Rational
I chose these books because they teach students how to speak well. Having the ability to develop and deliver a good speech is a skill that everyone needs to have. Leaders throughout our history have been able to do great things because of their ability to speak and speak well. Language is power and being able to speak well can lead one to accomplish great things within their lives.
· Title: The Lost Art of the Great Speech : How to write on-How to Deliver It
· Author: Richard Dowis
· Illustrator: Richard Dowis
· Publisher: AMA Publications
· Copyright: 2000
· ISBN#: 0-8144-7054-8
· Genre: Bibliography
· Library Location: TTU Library
Summary: "Splashy slides, confident body language, and a lot of eye contact are fine and well. But if a speech is rambling, illogical, or just plain boring, the impact will be lost. Now everyone can learn to give powerful, on-target speeches that capture an audience's attention and drive home a message. The key is not just in the delivery techniques, but in tapping into the power of language.
Prepared by an award-winning writer, this authoritative speech-writing guide covers every essential element of a great speech, including outlining and organizing, beginning with a bang, making use of action verbs and vivid nouns, and handling questions from the audience. Plus, the book includes excerpts from some of history's most memorable speeches--eloquent words to contemplate and emulate."
Personal Comments:
I think it is important for one to be able to deliver a speech in such a way that it moves someone to take action. Language is powerful and the way we deliver it can be the difference in someone actually listening to us or ignoring what we have to say completely. This book does a great job in guiding one through the speech writing process and then delivering it in the proper way. I also enjoy the speeches from our country’s past.
Suggested Use in Classroom
This book is a great outline in creating and delivering speeches. After reading this book students will have the ability to outline and organize a good speech. It also gives them knowledge on how to deliver the speech properly. Students will learn that things such as body language as well a tone of voice is very important when giving a great speech. This book can serve as a student’s guideline through the semester.
· Title: The World’s Greatest Speeches
· Author: Lewis Copeland (Editor) Lawrence W. Lamm (Editor) Stephen J. McKenna (Editor)
· Illustrator: None
· Publisher: Dover Publications
· Copyright: 1999
· ISBN#: 0-486-40903-1
· Genre: Bibliography
· Library Location: TTU Library
Summary
Nearly 300 speeches from nearly every historical era: Socrates, Julius Caesar, St. Francis, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Fulton J. Sheen, Barbara Jordan, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, Earl of Spencer, and many others offer provocative themes, historic parallels, and memorable quotations.
Personal Comments
The world has seen many good orators over the years. This book is a collection of great speeches given by these great orators. Reading these historical speeches allows one to follow the history of rhetoric and understand the power of a great speech. I think it would be easy to see how leaders lead through the speeches they give. This book is also a great way to tie speech with history to give students an overlay of knowledge.
Suggested Use in Classroom
This book is great for the speech classroom. I would have the students read speeches from different eras of history and analyze them. If we are focusing on persuasive speeches then we could read some well known persuasive speeches focus on what makes them great. Just a good tool to have when showing students what a great speech looks like.
· Title: Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, Updated and Expanded Edition
· Author: William Safire
· Illustrator: William Safire
· Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
· Copyright: 2000
· ISBN#: 0-393-05931-6
· Genre: Bibliography
· Library Location: TTU Library
Summary
An instant classic when it was first published a decade ago and now enriched by seventeen new speeches, Lend Me Your Ears contains more than two hundred outstanding moments of oratory. This third edition is selected, arranged, and introduced by William Safire, who honed his skills as a presidential speechwriter. He is considered by many to be America's most influential political columnist and most elegant explicator of our language. Covering speeches from Demosthenes to George W. Bush, this latest edition includes the words of Cromwell to the "Rump Parliament," Orson Welles eulogizing Darryl F. Zanuck, General George Patton exhorting his troops before D-Day, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking on Bush v. Gore. A new section incorporates speeches that were never delivered: what Kennedy was scheduled to say in Dallas; what Safire wrote for Nixon if the first moon landing met with disaster; and what Clinton originally planned to say after his grand jury testimony but swapped for a much fiercer speech.
Personal Comments
This is another great book that is loaded with great speeches from different times in history. The book is well written because the author is a former speech writer for presidents of the United States. The book allows one to examine speeches that were given by some of the best orators in history. The thing that sets this book apart is the fact that it contains speeches that were never given by different leaders of the past.
Suggested Use in Classroom
I could use this book in several different ways within the classroom setting. First, it provides many good speeches that can be critiqued by the kids. Second, those same speeches can be taken and broken down into parts so that students can see what good speeches consist of. Last, the speeches that were never given can be looked at and evaluated. Do these speeches lack something that kept them from being used? Are these speeches complete and would they motivate an audience to take action? It would be fun to try and see if the speeches lack anything and if so how could we make them better.
· Title: Public Speaking- An Audience Centered Approach
· Author: Steven A. Beebe and Susan J. Beebe
· Illustrator: Diana Stephenson
· Publisher: Prentice Hall
· Copyright: 1999
· ISBN#: 0-205-29559-2
· Genre: Bibliography
· Library Location: TTU Library
Summary
Public Speaking: An Audience-Centered Approach, Fourth Edition serves as a foundation in speechmaking as it guides readers through every step of the process and narrows the gap between the theory and the real world.
Its distinctive and popular audience-centered approach emphasizes the importance of analyzing and considering the audience at every point along the way, with marginal icons highlighting passages that address audience-related issues. Numerous examples, excerpts, and sample speeches support the instruction, while recap boxes and end-of-chapter activities reinforce and extend the lessons
Personal Comments
This book looks at public speaking from the audience point of view. This is important to me because public speaking is all about the audience. If the audience turns the speaker “off” then all is lost, even if the speech given is full of useful and knowledgeable information. A speaker has to keep his/her audience or the speech might as well be thrown away.
Suggested Use in Classroom
This book would serve as a roadmap to great public speaking. The activities at the end of each chapter can be used as in class assignments to reinforce the material being taught within the book. It would also give the students an idea on how to analyze a speech from the audience point of view.
· Title: Coping With Speech Anxiety
· Author: Joe Ayres and Tim Hopf
· Illustrator: unknown
· Publisher: Ablex Publishing Corp.
· Copyright: 1993
· ISBN#: 0-89391-882-2
· Genre: Bibliography
· Library Location: TTU Library
Summary
Grounded in cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements, speech anxiety is a serious problem for a large number of people and has been found to affect career development as well as academic performance. This book presents intervention procedures that have been developed to help people cope with anxiety associated with each of these sources.
Personal Comments
Many people have a fear of public speaking. Public speaking is a skill that should be mastered because it allows one to communicate effectively in front of a large audience. This book is great for coping with the anxiety that can come along with talking in front of large audiences. Many speech classes focus on writing good speeches and how to deliver them but many times no one thinks about concoring fear of public speaking.
Suggested Use in Classroom
I feel that this book would be a great read for all speech students. Learning why people are scared to speak in front of others help get over the fear and allows one to become better speakers. I would use the techniques taught in this book with my students as they begin giving their speeches to help them be more comfortable in front of others. You can learn how to develop speeches but if you are afraid to give it then all your work is for not.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Great Books to Help in Speech Class.
Great Speech Sites
Site #1
Website Name: Speech Mastery.com
Web Site Address: http://www.speechmastery.com/persuasive-speech.html
Copyright Date/Update: September, 15 2008
Author/Organization: Jonathan Steele
Website Design/Ease of Navigation: This website is layed out in such a way that it is easy for the visitor to navigate through and easy to understand. The home page does a good job on highlighting different public speaking issues and allows the reader to think about their weakness as a speaker. On the left hand side of the site are many links that cover the different areas within the speech genre. One can find a link to speech blog, speaking skills, gestures, thoughts about power points, and speech topics just to name a few. All of these links are related to mastery in the many speech areas. Half way down the home page one can find a search box so the reader can easily search the site on any topic related to speech and public speaking. Another great thing about this site is it highlights key speech words so you can click on that word and find more information concerning that topic. For example, if you in the public speaking area and it mention persuasion then the persuasion word would be a link that would take you to an area of the site that talks about persuasion. This is one reason the site is so easy to navigate through. I like the fact that there is an area to post you thoughts and offer suggestions to the site as well as contacts link to contact the author of the site for questions.
My Response/Recommendation (Intended Audience)
This site offers a lot of information on different areas within the speech world. I would highly recommend this site for my students or any other person that is interested in speech/public speaking. I would highly encourage my students to participate in the blogs that are offered because the knowledge that can be gained there is tremendous. I would also encourage my students to use the site to help them in developing their speeches and post them on the blog so others can critique their work. This would not only improve their grades but allows them to get different perspectives on their work. The more feedback a student can get the better because it offers more chances to learn different things. I would also use the site to continue expanding my own personal knowledge on different speech topics as well as receiving tips and advice on speech lessons. Another feature of this web site that I like is the book review section. One has the chance to leave a book review over a speech book they have read and would like to share with others. This gives the reader a chance to find new reading material over the subject and other people’s opinions on that material. This site appeals to anyone that has to speak in public and/or give a speech of any kind. The site does a good job in helping you write and prepare a speech as well on great tips to help you deliver the speech in the most effective way. Not many sites offer this much information on a particular topic but this site really sets the standard in that area.
Site#2
Website Name: Writing Guides: Informative Speaking
Web Site Address: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/infomod/index.cfm
Copyright Date/Update: 1993-2008
Author/Organization: Colorado State University
Website Design/Ease of Navigation:
The site is designed very well. All the sites links are listed on the left hand side of the page and are always present no matter what page you are on within the site. The home page does a great job of giving the reader an overview of what the site is about and what help could be offered within the site. The site is loaded with information dealing with informative speaking and all the information can be accessed at a moment’s notice. Across the top of the site are more links that lead the visitor to other related sites, site information, help, an area on teaching the subject, and a link so the viewer can leave feedback if they choose to. The font on the site is easy to read and the color scheme used makes it easy on the visitor’s eyes. The site designer did a great job in creating a user friendly site that everyone can enjoy using.
My Response/Recommendation (Intended Audience)
This site has many uses for anyone interested in learning more about informative speaking as well as teachers who have to teach on the subject. I would recommend the site to anyone that is interested in public speaking and especially for teachers looking for fresh ideas teaching the subject. The site I feel is geared towards speech students and or teachers but as I said before, it is user friendly for anyone that has no prior knowledge on the subject. The one thing that I like about this site is the area that is for teachers. Once inside the teaching area one can find links to teaching guides, teaching activities, teaching links, and an area on dealing with plagiarism just to name a few. The teaching activities section has activities that you can use within your class discussions, small group activities, peer review activities, working with sources, and other activities. This area alone offers teachers many tools needed to change up their lessons if they so choose to. Another useful link is geared toward both writers and teachers. The area of the site provides access to a wide range of resources for writers and teachers of writing. There is also an opportunity for the visitor to list their favorite site on the subject so others can have access to it. Another great area is an area on writing itself. There are writing activities, writing guides, and even an area to get feedback from others on your own personal writing. The writing activities section offers writing processes as well as different writing genres. The writing processes area focuses on preparing to write, starting to write, conducting research, reading and responding, planning, drafting, & organizing, revising and editing, and finally publishing. The different genres looked at are business writing, science writing, writing about literature, argument, and composition & academic writing. This area is a great resource for not only one’s students but also for anyone that is serious about their writing in general. To me this site can be used for many things. A speech teacher can use the site as a place to turn their students to in order to help with many of their assignments.
Site #3
Website Name: A Research Guide for Students
Web Site Address: http://www.aresearchguide.com/3tips.html
Copyright Date/Update: 1998-2008
Author/Organization: Online Computer Library Center
Website Design/Ease of Navigation:
This is a basic site that is easy to navigate through as most sites are. There are quick links at the top of the site that the reader can quickly access. These links are on topics like giving a presentation, presenting, public speech, and short speeches. Towards the bottom of the site there are many links to public speaking that can be accessed very quickly. Throughout the site there are key words that are highlighted in red so one can stumble across different topics and gain access to them. All links are in blue so it easy to see that they are clickable links. The whole site is easy to read and the language is such that all audiences can understand the material covered.
My Response/Recommendation (Intended Audience)
The site has a good overview on what public speaking is about. The topics covered deal with body language, maintain eye contact, speaking with conviction, not to read from notes, and the importance of speaking well and listening to your audience, These are all great things that one needs to know when studying the art of public speaking I would use this site mainly has a great place to find sources on public speaking. There are numerous links to great sites that give in depth information about public speaking and one can learn a great deal from these sites. This site kind of reminds me of a speech specific library that speech students can access quickly for great information and help on the topic of public speaking. The site was mainly targeted for students in public speaking class but made simple enough for others who may not have any background knowledge about the subject. I also like the articles on public speaking topics that are listed. It would be easy to print these articles off and use them as handouts within my classroom setting. These articles would aid in discussions that we may have as well as getting students to critically think about the subject. These articles include issues such as using humor, how to close a speech, identifying your audience, and attention gaining devices just to name a few. I would highly recommend this site because it’s a good resource for speech topics. The site itself may lack on in depth information but the amount of resources that can be found here are top notch and a must for anyone in the speech field.
Site #4
Website Name: Public Speaking Website
Web Site Address: http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_public_speaking_2/
Copyright Date/Update: 1995-2008
Author/Organization: Pearson Allyn & Bacon
Website Design/Ease of Navigation:
The website is easy on the eyes. The color scheme makes it easy to look at and enjoyable to navigate through. Up at the top of the site there is a drop down box that will take the reader to the different chapters/topics that are covered within the site. There is also a site search utility that one can use to search the site for topics that the reader may be interested in. The site uses pictures to lead the reader to different activities on the subject, links to other sites, and instructor notes that may be left for the students. For example, the picture of a pencil is what alerts the reader to learning activities, a picture of a building will lead you to other site links, and the picture of the man will lead you to instructor’s notes. The site is to be used with a textbook so it is interactive and very useful. The site is very basic so that makes it easy to navigate through and read. The language used is easy to understand and it seems to be on a level that everyone can interact with. The key words in the site are highlighted so one can get right to the topics that need to be covered. One glance at the site and you can see the topics that the site will cover and deal with.
My Response/Recommendation (Intended Audience)
This site is no doubt designed for students and teachers that are using the public speaking textbook that it requires. I think it is helpful to use a text that has an interactive site with it because it makes the lessons for the students more enjoyable and breaks up the old routine of reading a plain text. In today’s world, kids are growing up using technology that makes things easy and convenient for students. That is why I think it is important for teachers to use the technology available to enhance learning or else the student may get bored and not do as well as he/she could. That is why I like this site so much because it does just that. The site does a good job covering six different modules on public speaking. The modules cover assessing, analyzing, research, organizing, delivering, and discern. The assess module requires you to think about your speech and identifying the structure that is needed to make a good speech. The site suggest to the reader to consider the occasion, topic, speaking goal, and developing your central ideas and thesis. The site also offers great ideas on analyzing you audience. These ideas require you to consider the cultural background of the audience, gaining feedback from the audience, interacting with audience during speech, and exploring other characteristics of the audience. These are very important issues because to be an effective speaker one has to know who the audience in order to reach them. The site does a good job discussing these issues. I would recommend this site and textbook to all speech teachers if in fact they are able to choose their own text. Another great thing about this site is it suggests other books that the reader can get on the topic of public speaking. I always like sites that offer other resources for the reader to use so that it is easy to get other views on the topic of public speaking.
Site # 5
Web Site Address: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/
Copyright Date/Update: 2001-2008
Author/Organization: Michael E. Eidenmuller
Website Design/Ease of Navigation:
I feel this site is easy to navigate through even though there is a lot of information and links to explore. The home page has a list of site links on the left so one can easily scan through and access a topic. The rest of the page has different sections that are colored coordinated so you can easily tell the sections apart. This separates the different information that is provided and makes it easy and appealing to the eye. The site also has a “site search” so one can search for specific topics. This allows one to know immediately if the topic they are looking for is contained within the site. There is also a contact section so the reader can easily find and contact the author of the site as well as review the copy right information.
My Response/Recommendation (Intended Audience)
This site is jam packed full of information on rhetoric and different famous speeches from the times past. The site is for anyone that is eager to learn about rhetoric and the history of it. I do feel however that the site is mainly focused to scholars and others within the academic world. One of the great things about the site is the section on famous speech givers from our past times. The site offers definitions on rhetoric from the views of people such as Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, George Campbell, and I. A. Richards. There are also sections that are dedicated to just Plato and Aristotle and their view point on rhetoric. I really think that these two are the “fathers” of rhetoric and to focus on their view points of interest raise the credibility of the site. Another cool feature of the site is the rhetoric quiz. This can test your knowledge of past speeches and speakers and add a fun aspect to the site. There is a section of the site that ranks the top 100 speeches of all time. This can be used to find great quality speeches and use them in the class setting. These speeches can be read and analyzed by the students in open discussions in order to take them to a higher cognitive level. This is very important when trying to understand rhetoric and how to be an effective speaker. You can find Christian rhetoric, 9 1 1 rhetoric, and speeches used in the movies. This is the great thing about this site, it offers any kind of rhetoric that you can imagine. I feel this site highly promotes learning because it gives the readers many perspectives on speaking as well as many forms of work that has been written over time. I highly recommend this site to anyone that wants to improve their ability to speak and speak well. Great site!!
