aug. 6. College textbook prices have risen 1,041 percent since 1977. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/…

Courses: Public Speaking, Advanced Public Speaking, Capstone Courses. Objective: This activity is designed to help students identify different components of an elevator speech and assemble elevator speeches highlighting their strengths. The activity ultimately increases students' sense of self-competence.

Courses: Public Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasion, Political Communication, and Media Communication. Objectives: By the end of this activity, students should be able to: explain the key components of Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation; assess and navigate various conditions affecting various speaking situations; conduct audience analysis…

Courses: Public speaking, business and professional communication, group communication. Objectives: This activity will introduce Monroe's Motivated Sequence as a way to organize persuasive arguments; improve students' ability to deliver presentations with consistent content, voice, and style; and improve team-based delivery skills.

This article presents a curated collection of 10 teaching innovations debued at the Association for Business Communication's 87th annual meeting held in Tampa, Florida, USA, and online October 2022. This "My Favorite Assignment" 27th edition introduces readers to classroom-ready ideas to help students gain personal and professional…

This activity extends the rich pedagogical scholarship on impromptu speaking by integrating visual imagery into the impromptu speaking exercise. The goal of this semester-long series of exercises is to provide students with the opportunity to apply effective delivery skills across general purposes of speaking, receive feedback, and thus develop…

Impromptu speaking is a typical exercise in communication-focused courses. This format is often used to practice reducing or assess speaking anxiety, getting to know one another, and delivering project updates and ceremonial remarks. For students to practice their skills in quick thinking and speech preparation, instructors commonly have students…

Courses: Introduction to public speaking, advanced public speaking, hybrid/survey introduction to communication. Objectives: At the end of this activity, students will be able to (1) explain the elements of a speaking outline and discover these elements in real-world speech examples, (2) recreate outline formats effectively in their personal…