A good idea. To build both speech and social skills special ed young scholars go on a scavenger hunt. They locate people around the school and say a series of words, when they say the words correctly they receive a prize. They also ask...

Critical thinkers consider how word choice in speeches impacts the meaning and effectiveness of the message being presented. They examine and respond to some of the speeches made at the 2004 Republican and Democratic National...

Reinforce the importance of the writing process with this publication lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers compose a parts of speech book which includes one page each for nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,...

Has society progressed to the dream Martin Luther King Jr. expressed in his famous address during the civil rights movement? Learners work with a partner to analyze one excerpt from King's "I Have A Dream" speech and find a current...

Provide your class with this reference page on direct and indirect speech. The page includes definitions of direct speech and reported speech (also known as indirect speech). When writing, pupils can check the sample...

“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...

Young scholars demonstrate the eight parts of speech with personal photographs. In this parts of speech lesson, students take photographs and label them with the appropriate concrete example of each part of speech. 

Focus on presentation techniques with this lesson, which prompts middle schoolers give an impromptu speech. They practice public speaking by giving a short unprepared speech. Some preparations are made to include an introduction, body,...

Use this communication skills lesson to emphasize evaluating a speaker's main point and argument. After reading Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream Speech" and John F. Kennedy's speech, "I Believe in an America Where the Separation of...

Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...

Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this lesson could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing process, pupils...

In this paragraph activity, students cut out the 5 sentence strips that will form the opening paragraph of a speech on cooking. Students arrange the sentences in order: topic sentence, details and concluding sentence.

If you're looking to start a unit based around narrative writing, make sure to consider this resource while you're planning. This book covers five topics: writing personal narratives, writing narratives about others, writing...

A little bit complicated, but a whole lot of fun. Show your class an episode of the British television game show Just a Minute. After an explanation of the rules (no repetition, hesitation, or deviation) groups develop topics, based on...

Delve into the world of gerunds and infinitives with this detailed powerpoint. Each slide provides examples and corresponding images. Stopping throughout the presentation would allow for guided and individual practice. This could also be...

Young scholars prepare and deliver a speech on equal rights. They explore equal rights issues as they practice the skills necessary for public speaking.

What makes a speech effective? Middle schoolers critique a speech for content and presentation. They view a video of a middle school student presenting an informational speech, They outline the content of the speech and critique the...

Middle schoolers create pieces of writing about a creature they have created. They examine the parts of speech and how they are used in their writing to see how they can write more specifically.

Students research online and in books city statutes regarding posting signs on utility poles, interview appropriate officials about ordinances and how completely it is enforced, explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens decided...

Students research on the Web and in books with city statutes or call city officials to find out the local ordinance on posting signs on utility poles. If illegal, students explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens decided to...

After creating a booklet illustrating and explaining a variety of figures of speech, your class will use examples of simile, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, and symbolism to develop a slide show in small groups.

Here's a worksheet designed to help learners develop their skill reading primary source documents. The questions, based on an excerpt from Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address, encourages close reading and analysis.

How can word choice affect a political speech? Middle and high schoolers examine the text of the 1999 State of the Union Address, and then determine how newspaper articles and television reports describe and analyze the event. Use this...

Students fine tune their communication skills to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as their own opinions. They must practice a number of times before feeling comfortable using them in every day conversations.