speech lesson plans for high school

Public Speaking Activities for Secondary Students

Read on for six public speaking activities. Then, sign up for a free download of the activities that you can hopefully use in diverse ways, even as public speaking games. 

I earned an endorsement in “speech” for my teaching license. (I’m in Illinois.) In college, I took extra communication courses and observed high school speech classes. Plenty of my extracurricular activities (plus my classes) required me to prepare and deliver speeches. When I started teaching, I had experienced public speaking activities as a student and a teacher observer.

Still, I felt underprepared to teach public speaking. I had zero speech activities for high school students. My first year of teaching, I thought materials were lacking on the Internet, from textbooks, from anywhere (and I searched). This was pre-TpT and I was sinking or swimming. My textbook for the class was about sixty years old, and I had no teacher edition.

That first year I did lots of paddling, but over the years I grew confident in teaching a speech class. I developed fun impromptu speech activities and other speech activities for high school students.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t make mistakes ; I made plenty. Through messy lessons, too-short of lessons, and confused students, I learned to provide structure for students without squashing them. I realized how much preparation was needed. I changed basic rubrics to rubrics that encouraged students to set goals and take ownership of their improvement. Scaffolding and modeling became part of my class.

So! I improved and reflected. After years of teaching public speaking, I crafted ideas for what would help young speakers. Hopefully, these activities help your speech classes too.

What are some ice-breaker exercises that can be used in a public speaking activity?

Some ice-breaker exercises that can be used in public speaking activities include “Two Truths and a Lie,” where participants share two true statements and one false statement about themselves, and “Would You Rather,” where participants are asked to choose between two options and explain their choice.

What about public speaking games?

Sometimes, structure helps young speakers, so I created these public speaking activities to address common areas of concern with high schoolers. Most students fear the nature of a speech class, use too many fillers when speaking, and focus on one area, such as volume and forget about the rest: non-verbal communication, tone, eye contact, etc.

Through coaching speech, spending many weekends at speech tournaments, and teaching public speaking, I created these public speaking activities. I’ve seen variations of these or adapted these from activities geared toward younger students. These speech activities should work well with high school students, but you can modify them for middle school or college speech classes.

These are included in my public speaking unit as well because they can be used numerous times.

Fillers can distract an audience from hearing a really well-developed speech. First, not all fillers are bad. We naturally pause and add fillers. The abundance of fillers, however, can be distracting.

Sometimes speech students are unaware that they use fillers. Other times, students become nervous, pause, and fill the empty time with a filler. Talk with students about the reasons why fillers occur and if they have a time they rely on one. Showing compassion and understanding about a common problem during speeches will relax students, and they will be more likely to work on eliminating an abundance of fillers.

After showing compassion, play public speaking games to address filler words.

Before starting, choose your topic and write a list of common fillers that don’t positively add to spoken communication: um, yeah, like, uh. Ask students to contribute to the list. I normally write the list so that students can consult it.

Instruct students to speak for 30 seconds (vary the time if necessary) and not use any fillers. Students should realize how easily fillers creep into their speech. NOW! Everyone uses some fillers, and fillers can make public speaking natural. However, too many fillers can distract audiences.

Each student will give a short speech for 30 seconds. The topic isn’t too important. You can choose one for the entire class or allow students to choose.

Students must restart their speech if they use a filler. Some students will try to pause and draw out the speech by not speaking, but most students speak at a normal pace. Overall, the audience is compassionate toward the speaker because everyone realizes the difficulty of not relying on these words.

This activity is perfect after the first formal speech. Students need to decompress, but they also need to eliminate fillers. When I ask students to write goals for their future speeches, eliminating fillers is a common goal.

2. Nonverbal practice

Nonverbal communication matters. To help students experience that, ask them to perform an activity where the focus is nonverbal communication.

Students will line up in alphabetical order only using nonverbal communication. I have students line up by order of their middle names since they typically know everyone’s last names. They experiment with different forms of nonverbal communication and have fun. Most often they make a capital letter with their fingers. If some students know middle names, they will switch classmates around.

The real practice is when students realize many of them have a middle name that starts with the same letter. “A” is a common one. Then students must figure out how to communicate the second letters of Aarron, Ann, Alice, and Abraham. I will say I’ve never had a class line up correctly.

This activity is the perfect introduction to nonverbal communication. As students continue through the semester, they’ll be able to focus on purposeful movements that emphasize their points. This nonverbal activity breaks the ice as you start to work on nonverbal communication. I never plan on this nonverbal practice becoming a public speaking game, but it often does.

3. One goal

Speeches can overwhelm students. Help students focus on one goal. The best part about the “one goal” activity is that students choose their focus which creates less work for you and buy-in for students.

As students continue with class, ask them what area they see as the greatest potential for improvement. Brainstorm areas as a class. There is no right or wrong! Students normally list eye contact, proper volume level, appropriate nonverbal communication, and natural movement. Then let students decide what they desire to improve.

Students will individually decide what they want to improve in their speaking—they will each have a goal. Some students want to work on eye contact, others want to balance their volume, others want to stop fidgeting. Then I divide students into small groups. Students will practice the current speech they are creating, receiving constructive feedback when they need to correct an action to meet their goal. Their group will also tell them when they did well and moved toward meeting their goal.

(This is a bit like #1 but fillers are such a huge issue with high school orators that it gets its own activity.) I normally do this activity later in the year after students are comfortable with each other. I also don’t do this activity if I feel a class may not give meaningful feedback. Finally, I share with students that improving in an area is part of most jobs. In teaching, for example, teachers often record themselves and reflect on the video later. They then develop goals for improvement in their profession. (Sometimes it is a public speaking goal!)

This activity works well to meet individual goals and to build classroom community. My speech rubrics contain a spot for consideration on improvement of a goal. Plus, the art of reflection will serve students in any field or career, so I stress that message to them. This focused practice works well because it encourages students to work on a goal in which the teacher had very little involvement.

4. M&M/ Skittles

Who doesn’t like candy? With this fun exercise, students share information about a topic. You’ll get students talking in a low-stress, engaging way.

This candy activity is fun and quick. Bring a large bag of small candies like M&M or Skittles to class. Ask students to take as many pieces of candy as they like, but stress not to eat the candies yet. Pass the bag around. Then, students must tell a fact about themselves for each piece of candy. 15 pieces of candy? 15 facts.

This also works with review. 5 pieces of candy? Review 5 facts with the class concerning public speaking terms. After speaking, students may eat their candy. I’ve used a similar process in other classes to review material.

This activity works well as a review or as a first day of school activity. Students are publicly speaking in their speech class on the first day of school without any feedback or real regulations. Since the process is fun, their first experience in class is a positive one. Plus, the candy aspect lends itself to making a public speaking game.

5. Impromptu

Most speeches in real life are actually impromptu speeches. Interviews, business meetings, and proposal presentations require people to think quickly and to speak eloquently, all while proving their point. Body language matters too!

Activate prior knowledge with a bit of an anticipatory set. Ask students about a time they gave an impromptu speech (even though they did not probably label it “impromptu” at the time!). Most people can relate to the frustration of having ideas but not conveying them well. Many times, people think of what they should have said days later! Students probably face this frustration. Acknowledge that feeling, share they you’ve experienced it too, and supply a solution.

Thinking and speaking on your feet might come naturally to some people. With practice, even those who struggle to articulate their ideas under pressure can improve.

Have students organize a speech quickly by delivering an impromptu speech. Often I would ask a class to write a topic on a piece of paper. (Sometimes I would say that the topic needed to be persuasive or informative—but it always needed to be clean.) Students would write their topic, add it to a box, and draw from a box. The topics were great because I didn’t make them and because students knew they had the potential to draw their own.

After drawing, provide 30 seconds to outline their speech. Then, students will talk about the topic for one minute. As the school year continued, I would increase the speaking time.

Older students who have been in class for a bit will probably organize their speech with a general introductory statement, two concepts, and a concluding statement. (That varies, of course.) If students struggle with the format, create a quick outline they can apply to their topics.

Students enjoy creating their own topics and learn to speak on the spot in a mature, organized manner. At first, students groan about impromptu speaking. This area is actually where I see the most growth. Students gain confidence that they can think and speak quickly, and they start to enjoy the process.

Tone matters! Many adults don’t realize the tone that they convey shapes their communication. We should certainly work with our students concerning tone so that they are aware of its power. Not only can the wrong tone hurt speakers, but the right tone can also emphasize their message.

Define “tone” for students. Brainstorm times that students know their tone has affected them. (Normally students share stories about times they were in trouble with their parents for having the wrong tone.) Then think of times that the right tone conveyed the correct message. Students might struggle to come up with examples for best use of tone. Oftentimes, a tone that matches a speaker’s message doesn’t stand out, and that is probably because the tone was woven into the message so well.

Experiment with tone with students. Put students into groups, and assign a speaker. (Everyone will have the chance to be a speaker.) Give the speaker a list of emotions and a list of generic statements. Then ask the speaker to choose a question and an emotion that conveys tone.

Finally, the rest of the group must decide the speaker’s tone. This opportunity allows for discussion about intentional tone and miscommunication. You’ll want to circulate as students practice this.

Public speaking activities can be engaging and memorable. First, students might be nervous about giving speeches, so provide a variety of opportunities for them to practice. As you build a classroom community, these activities easily can become public speaking games.

To help nerves, work on material slowly and purposefully. By helping students see success with public speaking, they will gain more confidence in your speech class and in life. Soon, your speech activities for high school students will be personalized and fit your community.

As you incorporate these public speaking games and activities into your speech units, you’ll discover that they are easily adaptable. Plus, you’ll find the perfect timing for each exercise. Teaching public speaking requires experimentation and reflection. I hope these help!

Would you like these public speaking activities at your fingertips? Download these six lesson plans (plus many more!) when you sign up for library access.

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Speech and Debate

12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard What if the Apollo 11 astronauts had been stranded in space? What if the invasion at Normandy during WWII had failed? Texts of speeches that were never delivered. These would make a good pre-writing activity to accompany reading: what might Juliet Capulet have said had she awakened 5 minutes sooner? What might Jim have said to Huck had they found Cairo as they had planned?

Actions Speak Louder Than Words No matter how good a written speech is, the delivery is what the audience remembers. Learning about and practicing volume, stress, pacing, and pronunciation helps students to deliver an oral presentation effectively.

Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address Text of the speech in both web and MS Word formats.

American Rhetoric This extensive resource includes an online speech bank, a "Top 100 Speeches" list, a database of figures of speech, and more. Many of these resources are available as audio files.

Battling for Liberty: Tecumseh's and Patrick Henry's Language of Resistance Students compare and contrast Patrick Henry's famous speech with two by Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee to develop an appreciation of powerful language.

"Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" Complete text of Churchill's speech to the House of Commons in May 1940.

Circle of Stories Documentary film, photography, artwork and music exploring Native American storytelling. Lessons available at the site are designed for grades 6-12.

Debate Links for using debate in the classroom and for the national high school debate topic.

Demonstration Speech An annotated outline for a model demonstration speech.

Dr. King's Dream Part of this lesson focuses on Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It is designed for grades K-2.

Effective Speech Writing Suggestions for working with a theme, including examples from other speeches.

Express Yourself: Crafting Social Location Maps and Identity Monologues Students map their social locations (definition and model included), reflect on their identity and the dramatic purpose of monologue, and craft speeches that explore defining aspects of their lives.

"Four Freedoms" Audio file and text of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's State of the Union address in 1941. Also available in PDF and Flash versions.

Free Speech: Reading Closely by Preparing a Hypertext Version of a Political Speech Students share opinions and feedback about the speech on race delivered by Barack Obama on March 18, 2008. They then create a hypertext-annotated version of the speech that explains its historical and contemporary references and offers personal commentary. This lesson includes a copy of the speech; other speeches would also work with this strategy.

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World Searchable and browsable, this site includes speeches from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Emma Goldman, Margaret Chase Smith, and others.

Has the Cat Got Your Tongue? Students work to improve their enunciation skills by taking part in a tongue-twister speaking competition and writing tongue twisters of their own! This lesson is designed for grades 3-5.

Hello, America! Radio Broadcasting in the Years before Television Students write and create radio programs. A 10-age handout includes background information and teaching suggestions. Adobe Reader or compatible application required for access.

How to Speak to that People Want to Listen In this TED talk (9:58), Julian Treasure demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking — from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy.

I Have a Metaphor A lesson in identifying the literary devices used in Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" Speech: analogy, symbolism, use of chronology, personification, metaphor, figurative language and the effective use of repetition.

Impromptu Public Speaking Topics This page has a list of 50 topics.

It's All About Me Designed for third grade, this thorough unit plan includes 11 lessons and a culminating activity. Students explore biography and autobiography, review parts of speech, conduct interviews, and give a speech. This 37-page document includes lesson plans and handouts. It requires Adobe Reader or compatible application for access. Consider downloading the file and printing only those pages you need.

Monologue Archive Comic, dramatic, and classical monologues for men, women, children, and seniors. It is also possible to browse for monologues by playwright.

Narrative Speech Students give a narrative speech using visual aids. The student must bring in three things that represent them in some way and explain why these things are significant. The 2-4 minute speech will be given with no notes. Adobe Reader required for access.

Narrative Speech Assignment This assignment includes suggestions for organization and evaluation.

National Speech and Debate Association/National Forensic League Links to debate topic, Stennis Student Congress resolution, National Junior Forensic League, and NFL services including Rostrum magazine.

Out Loud Students assess the experience of reading and being read to aloud, both in person and on audio, and then practice and perform their own oral readings.

Persuasive Speech Everything you need to prepare a persuasive speech: an outline, step-by-step analysis, and examples.

The Power of Speech Students explore equal rights issues as they practice the skills necessary for public speaking.

Preparing Students to Present This infographic lists 27 ways to help prepare students for successful presentations.

Robert's Rules of Order The official web site, with Frequently Asked Questions and other resources.

Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches Reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and critical thinking activities using audio clips and transcripts of moving and powerful speeches.

Speaking Up: Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking One part infographic, one part tips for speakers, this page analyzes our common fears and suggests ways to overcome fear of speaking in public.

State of the Union Creative Assignment Introduction and 5 activities supporting study of the State of the Union Address: edit the speech, support or defend one statement from the speech, evaluate the topics chosen, write a critical response, write a catch phrase.

Storytelling Activities & Lesson Ideas A wide variety of activities for all grade levels.

Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations From "Talk to the Audience" to "Provide Appropriate Acknowledgments," good advice for speakers of all ages.

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Home > Resources

Our lesson plans and activities will help you get talking in class, whatever the subject. Please click here to sign up for our schools’ newsletters

DISCOVER OUR RESOURCES

This page is full of free resources to help you get your students speaking in class. Here you’ll find more on the key skill sets that oracy helps develop, plus activities, lesson plans and a host of ice-breaking games to help with our three national competitions – the ESU-Churchill Public Speaking Competition, the Schools’ Mace and Performing Shakespeare.

If you like what you see, sign up for our schools’ newsletter here to receive regular free resources in your inbox. Don’t forget too that we can provide CPD workshops on oracy teaching , as well as Discover Your Voice sessions fully tailored to your students’ needs.

For handbooks and specific information relating to individual competitions, please see the relevant page .

All our teaching, resources and competitions are underpinned by four key skill sets: Reasoning and Evidence; Listening and Response; Expression and Delivery and Organisation and Prioritisation.

Below you’ll find more information on each skill set, as well as free activity resources to practise each one. So whether you want to improve your students’ questioning skills, or to help them to structure their arguments more clearly, we have the resources you need.

Find out more about the skill sets

Skill sets - Listening and Response

Debate provides a range of opportunities for students to engage with the ideas of others. The skill set 'Listening and response' represents the extent and efficacy of this engagement.

Skill sets - Expression and Delivery

Expression and delivery sets debating apart from competitive essay-writing. Students need to be able to convey their thoughts with their audience in mind.

Skill sets - Organisation and Prioritisation

Debates require quick thinking and the clear articulation of ideas. The organisation and prioritisation skill set reflects students’ ability to convey their ideas clearly and effectively.

Skill sets - Reasoning and Evidence

Reasoning and evidence denotes the argumentation skills students need. It represents the ability of students to explain and justify the positions they take.

Talking games

Need a quick ice-breaker at the beginning of a lesson?

Want the whole class to recap on what was covered last week – and enjoy it? These fun games can be used in any classroom – from maths and biology to history and RE – and are guaranteed to get everyone talking, and listening, to each other. Why not try one today and see how easy it is to bring oracy into your classroom?

Free resources

If I Ruled The World Activity

PDF (309.5KB)

Cross The Circle If…

PDF (504.9KB)

This House Would Rather Have A Government Of Experts Than A Democratically Elected One

PDF (442.8KB)

World Cup 2022 Oracy Pack

PDF (2.0MB)

Public Speaking Tips

Polls show that many people list public speaking as their number one fear, ahead even of our fear of death. But with a little know-how and, crucially, some practice, speaking in public can become something that anyone, student or adult, can actively enjoy and look forward to.

On the links below, comedian and ESU alumnus Rory Bremner tells us what he learned from the Public Speaking Competition, which he won in 1979, and we share some hints and tips for students taking the competition’s roles of speaker, questioner or chair.

Rory Bremner’s public speaking tips

ESU alumnus Rory Bremner shares his top public speaking tips.

Public Speaking Tips For The Chair

PDF (465.6KB)

Public Speaking Tips For The Questioner

PDF (457.9KB)

Public Speaking Tips For The Speaker

PDF (382.9KB)

NEW TO DEBATING

Any teacher knows that their students have a lot to say but that they don’t always have the skills with which to express themselves.

Debating is a great way of practising speaking and listening skills, either through a debate club or through incorporating debate activities into your lesson plans for other subjects. If you’ve never tried debating before, or you’re not sure how it can help you, here’s where to start!

Oracy In Your Classroom Lesson Plan Template

PDF (756.8KB)

Setting up a debate club - guide for primary schools

PDF (403.1KB)

Setting up a debate club - guide for secondary schools

PDF (1.1MB)

Debating Glossary

PDF (1.5MB)

Debate formats for schools

By asking students to take different sides in an argument and then to justify those sides, debate is a great way of improving speaking and listening skills, as well as critical thought and prioritisation skills.

Debates can be as simple or as formal as you like, from a fun balloon debate on a relevant topic to a more structured town hall meeting which gives students an insight into how many public decisions are made. Competitive debates have an extra level of ‘spice’ or kudos attached, with the prospect of winning a motivating factor for many students.

Preparing Impromptu Speeches

PDF (313.3KB)

Balloon Debate

PDF (315.9KB)

Town Hall Meeting

PDF (277.9KB)

Where Do You Stand?

PDF (305.1KB)

Debate formats

Debating competitions take place in different formats around the UK, and internationally. Find out more here about the differences between them all.

Performing resources

Teaching students to perform, to project their voices and to inhabit and empathise with different characters has so many benefits, on and off the stage.

Below, you’ll find some examples of monologues and duologues perfect for our Performing Shakespeare competition, and we’ve also asked some professional actors to tell us about their favourite speeches too. We hope you find them inspiring!

FREE RESOURCES

Merchant Of Venice Monologue Act 3 Scene 1 Ben Spiller

PDF (517.6KB)

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona Monologue Act 4 Scene 3 Karen Whyte

PDF (351.4KB)

Performing Shakespeare Example Monologues

PDF (460.9KB)

Performing Shakespeare Example Duologues

PDF (642.6KB)

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• High School Intro to Communications...

High School Intro to Communications & Speech

Our intro to communications class is a full-year course that features teacher communication through engagement and online collaborative tools. Students learn about the components, origins and characteristics of communication through interactive activities and thought-provoking lectures.

If you need more information on what students learn in intro to communications and speech and why the Time4Learning high school speech curriculum is a popular choice for parents, please review the following material.

• Why Study Communications & Speech in High School
• What Do You Learn in an Intro to Communications and Speech Course?

High School Intro to Communications & Speech Scope & Sequence

• Why Choose Time4Learnings Intro to Communications & Speech Course

Additional Electives

Why study communications & speech in high school.

Without communications and speech, people would not be able to effectively interact with one another. It is the foundation for what people do in daily life. An intro to communications class effectively teaches students how to inform and explain themselves, evaluate and compare ideas, and provide insight into verbal and non verbal messages.

Through communication and speech, students become more effective at meeting others, developing critical thinking skills, creating persuasive oral and written messages, and more. By improving communications, students will not only be learning valuable life skills, they’ll also be strengthening skills for future professional purposes.

What Do You Learn in an Intro to Communications & Speech Course?

A high school speech curriculum usually begins by building a strong foundation in the elements, principles and characteristics of human communication. From this foundation students explore topics such as self-knowledge and self-perception, public speaking, and the gender differences in the areas of listening and responding.

Additional information that is covered includes:

• The elements that impact the quality of communication, including interpersonal relationships, gender, and culture.
• The verbal and nonverbal characteristics of human communication.
• Evaluating and critiquing  public speeches.
• Examining communication on multiple levels, including interpersonal, small group, and organizational.

  Chapter 1: “Communications: Foundations of Communication”

• What is Human Communication?
• Elements and Characteristics of Human Communication
• Principles of Communication
• Ethics and Diversity: Culture and Communication
• Self-Concept and Self-Esteem
• Self-Disclosure

  Chapter 2: “Communications: Understanding Verbal and Nonverbal Messages”

• The Principles of Language
• The Power of Words
• Using Verbal Messages Effectively
• Ethics and Diversity: Confronting Bias in Language
• Communication and Technology: Etiquette on the Web
• The Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal Communication: Appearance, Gestures, and Expressions
• Nonverbal Communication: Touch, Voice, and Environment

  Chapter 3: “Communications: Listening and Responding; Culture and Gender Differences”

• The Listening Process
• Listening Styles and Effective Listening
• Improving Responding Skills
• Cultural Contexts and Values in Communication
• Gender and Communication
• Bridging Differences

  Chapter 4: “Communications: Interpersonal, Small Group, and Organizational Communication”

• Interpersonal Communication
• Stages of Relationship Development
• The Importance of Relationships
• Ethics and Communication: Ethical Conflict
• Dynamics of Groups and Teams
• Effective Group Work
• Organizational Communication
• Cumulative Exam

  Chapter 5: “Speech: Introduction to Public Speaking”

• The Importance of Public Speaking
• Listening to and Critiquing Public Speeches
• Managing Apprehension
• Identify Your Topic and Purpose
• Develop a Thesis
• Analyze and Adapt to Your Audience

  Chapter 6: “Speech: Preparing and Delivering Your Speech”

• Types of Supporting Materials
• Presentation Aids
• Organizing and Outlining Your Ideas
• Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions
• Wording Your Presentation
• Methods of Delivery
• Effective Vocal Delivery and Bodily Actions

  Chapter 7: “Speech: Informative and Persuasive Presentations”

• Types of Informative Presentations
• Organizing Your Informative Presentation
• Tips for Clear and Interesting Presentations
• Goals of Persuasive Speaking
• Persuasion Techniques
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• 5 fun speech games

Public Speaking Activities

5 fun speech games to build skills and confidence.

By:  Susan Dugdale  

There are five public speaking activities on this page, along with numerous spinoffs.

Their principal purpose is to develop speech fluency and confidence through fun!

You'll find they are easily adaptable to groups of all ages and skill levels: from newcomers to advanced.

I've used them all and know they work. People become so enjoyably engrossed in them, they forget to be fearful!

1. Interview Introductions

Interview Introductions are a great way to break the ice with a new group of people. The exercise has them finding out about each other and then introducing the person they interviewed to the whole group.

As it's a lot less threatening or scary to talk about someone else rather than yourself, you'll find people respond really positively as they're generally eager to represent the person they interviewed well.

Instructions

• Divide your group into pairs.
• Each person interviews the other in turn. The information gained forms the basis of a brief introduction speech they'll give to the whole group when the interviewing process is complete.
• Ask them to find out their partner's name, where they live/work, what hobbies they have, what their favorite book, film, song...is, what they're most proud of (an achievement perhaps), what they hope for from the class, something funny that happened in their childhood, where they go for holidays, what they think about the latest local issue ... Obviously they can't expect to cover all of that in detail inside the brief time they spend talking with each other. One or two interesting points is enough!
• Establish a time limit for the interviews. I've found 10 minutes works well. Keep track of the time and call change at the halfway point, 5 minutes, to ensure both people get an opportunity to be interviewed and to interview.  
• When the group comes back together the introductions begin: "This is Mary from Taupo. When she's not working for the Social Welfare Department as a community social worker she's collecting stamps. She says part of their charm is that they don't answer back and are quiet!"

2. Image Starters

Picture prompts or image starters are great for sparking  imaginative storytelling and conversations.

Either use my ready-made printable file of 40 picture prompts , (which you can find out more about by clicking the link), or gather up a collection of your own to use.

You'll need interesting images/photos from magazines or newspapers - enough for everybody to have one each and then a few spare.

Place them face down and have everybody pick one.

Using the image as a prompt, what can they share about it? 

Questions to get started are:

• Where is this photo/image from? (And the answer doesn't have to be true - merely plausible! Encourage imaginative creativity.)
• What's happening in this photo/picture?
• What feelings does the image evoke?
• Is there a season or time associated with it?
• What happened after or before the photo was taken?

5 activities using image starters

If you'd like specific instructions for five different activities based around images you'll find them here: picture prompts for impromptu speeches . 

They range from introductory 'show and tell', like the starter questions above, to more advanced. There are solo as well as group activities.

3. For and Against

'For and Against' encourages flexibility: the ability to see a topic from opposing sides.

A speaker has 30 seconds to talk 'for' a topic and then another 30 seconds to speak 'against' it.

Prepare and print out a selection of controversial speech topics. You'll need one per person.

Put the topics into a non-see through bag. Have each speaker select their topic when it's their turn to speak.

Ideally what's wanted is at least two or three good points supporting both sides: for and against.

Time the speech. Call start, the half way point and, stop.

Sample topics:

• money is the root of all evil
• a country gets the government it deserves
• ' green ' politics are just the current fashion
• pets in apartments should be banned
• marriage is essentially a business contract
• 'Religion is the opiate of the masses' : Karl Marx
• poverty is a state of mind
• euthanasia is unjustifiable
• global warming is media hype
• cloning animals should be banned
• animal testing is immoral

For variation split your group into pairs and extend the time limit to 1 - 2 minutes. One person takes the 'for' position, and other takes the 'against'.  

More 1 minute speech practice

For 150 1 minute speech topics with 3 example speech outlines following the PREP (Point, Reason, Example, Point) format, the full text of three speeches plus audio, visit:  1 minute speech topics .

Get instant organizers for impromptu speeches

For more on structuring impromptu speeches quickly and effectively go to impromptu speaking templates . You'll find 7 useful speech outline organizers explained (including PREP), alongside suggestions to banish impromptu speaking blues. 

4. The Object of my Affection

Gather up a collection of small objects, enough for one per speaker. For example: a vintage toy car, a can of sardines, a hair ribbon, an old black and white photographic portrait, a pair of baby shoes .... 

Put all of them into a non-see through bag.

Each speaker puts their hand into the bag and pulls out an object. Whatever they get forms the basis of their 1 - 2 minute speech.

Ideas to help the speakers get started:

• This ... { insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } saved my life. It happened like this...
• Whenever I see a ...{ insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } it reminds me of the time I...
• I collect ...{i nsert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } and this one is the prize of my collection. It used to belong to ...

5. Conducted Speech

This is a group public speaking activity. It is noisy, effective and outrageously good fun! 

Select a tongue twister from this page of  diction exercises  eg. " Sister Susie sat on the seashore sewing shirts for soldiers ".

Divide your class into groups of four. Three in each group will be the speakers and the fourth, the conductor.

The speakers repeat the tongue twister responding to the conductor's direction. He/she can make them go faster or slower, louder or quieter. The conductor could even decide to make it a round by staggering when each person begins! 

The goal of the exercise is to practice articulation coupled with vocal variety ie. speech rate and volume.

It also teaches cooperation and focus, or concentration. Let your mind wander, and it's game over! You've lost it, not only for yourself but your group as well.

Swap the conductor role around to give everybody a turn.

Once everybody is familiar with the activity, give the groups turns at demonstrating their prowess to the whole class. They'll love seeing and hearing each other perform. ☺

If you liked these speech activities ...

You'll love my ebook!

28  public speaking games  (with many more variations and extensions), full instructions, PLUS printable topic, tongue twister, poem and image sheets.

A complete  one-stop-select-print-go  public speaking resource for busy people.

Find out more >>

For more freebie public speaking activities:

• 10 activities for public speaking - a collection of tried and tested speech class activities for middle school upwards
• Another 7 fun-filled public speaking games for groups
• Improv games - a collection of 5 excellent drama games for groups
• Public speaking exercises - these focus on the individual speaker- how to breathe well, stand, use eye contact effectively...

What's the difference between these freebie activities and your ebook?

My ebook contains the best of all the games from these pages and then some more strictly Susan specials, PLUS detailed instructions on how to use them.

You'll find out how to select games for a class, introduce them for maximum effect, integrate them into your lesson plans, and so on.

It also has all the topics, tongue twisters, images etc you need to play available as printables.

It's a one-stop, time saving resource that you'll return to time, and time again. Why not check it out?

Your students will thank you for it!

• Return to the top of the public speaking activities page

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Home » Blog » Lesson Plans » Free Conversation Share Worksheet for High School

Free Conversation Share Worksheet for High School

High school speech-language pathologists play a crucial role in developing students’ communication skills, particularly in the nuanced art of conversation sharing. This blog post outlines a straightforward, impactful lesson plan complete with a free, printable Understanding Conversation Share Worksheet for High School students . The activities are designed to enhance students’ understanding and execution of balanced conversation, a key skill for their social and academic success.

Lesson Plan Overview

Duration : 30-45 minutes

Materials : “Understanding Conversation Share Worksheet” ( printable PDF )

Objective : To improve students’ conversation sharing skills, promoting effective and balanced communication.

Preparation Steps

• Download and print the “Understanding Conversation Share Worksheet” for each student.
• Familiarize yourself with the content and discussion points.

Lesson Execution

• Introduction to Conversation Sharing (5 minutes) : Begin by explaining the concept of conversation sharing. Discuss its importance in building relationships and effective communication.
• Worksheet (10 minutes) : Distribute the worksheets. Instruct students to complete the multiple-choice questions, which are designed to highlight helpful and unhelpful examples.
• Group Discussion (10-15 minutes) : Review the worksheet answers. Engage the students in a discussion about why certain choices foster better conversation sharing.
• Role-Playing Exercise (Optional, 10-15 minutes) : If time permits, conduct a role-playing activity where students practice conversation sharing skills in pairs or small groups.

This lesson plan, along with the “ Understanding Conversation Share Worksheet ,” provides a practical, engaging way for high school speech-language pathologists to teach conversation sharing. The activities are designed to be easy to implement with minimal preparation, yet are effective in imparting essential communication skills to high school students.

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Related Blog Posts:

Handling Teasing and Bullying

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Teaching Empathy: A Guide for Educators

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Heart-Mind Online

Lesson plan: public speaking prep.

• Secure and Calm
• Gets Along with Others
• Alert and Engaged

Why?  Those who identify a fear of public speaking admit to harbouring visions of doing something embarrassing, forgetting what they are talking about, being unable to continue talking, not making sense, or showing physical signs of anxiety to others.

While fear and anxiety are normal and help keep us on our toes (based on how anxiety helped us in our cave man survival days), they become a problem when they interfere with everyday functioning. 10% of those who had fears of speaking in public expressed a level of anxiety that went beyond normal and healthy and interfered with their work, social life or education.

Providing opportunities for students to “lean into” their anxieties and face their fears of public speaking can seem counter intuitive, but it is the gradual, safe exposure [ 2 ] to things that we are fearful of that helps us gain confidence and build resilience.

This lesson plans provides an opportunity to apply stress reducing skills to this commonly anxiety-ridden task of public speaking.  

Learning Outcomes:

To provide students with strategies/ knowledge to help them regulate their breathing and calm their nerves when they speak publicly in front of an audience.  

Get students to connect with their bodies and understand the influence that their anxieties have on the performance of their bodily functions and vice versa.

Materials Required:

A mindful recording [ 3 ] , mindful breathing app, such as Stop, Breathe & Think or Breathr, or a script for a guided-breathing exercise [ 4 ] .

A peer feedback form with three columns:

The first column lists the seven feedback elements of voice, gestures, content, vocabulary, opening, closing, structure

The second column is labelled "successes"

The third column is labelled "suggestions”

Note: It is recommended that this lesson take place near the end of a speech writing unit, after speeches have been written but before students have delivered their speeches in class.

Teaching and Learning Activities:

• ACTIVATE LEARNING: Ask students what the #1 fear …. is. (It’s public speaking! Other tops ones include heights and spiders.)
• Invite students to create a large circle of chairs in the middle of the room and take a seat. Introduce the lesson as a useful skill to help in the preparation of their speeches. This lesson will start with a learning a breathing exercise and then small groups will practice and provide peer-feedback on their speeches.
• Explain that on way to manage anxieties or fears, like public speaking, is to focus on something they can control - their breathing. The breathing exercise will help them become more aware of their bodies and focussing on their breathing will draw their attention to a rhythmic pattern that will put them at ease and make them feel more comfortable.
• Remind students that the classroom is a respectful, safe environment for trying new things. This exercise may be new or different to some and while it is OK to feel silly or weird doing it, don't let reactions or behaviours get in the way of others.
• Using the app or a script, follow a guided breathing exercise that lasts between 3 and 5 minutes. The teacher should participate (unless reading a script) and does not need to observe students.
• Debrief with students.  Ask: How did that make you feel? Do you feel any different than you did before doing the exercise? Was it weird, natural, hard? What other circumstance could you find yourself in  where an exercise like this may be helpful? If using, write the name of the app on the board, or provide other suggestions of places where students can find similar guided breathing exercises.
• While still in a circle, transition to practicing their speeches by provide each student with three copies of the peer-feedback handout. Give them instructions to complete the columns when they  listen to another student's speech. "Successes" are meant to describe aspects of their speech/delivery that went well. "Suggestions" is meant to give advice, suggestions for improvement of either the delivery or writing of the speech. Explain that the task is not meant to put down the speaker but to support and encourage them to do the best that they can.
• Number the students off 1-4. These groups of 4 will be their groups for the remainder of the class. Make sure that everyone has at least 3 feedback forms. Groups should find a quiet space in the hallway or outside where they can practice. The teacher can circulate, visiting each group at least once during the session, making sure everyone is on track.
• With 10 minutes left in class, gather the students back in the classroom. All speakers should have the feedback forms that their classmates filled out. For homework they should make any changes to their speeches and continue to practice out loud/ in front of an audience.

Follow-up Activities:

Before in-class speech delivery, repeat the guided breathing exercise. You do not have to do the same prep or debrief, unless students have questions or wish to talk about it.

• Self-Regulation
• Middle Years

In a randomized telephone survey of 499 residents of Winnipeg, one third of respondents identified public-speaking fears. The onset of these fears occured in the teenage years. Some so severe with life long detrimental impacts. 

For those who have extreme anxieties, exposure to their triggers requires great care and, more than likely, the guidance of a professional.

Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre has compiled an extensive list of mindfulness recordings.

The BC Friends for Life Parent Program includes a link to two scripts for relaxation.

Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Traditionally, teachers have encouraged students to engage with and interpret literature—novels, poems, short stories, and plays. Too often, however, the spoken word is left unanalyzed, even though the spoken word has the potential to alter our space just as much than the written. After gaining skill through analyzing a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list compiled from several resources and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author deliberately chose while crafting the text to make an effective argument. Their analysis will consider questions such as What makes the speech an argument?, How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience?, and Why are the words still venerated today?

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

Nearly everything we read and hear is an argument. Speeches are special kinds of arguments and should be analyzed as such. Listeners should keep in mind the context of the situation involving the delivery and the audience-but a keen observer should also pay close attention to the elements of argument within the text. This assignment requires students to look for those elements.

"Since rhetoric is the art of effective communication, its principles can be applied to many facets of everyday life" (Lamb 109). It's through this lesson that students are allowed to see how politicians and leaders manipulate and influence their audiences using specific rhetorical devices in a manner that's so effective that the speeches are revered even today. It's important that we keep showing our students how powerful language can be when it's carefully crafted and arranged.

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Materials and Technology

• ReadWriteThink Notetaker
• Teacher Background and Information Sheet
• Student Assignment Sheet
• List of Speeches for Students
• Queen Elizabeth I’s Speech with Related Questions
• Historical Speech Research Questions
• Peer Response Handout
• Essay Rubric

This website contains audio of the Top 100 speeches of all time.

Included on this site is audio of famous speeches of the 20th century, as well as information about the speeches and background information on the writers.

The "Great Speeches Collection" from The History Place are available here in print and in audio.

This website includes information on finding and documenting sources in the MLA format.

Preparation

• Review the background and information sheet for teachers to familiarize yourself with the assignment and expectations.  Consider your students' background with necessary rhetorical terms such as claims, warrants, the appeals (logos, pathos, ethos), and fallacies; and rhetorical devices such as tone, diction, figurative language, repetition, hyperbole, and understatement. The lesson provides some guidance for direct instruction on these terms, but there are multiple opportunities for building or activating student knowledge through modeling on the two speeches done as a class.
• Check the links to the online resources (in Websites section) make sure that they are still working prior to giving out this assignment.
• Decide whether you want to allow more than one student to analyze and write about the same speech in each class.
• Look over the  List of Speeches for Students to decide if there are any that you would like to add.
• Look over the suggested Essay Rubric and determine the weights you would like to assign to each category.  For example, you might tell students that Support and Research may be worth three times the value of Style. Customize the Essay Rubric to meet the learning goals for your students.
• Reserve the library for Session Three so the students can do research on their speeches.
• President Obama’s Inauguration Speech.
• Former President Bush’s Defends War in Iraq Speech.
• Former President Bush’s 9/11 Speech.
• Former President Clinton’s “I Have Sinned” Speech.

Student Objectives

Students will

• analyze a speech for rhetorical devices and their purpose.
• identify an author’s purposeful manipulation of language.
• identify elements of argument within a speech.
• write an analysis of a speech with in-text documentation.

Session One

• Begin the lesson by asking students what needs to be present in order for a speech to occur. Though the question may seem puzzling—too hard, or too simple—at first, students will eventually identify, as Aristotle did, the need for a speaker, a message, and an audience.
• The class should discuss audience and the importance of identifying the audience for speeches, since they occur in particular moments in time and are delivered to specific audiences. This is a good time to discuss the Rhetorical Triangle (Aristotelian Triad) or discuss a chapter on audience from an argumentative textbook. You may wish to share information from the ReadWriteThink.org lesson Persuasive Techniques in Advertising and  The Rhetorical Triangle from The University of Oklahoma.
• Next distribute Queen Elizabeth’s speech to the troops at Tilbury and use the speech and its historical context as a model for the processes students will use on the speech they select. Provide a bit of background information on the moment in history.
• Then, as a class, go over  Queen Elizabeth’s speech and discuss the rhetorical devices in the speech and the purpose for each one. Adjust the level of guidance you provide, depending on your students' experiences with this type of analysis. The questions provide a place to start, but there are many other stylistic devices to discuss in this selection.

Discuss the audience and the author’s manipulation of the audience. Consider posing questions such as

• This is a successful speech.  Why?
• Elizabeth uses all of the appeals – logos, pathos, and ethos – to convince all of her listeners to fight for her from the loyal follower to the greedy mercenary.  How?
• The tone shifts throughout the selection.  Where?  But more importantly, why?

Martin Luther King, Jr. uses an appeal to pathos in his “I Have a Dream” speech through his historical allusion to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” This is particularly effective for his audience of people sympathetic to the cause of African American men and women who would have been especially moved by this particular reference since it had such a significant impact on the lives of African Americans.

Session Two

• Continue the work from the previous session by distributing the  Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments handout and discussing the assignment and what it requires. See the  background and information sheet for teachers for more details.
• Tell students they will be getting additional practice with analyzing a speech as an argument by showing a short  10-minute clip of a presidential speech . Ask students to think about how the particular moment in history and the national audience contribute to the rhetorical choices made by the speaker.
• Lead a discussion of the speech as an argument with regard to purpose and intent. Work with students to identify warrants, claims, and appeals.
• Ask students to consider how the author manipulates the audience using tone, diction, and stylistic devices. What rhetorical devices aided the author’s manipulation of his audience? Discuss a particular rhetorical device that the President used and the purpose it served.
• Share the Essay Rubric and explain to students the expectations for success on this assignment.
• Allow students to select a speech from the List of Speeches for Students . If they wish to preview any of the speeches, they can type the speaker's name and the title of the speech into a search engine and should have little difficulty finding it.

Session Three

• Take the students to the library and allow them to research their speeches. They should locate their speech and print a copy for them to begin annotating for argumentative structure and rhetorical devices.
• What was the speaker up against?  What is the occasion for the speech?
• What did the author have to keep in mind when composing the text?  
• What were his or her goals?  
• What was his or her ultimate purpose?  
• What was his or her intent?
• Remind students that the writer of the speech is sometimes not the person who delivered the speech, for example, and this will surprise some students. Many people assume that the speaker (president, senator, etc.) is always the writer, and that’s not always the case, so ask your students to check to see who wrote the speech. (They might be surprised at the answer. There’s always a story behind the composition of the speech.)
• Help students find the author of the speech because this will challenge some students. Oftentimes, students assume the speaker is the author, and that’s sometimes not the case. Once the speechwriter is identified, it is easier to find information on the speech. Help students find the history behind the speech without getting too bogged down in the details. They need to understand the climate, but they do not need to be complete experts on the historical details in order to understand the elements of the speech.
• If they wish, students can use the ReadThinkWrite Interactive Notetaker to help them track their notes for their essays. Remind them that their work cannot be saved on this tool and should be printed by the end of the session so they can use it in future work.
• For Session Four, students must bring a thesis, an outline, and all of their research materials to class for a workday. Remind them to refer to the Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments , the Essay Rubric , and any notes they may have taken during the first two sessions as they begin their work.
• The thesis statement should answer the following question: What makes this speech an effective argument and worthy of making this list?

Session Four

• Set up students in heterogeneous groups of four. Ask students to share their outlines and thesis statements.
• Go around to check and to monitor as students share their ideas and progress. The students will discuss their speeches and their research thus far.
• Have students discuss the elements of an argument that they plan on addressing.
• Finally, have students work on writing their papers by writing their introductions with an enticing “grab” or “hook.” If time permits, have students share their work. 
• For Session Five, students should bring in their papers. This session would happen in about a week.

Session Five

• In this session, students will respond each other's drafts using the Peer Response Handout .
• Determine and discuss the final due date with your students. Direct students to Diana Hacker’s MLA site for assistance with their citations if necessary. 
• Remind students that their work will be evaluate using the essay rubric .  They should use the criteria along with the comments from their peer to revise and polish their work.
• During the process of analyzing  Queen Elizabeth I’s Speech , consider showing the related scene from the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age . Though the text of the speech is drastically cut and altered, seeing one filmmaker's vision for the scene may help reinforce the notion of historical context and the importance of audience.
• Allow students to read and/or perform parts of the speeches out loud. Then, they can share some of their thinking about the argumentative structure and rhetorical devices used to make the speech effective. This activity could happen as part of the prewriting process or after essays have been completed.
• Require students to write a graduation speech or a speech on another topic. They can peruse print or online news sources to select a current event that interests them.  Have them choose an audience to whom they would deliver an argumentative speech.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• After peer response has taken place, use the essay rubric to provide feedback on student work. You may change the values of the different categories/requirements to better suit the learning goals for your classroom.
• Calendar Activities
• Lesson Plans
• Student Interactives
• Strategy Guides

Students explore the ways that powerful and passionate words communicate the concepts of freedom, justice, discrimination, and the American Dream in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

While drafting a literary analysis essay (or another type of argument) of their own, students work in pairs to investigate advice for writing conclusions and to analyze conclusions of sample essays. They then draft two conclusions for their essay, select one, and reflect on what they have learned through the process.

Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information.

This strategy guide clarifies the difference between persuasion and argumentation, stressing the connection between close reading of text to gather evidence and formation of a strong argumentative claim about text.

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• Kindergarten K

Freedom of Speech and of the Press Lesson Plans for the Classroom

Free Speech Week is the perfect time to introduce your students to the history, significance and current events surrounding freedom of speech and freedom of the press in our country, and around the world. To take some of the work out of planning, we have compiled a list of some creative, free lesson plans from around the web that focus on the areas of freedoms of speech and of the press and of freedom of expression, in general. If you have a lesson plan you would like us to include on this list, please let us know. We would love to hear from you!

Elementary and Middle School

EDSITEment – Lesson plan appropriate for grades 3-5 titled “What’s Fair in a Free Country?” Visit http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/first-amendment-whats-fair-free-country#sect-thelesson

Also on EDSITEment , for grades 6-8, “Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech – Know It When You See It,” a Picturing America resource authored by Kaye Passmore, Ed.D and Amy Trenkle, NBCT. Visit http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/norman-rockwell-freedom-speech-know-it-when-you-see-it#sect-thelesson

National Constitution Center – Presented by the National Constitution Center and Duquesne University, this Freedom of Speech lesson plan by Yolanda Medina Zevas includes a range of materials including worksheets, graphic organizer, articles and prepared questions. Visit: https://constitutioncenter.org/media/const-files/EDU_FY20_FreedomofSpeech_LessonPlan.pdf

National First Ladies Library – For middle school classrooms, “Should Students Have Free Speech?” adapted by Averil McClelland, Kent State University. Visit http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=1816

High School

California Courts – Freedom of Expression: The First Amendment , for grades 9-12 and Is your Speech Free?: The First Amendment for grade 12.

Education World – On Education World, “Lesson Plan Booster: Student Clothing and the First Amendment” by Jason Tomaszewski. Visit http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson_plan_boosters/student_clothing_and_the_first_amendment.shtml

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) – FIRE’s Free Speech Curriculum offers comprehensive resources from lecture outlines and prepared PowerPoint slides to reading lists, suggested assignments, videos, handouts and assessments. Appropriate for middle and high school students, materials can be accessed for free on their website: www.thefire.org/resources/high-school-network/high-school-curriculum/

First Amendment Center – Do Students Have the Right to Read? explores issues surrounding freedom of the speech and of the press, and of banned books in school libraries. Also, Where do Student Press Rights Start…and Stop?

iCivics – Stipulating Speech studies both protected and unprotected speech. Students examine five Supreme Court rulings regarding hate speech, as well as how the decisions might apply to student speech codes. Can serve as background for classroom discussion on controverisal questions, such as “Do Speech Codes Violate Students’ First Amendment Rights?” Site requires free registration and log-in to access full lesson plan.

JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission – The Journalism Education Association (JEA)’s SPRC has developed several lesson plans for Constitution Day that focus on freedoms of speech and of the press. Visit http://jeasprc.org/constitution-day-lessons-and-activities-2014/

Judicial Learning Center – Three landmark cases are presented: Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District , 1969; Bethel School District v. Fraser , 1968; and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier , 1988. Visit http://judiciallearningcenter.org/your-1st-amendment-rights/

The New York Times – In The Learning Network of The New York Times: “Freedom of Expression Online: Outlining the First Amendment for Teenagers” by Sarah Kavanagh and Holly Epstein Ojalvo. Visit http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/freedom-of-expression-online-outlining-the-first-amendment-for-teenagers/?_r=0

PBS – In PBS’s Newshour Extra, “The Dilemma of Protecting Free Speech – Lesson Plan” by Greg Timmons. Visit http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/lessons_plans/the-dilemma-of-protecting-free-speech/

ReadWriteThink – Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language: Examining the Pledge of Allegiance , author Dawn Hogue, Wisconsin, published by the National Council of Teachers of English.

SchoolJournalism.org – Exploring the First Amendment by Patricia L. Robinson, Belle Chasse Academy

Student Press Law Center – These SPLC materials include handouts, lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations on press freedoms. Visit http://www.splc.org/page/presentations-and-handouts

11 Simple Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy Ideas + Templates

As speech therapists, we aren’t a classroom teacher, and our lesson plans for speech therapy will look much different than those of a teacher. 

We don’t need a different lesson plan for each hour of the day and for each subject. 

Why Lesson Plans Are Important?

However, it is still considered best practice to have a plan, plus it will make your life much easier versus feeling like you are always running to the next thing on your to-do list.

Treatment Plan

Now when it comes to planning out your speech therapy sessions I’m not talking about the hours you spent in grad school making one lesson plan for one client for 50 minutes down to the minute about what you would do with that client. 

I mean who has time for that?! 

Looking back I feel like it doesn’t set a grad student up for great success to have to perform one way in grad school and then get into the real world school setting and hope you can just get all your IEPs done in time let alone make a plan!

In this blog post, I’m going to review the lesson plan template that I use all school year to make a rough outline of my lesson plan versus, such a formal lesson plan like back in those grad school days.

Lesson Planning

Instead, when it comes to my speech therapy lesson plans I typically focus on a theme, topic, or book for the week and then figure out which therapy goals I want to focus on for that week.

The best part about picking a topic and then centering everything around that topic is that it then allows you to reduce the time spent planning and all the different resources needed. 

Therapy Planning – Steps

• Step 1: Pick a theme, topic, book, video, etc. for the week . Sometimes I do have a monthly theme and then simply change out the topic, book, or video on a weekly basis.
• Step 2: Review your students’ goals and from there pick out the goal area to focus on for your specific students. For example, for my articulation kiddos, I’d pick out a handful of target words with their sounds in them from the activity we are going to do. Or for my language skills students maybe I’d have them use context clues from the story we read to define new vocabulary words. Or maybe I have some younger students working on following directions so I could have them play Simon Says based on the theme or topic we just covered, etc. The ideas are endless but having one overall theme is a great way to help you stay focused and to simplify your lesson plans.
• Step 3: Write out your overall theme and ideas for each of the communication skills you want to cover that week. This doesn’t need to be big or fancy just a quick overall plan. So for example, if you have 5 students with language delays who are working on their expressive language skills of answering wh-questions you might write down 5 wh-questions to ask your students after watching a video together.
• Step 4: Gather and prep my resources. For this step, you can use your preferred therapy organization system. Back when I was more paper-based I had a folder for the weekly themed papers, or books, etc. However, now as I’m becoming more digital I have created folders in my google drive. I have monthly folders and then inside of my monthly folders I have 4 weekly folders. I then give each of those 4 weekly folders a theme (see ideas below). Once I have my theme picked and my student’s goals in mind I go and find my speech therapy materials for that week.

Editable Template

Here is my lesson plan template for speech therapy. I’ve created my speech therapy lesson plans pdf in both print-friendly format or a digitally interactive format allowing you to type directly onto the pdf itself. 

1. Free Lesson Plan

As speech-language pathologists, we are crazy busy with paperwork, IEP meetings, scheduling, planning, and implementing therapy just to name a few. 

The one important skill I’ve learned over the years is to include as many speech therapy activities all into one overall theme to make my therapy planning just a little bit simpler.

Here is one of my free lesson plans for speech therapy with one overall theme/topic that covers multiple of my student’s goals.

• Technology Theme  

2. Themed Activities – Ideas

Do you need some ideas for themes or topics to get you going? Here is a list of a couple of ideas to get your wheels spinning.

– Book Companions

Book companions are a great way to get started in creating your theme weekly therapy planning because the possibilities are endless when it comes to what skills you could work on. 

You could do everything from articulation words in the story to answering wh-questions, to story retelling, sequencing, comparing and contrasting, or vocabulary words. 

• Here is one I created all around the book Sneezy the Snowman to help you get started planning your winter theme today!
• I Wanna Iguana Book Companion | Games, Activities and Lesson Plans by Speech Dreams is a fun compilation of 2 speech games and lesson plans to go along with the book “I Wanna Iguana”. 
• Where the Wild Things Are Book Companion for Speech Language Therapy by TeleSpeech Cafe is a packet that focuses on early education aged students. 

– Holiday Themed

Holiday resources are another great option when it comes to creating a themed therapy lesson plan. Here are a few holiday lists that include articulation resources, language resources, and some social language resources.

• Halloween – Speech Therapy Activities List
• Thanksgiving Day – Speech Therapy Activities List
• Valentine’s Day – Speech Therapy Activities List
• New Year’s – Speech Therapy Activities List
• St. Patrick’s Day – Speech Therapy Activities List

– Seasonal Resources

Seasonal resources are a perfect option when it comes to creating a themed therapy lesson plan. 

• For example, I have a complete theme all around Nature that could be used during the spring season. It covers articulation, language skills, and some social language skills all in one bundle.
• Back to School – Speech Therapy Activities List
• Fall – Speech Therapy Activities List
• Winter – Speech Therapy Activities List
• Spring – Speech Therapy Activities List
• End of the Year – Speech Therapy Activities List

SEE ALSO: 432+ Free Measurable IEP Goal Bank

– animal themed.

Let’s be honest kids love animals! What better way to capture their attention in therapy than to use some of their favorite animals?

Farm Animals: FREE Farm Preschool Speech Teletherapy Lesson Plan Distance Learning by Communication Window includes a free song choice board and animal action cards! It is great for distance learning. 

Zoo Animals: Describing Animals! FREEBIE NO PREP Printables by Spectacular Speech Therapy scaffolds a child’s ability to describe animals clearly by providing visually supportive activities! This is a great no-prep activity! 

Wild Animals: “Wild about Reading” Storytime Lesson Plan by Vanessa Grogholski uses rhymes, songs, and poems with a jungle theme to engage early-ed learners! 

– Subject Themed

Another great idea is to include school subjects in your weekly therapy plans.

Science themed: For example, do you have students learning about the ocean this school year? Grab these 51+ Ocean-Themed Activities for your science unit speech therapy lesson planning.

3. Digital Resources

Do you work in teletherapy or simply have students that are more engaged with technology and video-based lessons? 

I know a lot of slps are using more digital resources now. Some of the engaging activities that are digitally based that I’ve found are listed below.

• Virtual Field Trip: This could be something like going on a virtual field trip with your students. Virtual Field Trip to the Australia Zoo End of Year Engagement! No prep!! Was created by Teach or Travel and is a great no-prep activity to take a virtual field trip. Engage the students in the slides and travel through Australia. This was designed for ages K through 5th. 
• Using Wordless Videos: I feel like the possibilities are endless when it comes to using wordless videos in therapy. For example, I have a 31+ Wordless Videos Worksheets that comes with wh-questions, story retell/sequencing, solving a hypothetical problem, and predictions/inferences.

4. Speech Sounds

Another idea is to base your theme for the week on an iep goal that many of your students are working on. 

For example, I always had multiple students working on articulation therapy so I could base my weekly theme around activities for speech therapy articulation.

• Are you in need of articulation word lists or interactive articulation flashcards? Be sure to check out my Articulation Words page where new sounds are being added all the time.

5. Barrier Game

Barrier games are a super fun way to work on multiple different therapy skills all centered around one theme. 

If you don’t already know a barrier game is when you give your students each the same picture along with the same manipulates and have one student instruct the other student what to create with a barrier such as a file folder in between so the student being told what to do can only listen and follow directions but not see the other students board.

Your students could work on the skills, such as following multi-step directions “put the pencil on the desk” , vocabulary words “grab the textbook” , spatial concepts “put the shoe on the rug” , adjectives “grab the small clock and put it on the wall” , etc.

• FREE Cavemen and Dinos Themed Barrier Game Speech Therapy by Allison Fors is engaging and interactive! This game targets expressive and receptive skills for prek – 6th graders! 
• Freebie! Halloween Barrier Game for speech and language therapy by Katrina Bevan is a fun activity to celebrate Halloween that has a focus on auditory memory and following directions! 

6. Game Companions

Using game companions is also another fun idea to use as a weekly theme. Pick a game that is easy to adapt and then use that same game all week focusing on different skills.

• Popping Pirate Game Companion – No Prep Speech Therapy Activity Mixed Groups by Green Tea Speech Therapy is a grab and go game companion that targets articulation, language, and social skills. Play Pop Up Pirate with your students! During the game, have them complete items on their task card based on the color sword they pick.
• What’s In There?? Define and Describe FREEBIE Speech Therapy Game Companion by Panda Speech Therapy was designed to be used with Ned’s Head, a game where students pull objects out of a big head. It’s great for describing and identifying and is a low prep game! 

SEE ALSO: 35 Free Speech Therapy Data Sheets Roundup

7. common interests.

Do you have multiple students who have similar interests in common? This can be a fun way to use what your students already love and use it as the theme for the week or the month.

For example, do you have students who enjoy crafting? 

Then you’ll want to check out my following resources that work on requesting supplies, describing their craft to others, articulation words with their sound, following directions as they build their crafts, categorizing, story retelling, comparing and contrasting their craft to others, craft theme vocabulary, and color identification.

• 43+ Best January Crafts for Kids
• 53+ Easy Valentine’s Day Card Crafts for Kids

8. Last Minute

If you’re therapy planning and don’t have much time I’ve got you covered. If you need something for next week or your next session you’re in the right place.

Be sure to check out my seasonal resources if you work in the elementary school setting I have created lists of resources based on your student’s iep goals.

These seasonal lists cover a little bit of everything when it comes to your student’s goals, such as articulation worksheets for your articulation students, communication boards for your AAC students, social stories for your social skills students, or minimal pairs for your phonology students, or defining vocabulary words for your common core speech-language goals.

9. Lesson Plan Format – SLP Lesson Plan Examples

Let’s take a closer look at a speech therapy lesson plan example and what one might include. 

• Step 1: Pick a theme, topic, book, video, etc. for the week .
• Step 2: Review your students’ goals. I typically fill out this form at the beginning and then update it mid-year. Making this step much easier if I only have to do it twice a year and just keep referring back to it each week for my lesson planning.
• Step 3: Write out your overall theme and ideas. I use my theme planning sheet for this activity.
• Step 4: Gather and prep my resources. Now I either put the resources that I’m going to use in a digital file folder or an in-person folder. Or do both!

10. Speech Therapy Lesson Plan Template Free

Do you want these pages for yourself? 

These pages come from my free slp planner that I’ve made for my awesome community of slps. The above lesson plan for speech therapy pages are all included.

So if you already have my yearly planner just look for these specific pages in your download and if not you can get your very own free copy of my SLP planner here .

SEE ALSO: 245+ Back to School Speech Therapy Activities

11. Month of Therapy – Planning Done for You!

Do you ever wish you could have a whole month of therapy done for you? Or do you ever wish for a whole year’s worth of therapy planning done for you for the majority of your caseload? 

If you answered yes, be sure to check out my Year Long Lesson Plans Curriculum to save yourself massive amounts of time!

In Conclusion: Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy

Your weekly lesson plans for speech therapy don’t need to be as in-depth and crazy as they once were during those grad school days. 

Simply pick a theme, topic, book, or video to center your week around. Keep your student’s iep goals in mind when you pick your weekly therapy activities and then put your resources all in one place so you’re ready to go. 

That’s it. You got this!

Side note: Even though these lesson plans above are for elementary grades these ideas and planning worksheets will also work when doing your high school speech therapy lesson plans.

Want Even More Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy?

• Free SLP Planner [Updated Yearly]
• 35 Free Speech Therapy Data Sheets Roundup
• 261+ Free Ideas for Digital Therapy
• 917+ Best Free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
• 31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving

Want the Best of the Bests?

Be sure to check out our most popular posts below!

• 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy / Teletherapy
• Best IEP Resources
• 71+ Free Social Problem-Solving Scenarios
• 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle
• 432+ Free Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives Bank
• 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials
• 179+ Free Speech Therapy Wh-Questions Printable

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August 1, 2019 CG Lessons CCSS 6-8 , CG Lessons 9-12 , CG Lessons CCSS 9-12 , CG Lessons 6-8 , ELA 6-8 , ELA Resources - Activities , ELA 9-12 , ELA PD - Grammar Writing , ELA Focus - Grammar , Core Grammar

Creative ways to teach parts of speech in middle school and high school, by: tiffany rehbein.

In this article, you'll find tips for reviewing or teaching parts of speech in middle school and high school. Plus, download five creative printables for your classroom.

Keep scrolling to download free activities, worksheets, and games!

Memories of my middle and early high-school English class might be similar to your own: desks in rows, quiet work time, and sentence diagramming. Remember sentence diagramming? That tedious puzzle of using one line under the subject, two lines under the verb, a backslash to separate the subject from the predicate that led to the more complicated algorithm of circles, squares, and arrows. All of which was meant to do what? Improve writing? Increase identification of sentences? Keep students quiet?

Fortunately, research has led teachers toward practices that improve writing, namely, spending time to write. The National Council of Teachers of English released a position statement in 1998 stating the following: "Decades of research and practice have shown that teaching of grammar in isolation does not improve composition skills, nor does it help students to acquire Standard English usage." How might teachers of middle and high school students provide students with relevant instruction around basic parts of speech?

Students need to be able to construct quality sentences that communicate information accurately and clearly. Understanding basic parts of speech is the first step to this effective communication.

The 8 Parts of Speech Students Should Know

A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas and feelings. A noun functions as a subject or object of a verb and can be modified by an adjective.

Types and Examples of Nouns

Nouns can be people as in the dancers , or a name: John.

Nouns can be things as in a lion , a table , or places as in Paris .

Example Sentences

A pronoun is used in the place of a noun or phrase.

Examples of Pronouns

I, you, he, she, it

#3 Adjective

Adjectives are used to describe or specify a noun or pronoun

Examples of Adjectives

good, beautiful, nice, my

A verb is used to show an action or a state of being

Examples of Verbs

am, is was, are, go, write, exist, be

An adverb is used to modify a verb, adjective, and other adverbs.

Examples of Adverbs

completely, never, there

#6 Prepositions

A preposition is a word that relates a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence and often forms a phrase that shows where, when, how, or why

Examples of Prepositions

in, above, to, for, at

#7 Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses

Examples of Conjunctions

for, and, nor, but, or, yet,

#8 Interjections

Interjections are used to show surprise or emotion.

Examples of Interjections

Oh!, Wow!, Ah-ha!

Teaching Parts of Speech in the Middle School Grades

One way to avoid the traditional grammar instruction done in isolation, teachers can get students up and moving. For grades 6-8, most state standards convey that students should know everything from proper case pronouns (subjective, objective, possessive), to intensive pronouns ( myself, ourselves ), to correcting vague pronouns. By including pronouns in student practice, teachers will ensure these elements are taught.

In addition, students need to use commas to set off nonrestrictive elements – we will do this when we use interjections! Students must also explain the function of clauses, know how to use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives, and how to form and use verbs in a variety of ways.

Creative Ways To Teach Parts Of Speech In Middle School

RESOURCE: Pin the Part of Speech on the Pig Game

When you download the Pin the Part of Speech on the Pig Game , your students will get much more practice than is deemed important in state standards! This game is not only a creative way to teach parts of speech, but it gets students up and moving while they learn.

The Pin the Part of Speech on the Pig Game combines learning/practicing the parts of speech and a modified version of the game Pin the Tail on the Donkey . Although this game was originally created for elementary grade levels, its a great activity for parts of speech practice in the middle grades.

Objective of Game: Pin the part of speech on the pig! With a grammatical twist on the classic game, students will choose the part of speech that is the focus of the day. Monday = nouns, Tuesday = verbs, Wednesday = adjectives, Thursday = adverbs, Friday = prepositions.

Materials : Pig Game, Parts of Speech cards, blindfold, tape.

How to play in the classroom : Middle school students love a competition! Form groups of 3-5, depending on your class size, and, start tallest to shortest. The first student will choose a Part of Speech card from the card pile. The person behind them will put the blindfold on them then slowly spin them three times and set them off to pin the part of speech on the pig. Use a small piece of tape to adhere the card to the pig. The blindfolded student will return to their team, exchange the blindfold and repeat the process. The game can end at any time: when the first pin on the tail happens, when everyone has gone once, or when all the cards are gone.

Download one or multiple copies of the game, depending on your class size and start playing today.

RESOURCE: Shamrock Parts of Speech Game

Sometimes teachers tend to overthink things when trying to come up with creative ways to teach parts of speech...especially in the middle and upper grade levels! The Shamrock Memory Card Game is a simple activity that will engage students in learning or reviewing parts of speech. 

Despite being created a couple years ago for the month of March, I use this game year round! Download the Shamrock Memory Card Game now.

Objective: Match parts of speech with an example of that part of speech. Like all memory games, the goal is to have paired the most cards when the round ends.

How to use in the classroom: Decide whether you want students to play individually or in two small groups. Display the 48 cards face down. Choose who will go first. The first person or group will turn one card face-up. They will either see the part of speech or a word. Then turn over a second card. The card must match the first card with the correct part of speech or a word. For example, if a student turns over a card with "noun" on it and then turns over a second card with the word "leprechaun", the cards match! If the cards match, the student(s) gets to go again. The student or group with the most pair of cards at the end wins the round.

RESOURCE: Identifying Parts of Speech in a Complex Text Lesson

This next activity is not the most creative way to teach parts of speech, but it is effective! The Identifying Parts of Speech in a Complex Text Lesson has students read a complex text and then identify various parts of speech. 

Students need to be able to construct quality sentences that communicate information accurately and clearly. Understanding basic parts of speech is the first step to build effective communication. Reading complex texts to practice identifying parts of speech is a great way for students to see how quality sentences are constructed.

Objective: Students will read a text to identify appropriate nouns, pronouns, and interjections by answering the question: What do you notice about the nouns, pronouns, and interjection in this text?

How to use in the classroom: Handout the text excerpt to each students. Tell them their purpose for reading the text is to identify and circle the nouns that act as subjects in each sentence. Also, ask students to underline all pronouns and put a box around all interjections.

Teaching Parts of Speech in the High School Grades

By the time students enter high school, the focus shifts from isolated parts to speech to more complete understanding about the way sentences work. For grades 9-10, state standards require students use various types of phrases, including noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional, and absolute. Students should also use clauses such as independent or dependent; and noun, relative, and adverbial to convey specific meanings and add variety and interest to their writing.

Teachers can use a combination of hands-on activities and individual work to assess students’ knowledge of language. Students will build on the basic parts of speech they learned in the middle grades by understanding irregular verb forms, verb tenses, plural forms of words, reflexive pronouns, and dependent clauses.

Creative Ways to Teach Parts of Speech In High School

RESOURCE: Baseball Interactive Writing & Parts of Speech Grammar Game

The use of sports in the classroom is a creative way to teach parts of speech and engage young people! With the Baseball Grammar Game students will get students moving, writing, and identifying parts of speech.

Objective: Teams of students will participate in a classroom baseball game that requires they complete a writing prompt and correctly identify parts of speech.

Materials: Plastic bat (optional), Baseball Grammar Game Downloads

How to use in the classroom: Prior to playing the game, students will write short essays based on a writing prompt provided by you, the teacher. Some examples of a writing prompt are: Describe your favorite outdoor activity or What is the best part of going to a baseball game?  The essay should be short, perhaps 5-10 sentences. Have students write each sentence of their essay on the Baseball Writing Activity Sheet provided in the Baseball Grammar Game download. These papers will be wadded up and become your "baseballs."

The teacher will divide the class into two teams and assign each person a position. Each team needs the following position players: pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. All position players will play the field and have a turn at bat. If you have extra students, use a rotation system after each batter or each strike-out. Students can also be “bat boys or girls”, scorekeepers, or baseball handlers.

The defensive team will take the field and the offensive team will line-up to bat.

The baseball handler tosses the first baseball to the pitcher who pitches it to the batter.

The teacher will ask the student a question about the sentence. To get a “hit” and advance to first base, the batter answers the question correctly. (It is not important that the batter catches the ball, only that their answer is stated correctly). If the batter gets the question incorrect, it is an out.

The rotation continues until there are three outs for the team. After three outs, the teams switch sides. Have the scorekeeper keep track of runs and outs.

RESOURCE: Hopscotch Parts of Speech Activity

Hopscotch is a game whose origins date back to Roman times. If you give the traditional game of hopscotch a grammar twist you end up with a creative way to teach parts of speech. For the parts of speech key with definitions and examples, download the Hopscotch Parts of Speech Activity !

Objective : Give an example of the part of speech.

Materials : Sidewalk chalk or hopscotch board, marker, parts of speech key.

How to use in the classroom : If the weather is nice, head outside with some sidewalk chalk and create the hopscotch board. If the weather is not nice, teachers could use tape to create the boards on the classroom floor. Use a small stone to use as a marker.

To begin, write the parts of speech into each square. Students will toss the marker onto a square, then the student should give the example word, phrase, or sentence If correct, the student should hop onto the board. If incorrect, the student goes to the back of the line. The stone is left on the square where the student last got the correct answer. Depending on the size of your class, there might need to be several hopscotch boards so 4-5 students can play at once.

If correct, the student who tossed the marker will complete the hops on the board. The person who answered correctly will toss next. This process will be repeated until the game ends.

If the person answers incorrectly, the person who answered will go to the back of the line and the next person will answer. This process will continue until the answer is correct.

If the weather is not nice, the hopscotch board can be designed on the classroom floor with duct tape.

These creative ways to teach parts of speech are sure to engage middle school and high school students! These printable resources allow students to move while learning and reinforce their understanding of different parts of speech.

In addition, I outlined eight parts of speech that every middle and high school student should know and understand. Students need to be able to construct quality sentences that communicate information accurately and clearly. Understanding basic parts of speech is the first step to build effective communication.

• My Storyboards

8 Parts of Speech

Parts of speech are an important aspect of the language taught in English Language Arts and English as a New Language classrooms. Not only do the parts of speech help in formulating correct sentences, they also help the reader to understand what is taking place. As a staple of clear communication and analysis, mastery of the parts of speech is essential for students. The eight parts of speech chart on the right is a great visual for displaying the 8 categories of words that are included.

Teachers use a variety of different approaches to engage students in their parts of speech lesson plans. One popular idea for a "bodily kinesthetic" activity for parts of speech is to conduct a scavenger hunt to have students identify the 8 different parts of speech existing around the classroom. There is also the classic lesson on parts of speech that instructs students to diagram and label sentences provided by the teacher.

A parts of speech writing activity could begin with students first writing about a simple topic like what they are going to do after school. After they have their sentences down, they could work individually or with a partner to label each of the 8 parts of speech. Another fun part of speech activity is to have students play "Grammar Bingo". They can fill in a bingo card that includes all 8 parts of speech!

These are all effective activities for part of speech where students can see the language in action or on paper and identify these important grammatical elements. However, the reality is that this particular part of language learning and development can be boring and dry for students. Teachers can liven up their parts of speech lesson plans for elementary, middle and high school students with Storyboard That!

Storyboard That can help teachers use more creative ways to teach parts of speech!

The 8 Parts of Speech Lessons Help You

• Understand clearly what is being said in a sentence.
• Know how and when to use words correctly.
• Reflect more accurately on the English language.

What are the Parts of Speech?

Do You Know Each Part of Speech?

8 Parts of Speech Activity

The parts of speech activity below shows how you can use the Storyboard That Creator to make storyboards depicting the different parts of speech, in this case three different verbs. Teachers can quickly create a parts of speech lesson plan using the "create an assignment" wizard where they can input directions and even a template to help students get started. The template could include the titles of the parts of speech for students to depict such as:

8 Parts of Speech Lesson Plans

In reading and writing, it is important to make clear for your audience who or what is most important in a sentence, what is happening, and other important details that enhance the information being conveyed. Using the Storyboard Creator in your parts of speech lesson allows students to make visual depictions of the parts of speech and help them remember these important pieces of writing!

Some General Elementary School Parts of Speech Activity Ideas

• Use Storyboard That’s parts of speech template to create your own storyboard using the 8 parts of speech.
• Provide students with a sentence that has certain underlined or highlighted words by replacing "EXAMPLE SENTENCE".

Note: If you're not a Storyboard That user yet, sign up for a free trial .

• Have students make a visualization of the sentences on the storyboard.
• While creating the storyboards, students will make sure to point out which part of speech they are illustrating by drawing attention to the word using an arrow or other indicator.
• Lesson Extension: Have students come up with their own sentences and use storyboards to depict them!

Example Project for the 8 Parts of Speech

More Parts of Speech Project Ideas

• Make a storyboard that describes and illustrates the most common prepositions.
• Make a T-chart that illustrates examples of action verbs and nonaction verbs.
• Choose at least one prepositional phrase and make a storyboard to illustrate it.
• Make a storyboard that illustrates adjectives that express emotion. Teachers can either give students a list so that students all have the same words, or have students choose their own.
• Research and define the many different speech definitions such as: independent clauses, complex sentences, main verbs, and so much more!
• A fun adverbs project idea is to have students answer a prompt in the storyboard such as the one below. The teacher can include the prompt in the template and have the students write and illustrate their answer using as many other adverbs as they can! To modify this assignment, the template could include the description box on the bottom where students can write more full sentences showing their understanding of how to use adverbs. This project could also be modified to be an activity for any of the 8 parts of speech.

Related Activities

How to Teach Parts of Speech with Games and Activities

Choose games and activities.

Select games and activities that are engaging and appropriate for the age and skill level of your students. Examples of games and activities that teach parts of speech include Mad Libs, Charades, Parts of Speech Bingo, Parts of Speech Jeopardy, and Word Sorts.

Define Parts of Speech

Before starting the games and activities, make sure your students understand the basics of parts of speech. Define and provide examples of the main parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Model Parts of Speech Use

Model the use of different parts of speech to ensure that students understand how they function in language. Use sentences or examples from the games or activities you have chosen to illustrate the different parts of speech.

Play Games and Activities

Play the games and activities with your students, making sure to explain the rules and provide any necessary guidance. Encourage active participation and engagement from all students, and provide support or additional practice for students who may need it.

Reinforce Learning

After playing the games and activities, reinforce learning by reviewing the parts of speech used and how they function in language. Ask students to explain how they used different parts of speech in the games and activities and provide feedback or corrections as needed.

Create Your Own Games and Activities

Encourage students to create their own games and activities that incorporate parts of speech. This can help them solidify their understanding of the concepts and provide opportunities for peer teaching and learning.

Assess Understanding

Finally, assess students' understanding of parts of speech through quizzes, writing assignments, or other assessments. Make sure that your assessments reflect the skills and knowledge you want students to acquire, such as identifying parts of speech and using them correctly in context. Use the results of your assessments to guide further instruction and support for students who may need it.

Frequently Asked Questions about 8 Parts of Speech

What is included in a parts of speech chart.

The 8 parts of speech to include in a parts of speech chart are:

• Noun : Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea
• Verb : Verbs are actions or states of being
• Adjective : Adjectives describe nouns
• Adverb : Adverbs describe a verb, adjective or another adverb
• Pronoun : Pronouns stand in for a noun
• Preposition : Prepositions link a noun to another word
• Conjunction : Conjunctions join words, clauses, and sentences
• Interjection : Interjections are short exclamations

What are some parts of speech activities to do with students?

There are many 8 parts of speech lesson plans that incorporate the storyboard Creator that will help students visualize and be able to demonstrate their understanding. Some parts of speech activities using the Storyboard That Creator are:

• Create a visual part of speech diagram of a sentence using a storyboard! Many teachers instruct students to diagram parts of speech in their sentences by underlining or circling different parts of speech. However, by illustrating what is occurring in the sentence and how those parts of speech are related, students are more apt to retain the information.
• Create a list of all of the different parts of speech with illustrations and definitions.
• Make a quiz for a fellow classmate!

How can teachers create parts of speech lesson plans in Storyboard That?

Creating assignments in Storyboard That is as easy as 1-2-3! The easiest way to create a lesson is to copy one of our awesome premade lesson plans and customize it how you see fit. To create a lesson from scratch, simply follow the “create an assignment” steps.

What is the difference between proper nouns and common nouns?

The difference between a proper noun and a common noun is that a common noun refers to general things, such as a mountain, river, or lake. A proper noun, however, refers to a specific noun, such as Mt. Everest, Nile River, or Lake Michigan.

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• ENCYCLOPEDIA
• IN THE CLASSROOM

In the Classroom

We’re your one-stop shop for teaching the First Amendment. Everything you need is here in Lessons in Liberty, from court cases to lesson plans. Our goal is to make your job easier. That’s why we’re here.

Why teach the First Amendment?

Help tomorrow’s citizens find their voices. Teach the First Amendment. The lesson plans, school activities and other resources below are designed to make it easier to teach our democratic republic's first freedom — the First Amendment.

The most basic liberties guaranteed to Americans — embodied in the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — assure Americans a government that is responsible to its citizens and responsive to their wishes. These 45 words are as alive and important today as they were more than 200 years ago. These liberties are neither liberal nor conservative, Democratic nor Republican — they are the basis for our representative democratic form of government.

We know from studies beginning in 1997 by the nonpartisan First Amendment Center, and from studies commissioned by the Knight Foundation and others, that few adult Americans or high school students can name the individual five freedoms that make up the First Amendment.

The First Amendment isn’t an artifact of legal history buried in the past. It is a living part of the everyday lives of every one of us. Especially in education, First Amendment issues offer almost limitless applications and opportunities.

Teachable aspects of the First Amendment include:

• How our core freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition came to be guaranteed is a fascinating saga of American history – involving towering figures, particularly James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. It is a saga that began even before U.S. history and continues to evolve today.
• Students should know that the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, did not spring whole into existence with no debate by our Founding Fathers. Rather, it arose through great contention and controversy, illustrating the early — and continuing — workings of U.S. government and our legal system.
• We have the freedom to speak, write, worship, assemble, and ask the government for change, but how do we as citizens use those freedoms? What does it mean to exercise freedom responsibly? The First Amendment offers teachers a way into matters of civility and respect for others in society.
• Current affairs. Examples of the First Amendment in action and in the news are inexhaustible. They can form the basis for class debates. From student protests, to issues of religious freedom in schools and in society at large, to press censorship and freedom of information, teachable First Amendment moments are everywhere.

What’s here

Below, the Free Speech Center has gathered a host of resources and ideas to help teachers teach the First Amendment. They're organized by categories representing the five freedoms of speech, press, religious liberty, assembly, and petition. There's also a general category for resources on the Bill of Rights and related material.

As more resource materials become available, they will be added.

The primers, lesson plans and resources below will draw young people into an exploration of how their freedoms began and how they operate in today’s world. Students will discuss just how far individual rights extend, examining rights in the school environment and public places. The primers and lessons may be used in history and government, civics, language arts and journalism, art, and debate classes. They may be used in sections or in their entirety. Many of these materials indicate an overall goal, offer suggestions on how to teach the lesson and list additional resources and enrichment activities.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of the Press

Freedom of Religion

Freedom of Assembly

Freedom to Petition the Government

Academic Freedom and Free Speech

Beyond use in digital or in-person orientation, this lesson can be used for onboarding teaching assistants to give them an overview of their rights in the classroom. The framework for a faculty-led panel on academic freedom can also be used as a Constitution Day activity on campus. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986)

This lesson is about the 1986 Supreme Court case Bethel School District v. Fraser, which established a school’s ability to prohibit inappropriate student language on campus. From iCivics.

Black History Month Lesson

This lesson centers on Frederick Douglass’ acclaimed defense of free expression, “A plea for free speech in Boston.” The material, oriented toward Black History Month, "is also appropriate for lessons on the First Amendment, minority rights, the perils of censorship, and the power of the spoken word."

Bullying or First Amendment?

MEDIA ETHICS INITIATIVE

This Media Ethics Initiative case study tackles the question of whether it’s protected by the First Amendment to encourage another person to commit suicide.

Campus Speakers and Counter Protests

Beyond use during digital or in-person orientations, this lesson can be a tool to teach student-government members and student-organization leaders about how the university can and cannot respond to controversial speakers. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Can First Amendment Defenses Save Provocateur Alex Jones from the Sandy Hook Libel Suits?

FIRST AMENDMENT WATCH

This guide will help educators teach students about the First Amendment and whether or not it protects Alex Jones from libel suits against him from the families of Sandy Hook victims after he claimed the killings of schoolchildren was a hoax. From First Amendment Watch.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Students will learn about Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 Supreme Court ruling about limiting government restrictions on campaign contributions. From iCivics.org.

Constitution Day Lesson

This special lesson geared to the annual Constitution Day helps teachers present the rationale, history and importance of the First Amendment freedom of speech. Includes a PowerPoint slide deck, summarized readings, and critical-thinking questions.

Coronavirus and Free Speech

In a pandemic, how can scientific inquiry, including disagreements, be openly discussed, without opposing viewpoints being labeled as "misinformation"? This lesson explores the value of freedom of speech in a time of uncertainty and fear.

COVID On Campus: The Pandemic’s Impact on Student and Faculty Speech Rights

On campuses across the country, speech and due-process rights have been challenged as administrators struggle to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. See how these trends have affected vital student and faculty rights in higher education. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Current Free Speech Issues

This lesson "explores some of the current controversies around free speech in education through various activities, videos, DBQs, and discussion-focused questions. Students will learn about some of the most popular arguments against free speech and how to respond to them, as well as why it can be important to voice your opinion, even if it’s an unpopular one."

Debate Activity Kit

"Students who wish to be effective, persuasive communicators must develop argumentation skills. This unit includes sample debate topics, instruction on how to form a powerful argument, and activities designed to help students build comfort with taking, defending, and challenging competing positions on controversial topics."

Defending Freedom of Tweets?

When professional football player Rashard Mendenhall tweeted about celebrations surrounding the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, he gained the ire of many Americans. This case study explores the story of Mendenhall’s tweets and the freedom of speech. From the Media Ethics Initiative.

Do I Have a Right?

This iCivics lesson, formatted as a game quest, will teach students about their First Amendment rights as they protect their “law clients.”

Free Expression on Social Media

FREEDOM FORUM

Social media platforms are private companies, which means they can censor material posted on them according to their own rules and regulations. This primer shows major social media platforms’ policies on hate speech, obscenity, misinformation and harassment. A primer from the Freedom Forum.

Free Speech and the First Amendment

FIRST AMENDMENT MUSEUM

This lesson teaches elementary schoolers about the First Amendment, focusing on Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969). From the First Amendment Museum.

Free Speech Essentials: 2021 Snapping Back at Snapchat

This exercise from the Freedom Forum asks: Do schools have the right to punish students for online speech when they are off campus?

Free Speech Essentials: Critical Debates

This lesson plan can be used with any of the case studies in the Freedom Forum’s Free Speech Essentials collection.

Free Speech in America vs. Other Countries

"Drawing from the life and journey of NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom, this mini-lesson highlights the unique protections of the First Amendment in the United States in comparison with restrictions abroad."

Free Speech on College Campuses

FREE SPEECH CENTER

This lesson provides key concepts, materials and readings on Free Speech on campus for both private and public colleges. From the Free Speech Center.

Free-Speech Case Studies

The Media Ethics Initiative provides various articles on topics related to the First Amendment, complete with discussion questions. 

Freedom of Expression, Online: Outlining the First Amendment for Teenagers

NEW YORK TIMES

This lesson, provided by The New York Times, teaches students about how the First Amendment applies online, especially to bloggers.

Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language: Examining the Pledge of Allegiance

READ WRITE THINK

Provided by Read Write Think, this instructional plan helps students to think about the meaning behind the Pledge of Allegiance and how they use their freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech…Always Protected?

The United States Capitol Historical Society provides this lesson plan on the history of the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

Gaming Platforms and Shocking Speech

This Media Ethics Initiative case study discusses the ethics of Twitch’s hate-speech policies.

Handling Offensive Speech

This lesson looks at how people cope socially and emotionally with unwelcome but protected speech, and covers ways that students can develop skills of resilience, refutation, and self-advocacy. Bonus section: Teaching Healthy Discourse.

How are NFL Protests Related to Symbolic Speech and the First Amendment?

This First Amendment Watch teacher guide discusses NFL “take a knee” protests and their relation to the First Amendment.

Is Your Speech Free?: The First Amendment

CALIFORNIA COURTS

California Courts presents this lesson on the First Amendment, focusing specifically on the freedom of speech and what types of speech are considered protected.

Is Your Speech Protected by the First Amendment?

This interactive guide helps determine whether certain speech is protected by the First Amendment with four simple questions. A primer from the Freedom Forum.

Learning from the headlines: Video games and the Supreme Court

STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER

Students will use this lesson to learn about video games and why the First Amendment keeps the government from restricting access to them. From the Student Press Law Center.

Limits to Free Speech

This video can serve as a resource on campus web pages explaining student-speech rights, teaching incoming students about when speech crosses the line and loses First Amendment protection. This module focuses primarily on defining and providing examples of freedom of speech limitations, such as harassment, true threats, intimidation, and other unlawful conduct. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Lookin’ for Evidence

Students will examine a case about band-themed T-shirts in high school and use evidence to build arguments about whether or not the T-shirts are disruptive. From iCivics.org.

Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech: Know It When You See It

LESSON PLANET

This lesson will have students examine the works of Norman Rockwell and analyze the First Amendment. From Lesson Planet.

Offensive Speech on Campus

The video adaptation of this lesson and the script can be used in digital or in-person program orientations to teach students tactics for responding to offensive speech and when offensive speech loses First Amendment protection. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Postal Censorship in the World War I Era

Targeted for 8th-grade students, this lesson focuses on propaganda and censorship during World War I. From the First Amendment Museum.

Sacking Social Media in College Sports

This Media Ethics Initiative case study discusses the trend of coaches’ banning their athletes from social media and whether or not this practice is ethical.

Social Media and Online Speech Rights

This lesson in programming explains IT policies or codes of conduct. The video can also be placed on university web pages explaining student rights or IT policies. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Social Media Censorship

Video lesson on "legal considerations and competing interests involved in social media censorship of 'misinformation' about the coronavirus, and steps tech companies are taking to elevate information from authoritative sources."

Social Media, the Classroom and the First Amendment

KNIGHT FOUNDATION

The First Amendment Center and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation present this guide on social media and the First Amendment for middle and high school teachers, including lesson plans, resources and more.

Speech, Power, and Censorship in American History

"Free-speech rights have proven themselves essential in securing a fair hearing for demands for justice and equal Constitutional protection for marginalized groups and isolated, targeted individuals throughout U.S. history. This module examines the crucial role of free speech in the Abolitionist, Women’s Suffrage, and Civil Rights movements."

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2022

This annual report condenses the considerable research in FIRE’s Spotlight database into an accessible picture of the state of free expression on our nation’s campuses. The report surveys speech codes at America’s largest and most prestigious colleges and universities, providing readers with key data on individual schools and national trends.

Stipulating Speech

Students will learn about the restrictions of the First Amendment in this iCivics lesson, from Supreme Court rulings to speech codes on college campuses.

Stopping the Spread of Anti-Vax Memes

This case study examines anti-vax memes on Facebook and other social media platforms and whether or not the best solution is to ban them. From the Media Ethics Initiative.

Student Clothing and the First Amendment

EDUCATION WORLD

Education World offers this lesson plan on how freedom of speech and freedom of religion affect what students can wear at school.

Student Rights and the Freedom of Expression

BILL OF RIGHTS INSTITUTE

A lesson plan from the Bill of Rights Institute delving into students’ free-speech rights on school grounds.

Studying Abroad, Speaking Out: How U.S. Universities Approach Expression in Study-Abroad Programs

Study-abroad programs have experienced extensive changes recently due to COVID-19, but while the logistics of travel are different and may remain changed in coming years, the underlying freedom of expression issues remain constant. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Talking Across Differences

Beyond use in digital or in-person orientations, this video adaptation can be placed on university web pages explaining student rights, or on diversity and inclusion pages, to give a fuller picture of how to embrace difficult conversations. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Teaching Healthy Discourse

An important way to develop student respect for freedom of speech is to teach them how to have "meaningful conversations with their peers."

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Students will use this iCivics lesson to learn about Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag is protected by the First Amendment.

The Bill of Rights and Free Speech

Two lessons examining why free speech is vital for self-government and how freedom of speech has been both limited and expanded. From the Bill of Rights Institute.

The Emperor's New Clothes

What do you do when you see something absurd. Do you speak up? Working from Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” "this lesson examines the importance of thinking for oneself, even if everyone else disagrees."

The First Amendment: Freedom of Expression

Students will use this lesson to explore free expression under the First Amendment and the Constitution. From Lesson Planet.

The First Amendment: What’s Fair in a Free Country

Students will discuss examples of speech and whether or not they’re protected under the First Amendment, as well as apply the First Amendment to their own lives. From Lesson Planet.

The Law and Free Speech

This lesson "explores the landmark cases and legal reasoning behind the strong speech protections that Americans uniquely enjoy, while correcting some common misconceptions."

The Targeting of Scholars for Ideological Reasons From 2015 to Present

This research documents the ways and reasons that scholars have faced calls for sanction; how scholars and institutional administrators have responded to different forms of targeting; and what (if any) sanctions scholars have ultimately faced. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Three Arguments in Defense of Free Expression

From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, this video can serve as a resource on university web pages explaining student-speech rights.

Tinker v. Des Moines

This video from the Bill of Rights Institute’s Homework Help series analyzes how a student protest against the Vietnam War went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

This iCivics lesson teaches students about the Supreme Court decision that extended First Amendment free-speech rights to students at school, Tinker v. Des Moines.

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

Students will learn about West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the 1943 Supreme Court case that determined that it was unconstitutional for schools to force students to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. From iCivics.org.

What (Not?) To Wear: Liberties and Limits of Clothing at School

High school students will explore the liberties and limits of speech and expression in schools in this First Amendment Museum lesson.

When government employees are not allowed to speak to the media

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA SCHOOL OF LAW

This primer covers which government employees are not allowed to speak to the news media and the First Amendment implications of these restrictions. From the University of Georgia School of Law.

You Can’t Say That in School? Allowed or Not Allowed

Using laws and writings that influenced the development of the First Amendment, students “vote off” proposed amendments from the time period. From the Freedom Forum.

You Can’t Say That: In My Opinion

Students use their First Amendment knowledge to weigh in on a current First Amendment issue or controversy via multimedia response pieces in this Freedom Forum lesson plan.

You Can’t Say That: Right to Know vs. Security Risk

Students in this Freedom Forum exercise engage in a simulated high-stakes debate over a national security situation that highlights the causes and effects of tensions between journalists and government officials.

'The Press and the Civil Rights Movement' Video Lesson

This video from the Freedom Forum explores the interplay between a free press and the civil rights movement’s fight for equality.

A Quick Guide to Libel Law

The Freedom Forum presents a crash course on everything you need to know about libel law.

‘Know Your Rights’ for journalists reporting on protests

This resource provides access to an information sheet for what a journalist should do while reporting on a protest. From the University of Georgia School of Law.

Ben Franklin and the First Amendment

A major influential champion of freedom of the press during the founding and formation of the United States was Benjamin Franklin. "This lesson takes a look at two of Franklin’s works— Silence Dogood No. 8 and “On the Freedom of the Press”—in order to gain insight into his thinking" about both press freedom and freedom of speech.

Can Public Officials Block Critics from Their Social Media Accounts Consistent with the First Amendment?

Teachers can use this First Amendment Watch guide to teach about the impact on the First Amendment when public officials block critics on social media.

Do celebs have a right to a private life?

Students will examine the First Amendment and the right to privacy in this Lesson Planet activity.

Doxing and Digital Journalism

In this case study, readers will examine the ethics of doxing – publishing someone’s private identifying information – in relation to digital journalism, focusing on HuffPost’s covering of Amy Mekelburg and her far-right Twitter account. From the Media Ethics Initiative.

First Things First: Using the Newspaper to Teach the Freedoms of the First Amendment

Presented by Newspaper Association of America Foundation, this guide is full of activities to teach elementary, middle and high school students about the First Amendment.

Free Expression & Censorship: Banned Books

This Freedom Forum lesson plan helps young students understand what it means to have the freedom to express ideas through books and drawings.

Free Press Challenges Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources

Freedom of the press is much simpler in theory than in practice. In this Freedom Forum activity, students use the E.S.C.A.P.E. strategy to closely analyze a historical source, shedding light on how freedom of the press has ignited controversy and drawing comparisons to today’s debates over the role of the news media.

Freedom of Information Law (Public Records) Presentation

This Student Press Law Center presentation teaches about freedom of information laws and their importance in journalism. It’s available as a PDF, with and without notes, and as a prerecorded video.

A video overview from the Bill of Rights Institute, including landmark press-freedom Supreme Court cases.

Freedom of the Press and Democracy

This overview of press freedoms explains why government accountability is critical to a functioning democracy. From the News Leaders Association.

Freedom of the Press and Newspaper Theft on Campus

Explores the importance of a free press and "why newspaper theft—an unfortunate incident that sometimes takes place on American college campuses—is wrong.

Freedom of the Press Clause: Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

Video discussion examining this Supreme Court case in exploring how free-press protections apply to student journalism. From the Bill of Rights Institute.

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

This iCivics lesson teaches students about the Supreme Court decision that established a school principal’s right to censor students’ school newspaper, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.

Journalism Tips and Lesson Plans

SCHOOLJOURNALISM.ORG

SchoolJournalism.org offers a variety of resources on the First Amendment, journalism and news literacy for teachers and students.

Know Your Rights: First Amendment and Censorship

Students can use this Student Press Law Center primer to learn about their own First Amendment rights at school and how they’re limited.

Know Your Rights: Freedom of Information

This primer tells students what they need to know about freedom of information at both public and private colleges. From the Student Press Law Center.

Law & Ethics for Photojournalists

Students will learn about the First Amendment’s relationship to photojournalism and the ethics involved in it. From Lesson Planet.

Leaks and the Media

What is a leak? Is leaking illegal? Are journalists protected for publishing classified information? This interactive guide from the Freedom Forum answers a variety of questions about leaks and whistleblowing.

Learning from the headlines: World Press Freedom Day 2011

This Student Press Law Center lesson plan, based around World Press Freedom Day, teaches about the important of the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

National Coalition Against Censorship

NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP

NCAC provides many books about censorship at school and how to fight it for students.

NCAC provides many books about censorship at school and how to fight it for parents, teachers and school officials.

New York Times v. Sullivan

Bill of Rights Institute lesson plan examining how this landmark 1964 Supreme Court case protected press freedom even when errors are published, as long as there is no “actual malice” in publishing them.

Newsgathering and Privacy

Did you know the First Amendment protects the right of news reporters and citizen journalists to report on matters of public concern? This Free Speech Center lesson further explores news gathering, reporting and privacy and how it is protected.

More and more online news sites are disallowing comments. Is this an unethical decision, or is it just a necessary measure to eliminate irrelevant and uncivil comments? This Media Ethics Initiative case study tackles these questions.

Online censorship: public officials blocking citizens on social media

This resource discusses the First Amendment impacts of public officials blocking users on social media. From the University of Georgia School of Law.

Press Freedom Presentation

This presentation teaches about the free press rights of student journalists. Available in PDF and video formats. From the Student Press Law Center.

Press-Related Espionage Act Prosecutions

This interactive chart, created by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, provides information about prosecution against whistleblowers under the Espionage Act.

Prior review & prior restraint in school-sponsored media

This University of Georgia School of Law primer teaches about prior restraint and what student journalists should do if censored by their school administration.

The First Amendment and Student Media

NEWS LEADERS ASSOCIATION

The Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism presents a breakdown of the First Amendment rights of student journalists. Sponsored by the News Leaders Association.

The Price of a Free Press: Is Journalism Worth Dying For?

This lesson plan, provided by PBS’s POV, teaches students about the value of journalism and a free press using clips from the documentary film “Reportero.”

The Quick Guide to Spotting Fake News

This primer from the Freedom Forum offers a few quick ways to determine whether an article is fake news.

The Role of Student Publications on Campus

The video adaptation of this lesson and the script can be used during digital or in-person journalism-program orientations or class lectures, or as part of remarks while onboarding new student newspaper staff. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Under Pressure: The Warning Signs of Student Newspaper Censorship

Too often, student journalists are expected to act as publicists rather than journalists. And when they stray from the misplaced expectations of administrators — and sometimes even their fellow students — student journalists may face consequences. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Using the Newspaper to Teach the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment

This unit plan features lessons that use newspaper articles and historical texts to discuss and explore the First Amendment. From Lesson Planet.

Why Burn Books?

Students will discuss the role of books in freedom of the press and speech, as well as the reasons for and effects of censorship. From Lesson Planet.

World Press Freedom Map

Use this Freedom Forum activity to explore the state of press freedoms around the world.

3Rs & First Amendment Framework

This foundational Freedom Forum module examines the three models of religious liberty in public schools: the “sacred public school, “naked public school,” and “civic public school.” It also introduces the 3Rs of religious freedom.

America’s First Freedom Curriculum

America’s First Freedom is a supplementary unit of study created by Religious Freedom Institute to teach American high schoolers about religious freedom.

First Amendment Principles and Jefferson’s ‘Wall’

Essay discussing Thomas Jefferson’s views on a “wall of separation” between church and state. From the Bill of Rights Institute.

"The first right listed in the First Amendment is the freedom of religion. This unit explores what it means to have freedom from and freedom of religion through discussion of key issues such as the Lemon test and the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses.

History of Religion & Public Schools

This Freedom Forum module serves as a brief historical overview of the relationship between religion and public schools. Participants will also examine how that relationship has changed over time and the impact of these issues on public schools today.

Living with Our Deepest Differences

People from all different religions live and thrive in America thanks to the religious liberty protected by the First Amendment. This Freedom Forum First Amendment Center guide posted by the Religious Freedom Center provides lesson plans and resources for educators to use to teach students about religious liberty.

Religion in Public Schools

This lesson presents two diametrically opposed situations involving religion in public secondary schools, toward fostering an understanding of the two clauses of the First Amendment pertaining to religion. From the Free Speech Center.

Religion in the Curriculum

This Freedom Forum module sets-out guidelines for teaching about religion in public schools. It explores how religion can be naturally incorporated into a curriculum; examines why it is important to address religion in academics; and considers the risks of ignoring or not teaching about religious traditions.

Religious Expression & Practice in Public Schools

Students do not leave their religious identities behind when they go to school, and the free- exercise clause protects their rights to religious expression and practice. This Freedom Forum module examines the protections, and limitations, of the free-exercise clause for students in public schools.

Religious Liberty and the Supreme Court

Lesson plan explaining “how the doctrine of incorporation broadened the application of the First Amendment,” particularly in regard to religious freedom. From the Bill of Rights Institute.

Religious Liberty: Landmark Supreme Court Cases

A thorough list of cases, many with lessons associated, from the Bill of Rights Institute.

Religious Liberty: The American Experiment

Resources and lessons including landmark Supreme Court cases on religious liberty, from the Bill of Rights Institute.

The Constitution, the First Amendment, and Religious Liberty

Essay from the Bill of Rights Institute reviewing the development of religious liberty in the U.S.

The Establishment Clause

From the Bill of Rights Institute’s Homework Help series, this video looks into “the proper relationship between church and state” from historical and legal perspectives.

The Establishment Clause & Public Schools

The First Amendment’s establishment clause prevents the government from creating any law “respecting an establishment of religion” or that privileges one religion over another. This Freedom Forum module examines the purpose and scope of the clause, what constitutes a violation of the provision, and common issues in public schools where the establishment clause might apply.

The Establishment Clause – How Separate Are Church and State?

Lesson plan from the Bill of Rights Institute teaches how the First Amendment protects religious belief.

The Great Awakening

GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY

This lesson from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History teaches about the Great Awakening, a series of important religious revivals in Colonial America. These revivals connect to the Colonists’ desire to declare independence and the eventual writing of the First Amendment.

Towards Separation of Church and State in Gloucester

This Lesson Planet exercise explores New England government in the 1700s, discussing the significance of various documents and their connection to freedom of religion in America.

What Is the Significance of the Free-Exercise Clause?

Lesson plan explaining why this religious-freedom clause is important. From the Bill of Rights Institute.

You Can’t Say That in School? The Case of Lee v. Weisman

Students analyze a 1992 Supreme Court case about religion in public schools, drawing on their First Amendment knowledge to support their own conclusions about how the court should have ruled. From the Freedom Forum.

Classroom Walk-Outs and School Protests

These questions and answers give students, parents, teachers, school administrators and lawyers all they need to know about school protests. A primer from the Freedom Forum.

Free Speech and the Ethics of Protest

From the Media Ethics Initiative. Readers will learn about free speech and protest on college campus in this case study, focusing on Young Conservatives of Texas’s 2016 protest against University of Texas’s affirmative-action program.

Freedom of Assembly in the 1960s Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements

Lesson plan from the Free Speech Center on how protesters used their freedom of peaceable assembly to push for change.

Freedom of Assembly: National Socialist Party v. Skokie

This video examines a Supreme Court case involving a Nazi march through a mostly Jewish neighborhood in Illinois, placing the case in the context of the First Amendment freedom of peaceable assembly. From Annenberg Classroom.

Freedom of Assembly: The Right to Protest

This Annenberg Classroom lesson will focus on freedom of assembly as established in the First Amendment. Students will consider the importance of the right to assemble and protest by analyzing cases where First Amendment rights were in question.

Protest Primer

Why do people protest? Where can people assemble? What limits can the government put on protests? This primer from the Freedom Forum answers these questions and more.

Right to Protest

Among the questions explored in this lesson are what constitutes a legally protected protest and what the limits are. The lesson also looks at "controversial forms of protest."

Student Protest Then and Now

Beyond use during digital or in-person orientations, this lesson can be used in first-year experience seminars so students can participate in discussions about the history presented and its relationship to current events on campus. This lesson can be particularly useful for teaching international students about the history of free speech on American campuses. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The Right to Peacefully Assemble

This teacher guide covers the First Amendment right to assemble peaceably. From First Amendment Watch.

Truckers, Protests, Emergency Acts, and an American Convoy

Exploring the meaning of protest, and its boundaries, the lesson focuses on Canadian and then American truck drivers who flooded national capitals to object to COVID restrictions and requirements. "Were they within their rights?" the lesson asks. "Did they go too far?"

Constitution Clips: 'petition the government'

C-SPAN CLASSROOM

A brief video tour of the National Archives’ “Amending America” exhibit serves as a learning tool on the right of petition. Includes a video about lobbying. From C-SPAN Classroom.

Declaration of Complaints

This Lesson Planet lesson will help students learn about the right to petition and assembly by writing their own declaration of complaints.

Freedom of Assembly & Petition lesson plan

NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER

From the National Constitution Center. Students will look into two of the founding freedoms of the First Amendment and how citizens can use these rights in our democratic republic.

Let’s Start a Petition lesson plan

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

This American Bar Association teaching resource “discusses the constitutional right to petition, and how petitions have been used in American history.” Includes a handout, found at https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/public_education/Lawday/2020/Petition_examples_handouts.pdf

Perseverance and the First Amendment

Students will use this lesson to learn about the rights to petition and assembly and research some of the groups that have used them. From Lesson Planet.

Petitioning the Government

Lesson plan illustrating how the right to petition the government to correct a wrong or achieve a goal is fundamental to the workings of a democratic republic. From the Free Speech Center.

Write a Petition

Students will learn how to write a petition for change in this activity from the National Constitution Center.

1st Amendment Freedoms Choice Board

In this First Amendment video overview from C-SPAN Classroom, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., talks about the meaning of the First Amendment.

A Study of the First Amendment Rights in the Bill of Rights

In this Lesson Planet exercise, students will analyze Supreme Court cases to learn about the five freedoms of the First Amendment. For grades 4-6.

‘45 Words’ Video Lesson

Actor Martin Sheen narrates this story of the political struggles involved in establishing the First Amendment and early challenges to it. From the Freedom Forum.

Battle for the Bill of Rights: Freedom Stations

This Freedom Forum classroom activity asks students to find examples of people using their First Amendment freedoms.

Battle for the Bill of Rights: Ultimate Survivor Amendment Game

Using laws and writings that influenced the development of the First Amendment, students “vote off” proposed amendments from the time period in this Freedom Forum exercise.

Battle for the Bill of Rights: Ultimate Survivor Amendment Game (Lesson Planet)

Similar to the Freedom Forum game, students will learn about the First Amendment by creating their own draft amendments and voting for the most important. From Lesson Planet.

Bill of Rights (1791)

The text of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, with discussion, from the Bill of Rights Institute.

Bill of Rights Day

This lesson plan, created for 5th-graders, contains a wide variety of activities focusing on the Bill of Rights, from illustrations to a mock trial. From Lesson Planet.

Students in grades 8-10 will use this lesson to learn about the Bill of Rights and the circumstances leading to its writing. From Lesson Planet.

In this Lesson Planet activity, students in grades 9-12 will analyze the Bill of Rights and research the First Amendment and others.

Bill of Rights Institute

The Bill of Rights Institute offers a variety of guides and lesson plans based on constitutional principles, including the First Amendment.

Don’t Let Your Rights Be Violated

This Lesson Planet lesson, made for 9th-graders, will help students to understand the First Amendment and its impact on their daily lives.

FAQ: The First Amendment and Campus Life

This FAQ can be handed out to new students. Additionally, the text or video can be used on university web pages explaining student rights. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

First Amendment and Censorship

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

The AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION offers a primer on censorship and the First Amendment, as well as links to other relevant resources.

First Amendment and the Future

Students will conduct a survey centered around the First Amendment and use it to analyze how aspects of the First Amendment come into play at school. From Lesson Planet.

First Amendment Matters PSA contest

This annual contest run by Schooljournalism.org challenges students to write a public-service announcement that explains and affirms the importance of the First Amendment.

First Amendment Rights

This lesson, written by Lesson Planet for 5th-graders, will help students to analyze the First Amendment and use it to solve a school-related issue.

First Amendment Then and Now

NEWHOUSE SCHOOL, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

These six short films, produced by the Tully Center for Free Speech at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, teach about different Supreme Court cases and other topics related to the First Amendment.

First Amendment Timeline

The Free Speech Center’s compilation of significant historical events, court cases, and ideas that have shaped First Amendment law as we know it today.

This Annenberg Classroom timeline traces developments in the history of our First Amendment freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

First Amendment: Bill of Rights

From Lesson Planet: 12th-graders will learn about the First Amendment and its day-to-day importance in their lives with this lesson.

Freedom of Expression: The First Amendment

Provided by the California Courts, this lesson plan focuses on the Bill of Rights, specifically the five freedoms of the First Amendment.

Intro to the First Amendment: Would You Fight for All Five?

Students explore the interplay among the five First Amendment freedoms as they play an elimination game to determine the most important freedom. From the Freedom Forum.

Introduction to the First Amendment: My Five Freedoms

Students will be able to define the five freedoms of the First Amendment and provide examples of how they exercise these freedoms in their lives. From the Freedom Forum.

Introduction to the First Amendment: What’s a Violation?

Students apply their knowledge of the First Amendment to specific scenarios to determine when those freedoms are protected and when they are not. From the Freedom Forum.

It’s Your Right: A Civil Rights Brochure

Students will examine the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and other resources to create a brochure about a civil rights topic. From Lesson Planet.

Law & First Amendment

From Schooljournalism.org, two days of lessons created by ASNE, now the News Leaders Association, on First Amendment law. Other resources can also be found on this page.

Learn Your Five Freedoms Group Activity

Students will learn about the five freedoms of the First Amendment through this group activity from the First Amendment Museum.

Learning About Liberty: Facilitating First Amendment Engagement Among American University Students

A report summarizing best practices for educators to approach and promote advocacy and engagement around the First Amendment’s five freedoms.

Lessons in Liberty

First Amendment hypotheticals for classroom use, developed by the Poynter Institute’s Press Pass program in partnership with the Free Speech Center.

Making the Law Come Alive: Teaching the First Amendment Through Contemporary Conflicts

First Amendment Watch at New York University offers many lesson plans and teacher guides on the First Amendment, each relating to issues America faces today. 

Making the Most of the Five Freedoms

Students build on research from “The First Amendment in Action Today” lesson to create, execute and document a plan of action to address a community issue. From the Freedom Forum.

Materiales Educativos en Español

"En este módulo de lección, encontrarás tres presentaciones en español que puedes usar para explicarles a tus estudiantes sobre los elementos filosóficos, históricos, y jurídicos de la Primera Enmienda de la Constitución Estadounidense."

National Endowment for the Humanities

NEH - EDSITEMENT!

The National Endowment for the Humanities provides hundreds of “EDSITEment” lesson plans, including First Amendment lesson plans such as The First Amendment: What’s Fair in a Free Country?

Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Grades 10-12)

From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a lesson for grades 10-12 on the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment.

Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Grades 4-6)

Students in grades 4 through 6 can use this lesson to learn about the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment. From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

PBS NewsHour Classroom

PBS NEWSHOUR CLASSROOM

These resources, created by PBS, teach students about issues America faces today, helping them understand the importance of civics. (This resource is the new version of PBS NewsHour EXTRA. The old content on EXTRA has not been fully converted to Classroom and is currently accessible at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/.)

Recommended Common Reads from FIRE and First Amendment Watch

From banned books that warn against censorial regimes to international stories about fighting censorship to books chronicling the First Amendment’s role in America’s media landscape, this list has a book or document fit for any academic program. From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Study Aid: The Bill of Rights

This study aid will help students remember which rights are protected by each amendment. From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Supreme Interpreters

This iCivics lesson, formatted as a web quest, will have students analyze Supreme Court cases that interpreted the First Amendment, as well as explain the role of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution.

Take the Bill of Rights quiz!

As valuable as the Bill of Rights is, most Americans know very little about it. Test your own knowledge — and your students’ — by taking the Free Speech Center's quiz.

Take the Great 4th of July quiz!

In 1776, our founders risked their lives to publish a Declaration of Independence. Those early Americans sought “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” by creating a nation founded on freedom. This Free Speech Center quiz tests knowledge of the Declaration of Independence.

The Bill of Rights

This lesson, targeted toward 9th-graders, will teach students about the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment. From Lesson Planet.

The Constitution and Rights

This learning resource from Lesson Planet will help teachers begin educating their students about the Bill of Rights.

The First Amendment

In this lesson, 11th-graders will analyze the First Amendment through surveys and evaluation. From Lesson Planet.

This worksheet from Lesson Planet, made for 4th- and 5th-graders, will help students analyze the First Amendment and its importance in their lives.

The First Amendment and School

With this lesson plan, teachers will lead students through a First Amendment-related story, asking questions and prompting debate along the way to help students think more deeply about the five freedoms. From the First Amendment Museum.

The First Amendment Encyclopedia

This comprehensive Free Speech Center resource boasts “more entries on the First Amendment than any other work of its kind.” With more than 1,500 searchable entries, it can give you information on any First Amendment question you might wish to explore in class.

The First Amendment in Action Today

Students research an individual or group using the First Amendment to solve a community issue, then turn their findings into digital posters. From the Freedom Forum.

The Law: Your Rights and Responsibilities

This lesson explores the rights of the First Amendment and the responsibilities that come with it. From Lesson Planet.

The Philosophy of Free Speech

This course from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression "reviews the unique inheritance of basic rights and freedoms bestowed on all American citizens by our founding documents, which draw from Enlightenment conceptions of liberty and individual human dignity. It also covers the essential role of open discourse and reasoning in examining evidence and seeking truth."

The Sedition Act of 1798

This First Amendment Watch guide will help educators teach about the Sedition Act of 1798 https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/sedition-act-of-1798/ and its impact on the First Amendment at the time.

The Story of the Bill of Rights

A series of 10 short documentary videos, one for each amendment in the Bill of Rights, showing how each freedom came through controversy to ratification by the Founding Fathers.

Understanding the First Amendment

The Freedom Forum presents these resources for educating about the First Amendment, including training, lesson plans and more.

Webinar: Advocacy Amplified Through the First Amendment

Learn how activists in past social movements leveraged the power of First Amendment to bring about change, then dissect persuasive techniques used to shape public opinion and their application to current issues. From the Freedom Forum.

What If There Were No First Amendment?

Can you envision life in the United States without the five freedoms of the First Amendment? This exercise from the Free Speech Center will help instill a greater understanding and appreciation for the freedoms the First Amendment guarantees and protects.

Women's History Month Lesson

"This character-building lesson, designed for Women’s History Month, offers students an empowering glimpse into the many achievements and profound emotional strength of one of America’s most admired First Ladies."

You’ve Got Rights!

This lesson teaches students about the rights guaranteed to them by the Bill of Rights. From iCivics.org

Your 1st Amendment Rights

JUDICIAL LEARNING CENTER

This primer, presented by Judicial Learning Center, teaches students about the rights protected by the First Amendment, using case studies and other activities.

Classes will use this Lesson Planet lesson to discuss the First Amendment and why students should care about it.

Teacher in a Box – Big Questions Debate – Lesson #01

Lesson #1 – what is debate.

Lesson Plan Common Lesson Plan – What is Debate?

If you do not have access to WORD but do use Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides please see the following link: Instructions on how to download and open these files using Google. Click here to return to Teacher in a Box – BQ – Unit Overview

Teacher in a Box

These guides are a quick and easy way to get familiar with an event, complete with lesson plans, resources, and everything else coaches should know. Whether you are a beginner coach, or a long time veteran, Teacher in a Box has all the tools you need for success in Speech and Debate!

What is Big Questions Debate?

More big questions debate resources, more teacher in a box, looking for a different resource.

Add Project Key Words

50 Persuasive Speech Topics for High School Students

September 9, 2024

Throughout high school, students will be asked to write about topics and make compelling arguments for certain positions. These persuasive speeches and other writing assignments train a student's communication skills. Creating a compelling, persuasive speech is a powerful skill that will help students in all aspects of their careers, not just in writing courses. The ability to write persuasively will especially have a huge effect on your admissions results when writing your personal statements and essays for college. 

With a powerful speech, students can express their opinions, influence others, and develop critical communication skills for school and the workplace. Choosing the right topic for a speech is often as important as how well it's written. To help you find the right topics for your audience, here are 50 persuasive speech topics you can use to help you get started with your writing. 

Want an expert's opinion on your college applications? Book a free strategy call and begin your admissions journey today! 

What Makes a Good Persuasive Speech Topic?

Compelling persuasive speech topics are relatable, debatable, and relevant. Students should investigate a topic they're passionate about and will intrigue an audience. Don't just take an easy position everyone can agree with—audiences are interested in ideas they may have never heard before, expressed enthusiastically by a passionate speaker. 

When ideating a topic, find something with clear, opposing viewpoints. Research the available arguments and present your speech in a way that promotes a meaningful discussion. For example, topics regarding the use of social media, the right to freedom of speech, and the Supreme Court are general and can engage a wide audience. 

Topics that everyone agrees with, have no opposing viewpoints, and require no research will not make for interesting speeches. Choose a topic that will challenge you and your audience, but avoid being offensive or controversial for its own sake. A topic you're genuinely interested in—like renewable energy for engineering students or social media platforms for communications students will make writing a compelling speech much more natural. With additional research and effective writing techniques, you can craft a speech to captivate an audience. 

How to Choose the Right Persuasive Speech Topic for Your Audience

Choosing the right topic starts with knowing your target audience. While ideating, consider:

• Who are you targeting? 
• What do you want to convince them? 
• What counter-arguments may they have? 

Think about those who would agree with you, be on the fence with you, and who would directly oppose your viewpoint. Writing persuasively is not just about presenting facts and hoping others agree. It's about making an emotional connection with your audience and using that impression to shift their thinking. 

Once you've given careful thought to those you'd be presenting to, brainstorm persuasive speech topic ideas that may resonate with them. Make a list of potential ideas and interrogate their merit. Consider current events, personal experiences, and issues others may relate to. Then, narrow down your list to the persuasive topics you would be most interested in—as an audience member and a researcher. 

Once you've landed on a few interesting topics, don't rest on them. Ask for feedback and get insights from family, friends, and teachers. Outside perspectives are important; others may have experiences that could provide you with valuable knowledge to use when refining your topic. 

50 Persuasive Speech Topic Ideas

School topics.

• The Benefits and Drawbacks of Mandatory School Uniforms
• How Effective is the School Grading System?
• How Students can Shape their Curriculum
• Is Homework Beneficial or Harmful?
• How Would Schools Handle a Four-Day Week?

Art and Humanities Topics

• Art or Vandalism: The History of Graffiti
• Art vs STEM: What Should Schools Prioritize?
• AI-Generated Media: How Do Humans Value Art?
• The Correlation Between Art and Mental Health
• Are Video Games the Ultimate Artform?

Social Issues Topics

• The Right to Protest: Traditional Movements vs Digital Activism
• Why do Wealthy Countries have Declining Birth Rates?
• Should For-Profit Prisons be Permanently Abolished?
• Is Healthcare a Human Right?

Environmental Issues

• Why Corporations Need Stricter Plastics Regulation
• Environmental Ethics: Human Development vs Species Preservation
• The Benefits and Drawbacks of Fully Electric Vehicles
• History of Geo-Engineering: Can Society Reverse Climate Change?
• What is Dark Oxygen? The Effect of Deep Sea Mining

Technology and Media Topics

• Should the Government Regulate the Coming AI revolution?
• Where Does Online Misinformation Come From?
• Why Does Social Media Affect Self-Image?
• The Right to Privacy: How Online anonymity affects people's behavior
• Why All Messaging Apps Should Have End-to-End Encryption
• Should Artificial Intelligence be Used in Creative Works?
• Should Social Media Platforms be Accountable for their Users?

Politics and Government

• Should Voting be Compulsory?
• How Public and Private Funding Affect Political Campaigns
• What is gerrymandering? 
• Why Do Some Countries Have Mandatory Military Service?
• The benefits and drawbacks of term limits for elected officials

Sports Topics

• Should esports be officially recognized as part of the Olympic Games?
• MMA and Boxing: The Ethics of Broadcasting Violence
• Has Football Become More Dangerous?
• Should Men and Women compete in the same Leagues? 
• Restrictor Plates: Why Did NASCAR Make Racing Slower?

Economy and Finance

• Should Cryptocurrency be Regulated?
• Does a minimum wage help or hurt the economy?
• Employees vs contractors: How freelance work Affects commerce
• Is Universal Basic Income a Viable Option?
• When should the Government regulate the Market?

STEM Topics

• What are the Benefits of Mars Colonization?
• City Planning: How US Infrastructure Affects the Environment
• Why Nuclear Energy is the Cleanest, Safest, and Cheapest Option
• Why the US Hasn't Returned to the Moon Yet
• Where will Technological Implants take Human Evolution?

Culture and Entertainment Industry Topics

• How Binge-Culture Has Affected Our Attention Spans
• How Streaming Services Caused the 2023 Writers Strike
• Why are actors paid so highly? Hollywood's income inequality
• Should IP Copyright be abolished? 

Enhance Your Academic Profile With InGenius Prep

Crafting a persuasive speech isn’t just about presenting facts—it’s about connecting with your audience, understanding their perspectives, and sparking meaningful conversations. These skills are especially important in the college admissions process, where every aspect of your college application is trying to convince an Admissions Officer you're worthy of acceptance. 

For more on college applications, InGenius Prep's counseling services are designed to guide high school students through every step of the admissions process. With a focus on story-telling, candidacy building, and highlighting the most impactful aspect of your student profile, we’ll help you capture the attention of your admissions officers. 

Ready to take the next step? Book a free strategy call with an advisor today to start your admissions journey.

Tags : candidacy-building , Writing , application counseling , English

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