Speech Writing Teacher Resources
Delivering an effective persuasive speech involves a combination of presentation skills and sharp rhetorical tools. A passionate speech without carefully crafted appeals will go nowhere; a well-written message delivered blandly will fall on deaf ears. Teach your students how to successfully get what they want by honing their speech writing skills, both with intriguing prompts and examinations of great speeches in history.
A project on writing and presenting persuasive speeches is a great start, coupled with a graphic organizer that helps speakers plan their speech. Use various prompts to get the speech writing started, including sample instructions for a graduation speech, or an assignment on writing speeches based on famous quotations.
A trip through history can provide inspiration as well. A social studies assignment examines the devices in historic speeches, including Queen Elizabeth I’s address at Tilbury. Learners examine the fiery rhetoric in Joseph McCarthy’s “Enemies from Within” speech and analyze the main purpose of Elie Wiesel’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. For a modern approach, check out a resource that compares word choice in the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
No matter what your class wants to say, you can help them say it clearly and persuasively—with a little help from your friends at Lesson Planet!
Showing 62 resources
Curated OER
Writing a Speech
For this writing a speech worksheet, students will read two paragraphs from a speech, then match 16 descriptions of parts of a speech with a phrase or sentence in the speech by drawing a line from the description to the text.
Curated OER
Write a Speech
In this language arts worksheet, students use this page to help prepare a speech. Students decide on their main points, who their audience is and what they want to emphasize. Students write their speech and practice it orally.
Curated OER
Charles Darwin Meets John Paul II
If you teach AP English language and composition and are looking for a way to address the differences between written and spoken arguments, consider this lesson. Over the course of three days, class members research Charles Darwin or...
Curated OER
The Noble Eightfold Path
Students gain an introduction to Buddhist teachings about moral behavior by exploring a depiction of the Buddha and by writing a speech inspired by their interpretation of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Curated OER
Speech Writing
Looking for a thorough description of how to effectively write a speech? This presentation includes all sorts of good tips on how to construct and deliver a speech. Each student writes and delivers a speech about a state park of their...
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Gandhi Speech Writing
Explore non-violent protest in this social values and world history lesson. After viewing the movie Gandhi, and discussing important events in Gandhi's life, young orators write a speech defending Gandhi's position on the value of...
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My Secret War: Lesson 4
Fifth graders write a speech. In this history instructional activity, 5th graders define the word infamy and listen to a speech by FDR. Students work in groups to summarize his speech and rewrite sections of the speech.
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Tú eres el Líder
Start by having your class list words (specifically names, verbs, and adjectives) that would be necessary to know if you worked for the government. Then, using their lists, they create a story and/or write a speech that uses this...
North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies
The Importance of Holocaust Remembrance
Designed as the culminating activity after a unit study of the Holocaust, class members assume the voice of a world leader, write a speech, and participate in a simulation of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust.
Nemours KidsHealth
STDs: Grades 9-12
After gathering information about Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), high schoolers engage in two activities designed to educate themselves and others. They begin by using what they have learned to write a speech for a friend who...
Curated OER
How Safe is Your School Bus?
Students research various aspects of school bus safety such as what makes a bus safe and unsafe. Using provided Internet sites and others students examine what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has to say and also what...
Curated OER
Ideas for Classroom Election Activities
This handout provides suggestion8s for exploring the elections process including making a party platform poster, writing a speech in the style of a famous politician, having a debate, planning a convention, and more! While some of the...
Curated OER
El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico
Learners conduct Internet research on the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. They complete a worksheet answering questions about the Ballet Folklorico, and create an award and write a speech to present to the class.
Curated OER
Writing A Speech Lesson Plan
Students write persuasive speeches. In this speech lesson, students discuss the attributes of persuasive speeches and then write their own persuasive speeches regarding topics of their choosing.
Curated OER
Digital Dreams
Students write a speech. In this dreams lesson, students define the word dreams and list their own dreams. Students read and discuss Langston Hughes work, read and discuss excerpts from speeches by JFK and Martin Luther King,...
Curated OER
Recruiting a Few Good Citizens
Students write persuasive speeches to recruit soldiers for a Civil War company. In this Civil War U.S. history and writing lesson, students work in groups to create a recruiting poster and write a speech to persuade soldiers to join...
Curated OER
The Aftermath of War
Students share their opinions on the war in Iraq. After reading an article, they identify the thoughts of President Bush on the conflict. In groups, they share their opinions for and against current United States policy in Iraq and the...
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"The Site Every American Should See"
Students research the natural wonders of the Grand Canyon. They write a descriptive paper about the Park. They also write a speech about why the Grand Canyon should be preserved.
Curated OER
Simulating a Middle East Peace Summit
Tenth graders explore the issues in the Middle East. In this World History instructional activity, 10th graders research the problems between Palestine and Israel. Students write a speech on their point of view of the peace...
Curated OER
Dateline: Troy
Learners read an abridged version of The Odyssey andl write a composition comparing Odysseus or the Iliad with Odysseus of The Odyssey. Students write a speech that King Priam would make in the attempt to persuade his son, Paris, to...
Curated OER
Environmental Health Impromptu Talk
Learners learn the criteria for and create the framework of an impromptu speech about an environmental health issue that is especially important to them. Students write a speech about an environmental health problem based on the material...
Curated OER
American History: Finding your Voice
Students are able to write a speech and create a slogan through analysis of current issues articles dealing with pesticide use. They put themselves in the position of one of the workers affected by the story they read.
Curated OER
Techniques for Speech Delivery
Students write and deliver a short persuasive speech using the POAM method. They also incorporate one of the three persuasive appeals into a written speech. Students apply what they have learned about persuasion and speech presentation...
Curated OER
Cambodia's Quest for Justice
Students observe pictures, articles, maps, charts and other gathered information concerning the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia by participating in a gallery walk. Afterward, they discuss war crimes and the significance of...
