Badges For Mastery in Speech & Debate: Part I

This semester I am teaching a section of Speech and Debate for 8th graders and I wanted to  create a self guided course that requires students to research, write, speak, and reflect continuously throughout the course. There are three key modules for students to show their mastery of public speaking utilizing a badge system.

Think about what the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have been doing all along, recognizing mastery and achievement with badges. Teachers can do the same by recognizing student accomplishments and mastery with badges. Badges go beyond grades because they are given out at the teacher’s discretion for more than just academic achievement. Students work toward completing different badges to show mastery of a concept, standard or skill.

In the public speaking elective I designed, students have a great deal of choice – to choose topics and projects using a badging system. This approach gives students both freedom and responsibility as they will be required to manage their time wisely and work independently (in community) toward their personal course goals.

I have organized the first ten weeks of the course into three badges (modules):

Great Speakers Are Made, Not Born Badge

Words Are Powerful Badge

Presentation Guru Badge

Students choose the grade they would like to earn the class and complete badges accordingly. Earning more badges means students will receive a higher grade. Students may submit a badge application as many times as needed to earn the badge as long as they meet all deadlines on the badging pathway. The Badge Grading System will work as follows:

● To earn an A in the course, you must earn three (3) project badges

● To earn a B in the course, you must earn two (2) project badges

● To earn a C in the course, you must earn one (1) project badge

Great Speakers Are Made, Not Born Badge Expectations

Students are required to complete a series of reflections for this requirement. For each post that has a video/website/book/ebook as media, include APA or other citation at the end of your reflection. Below are the expectations for the reflections: #1: Speech and Debate Reflection Google Form #2: Great Speakers in History Watch the videos of “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech              Transcripts: MLK’s Speech and JFK’s Speech Write a reflection paper (2-3 pages) in which you address the following: Summarize the key ideas presented in each speech and the rhetorical devices used in each speech to make these iconic speeches. Use direct textual evidence (3-4) to support your claims. Write a paragraph about the speakers themselves. What strategies do MLK and JFK emulate in their public speaking? Identify four or more public speaking strategies using direct textual evidence to support your claims. What makes MLK and JFK “Great Speakers?” Reflect on the elements of these speakers and their speeches that you hope to emulate this semester in Speech and Debate. Use specific details and examples. These will in turn be your personal speaking goals for the semester. #3: Who is “great speaker” of our time? Identify a speaker today who you think emulates the qualities of great speakers you identified in JFK and MLK. Find a video that showcases this speaker and include the video link that highlights the elements of public speaking utilized by this person. Post this video on Google Classroom for all to view, reflect, and review.  (Select a video that is 3-10 minutes in length). Write an analysis (1-2 pages) describing the strategies and rhetorical devices presented by this speaker. Use direct textual evidence to support your claim. Include specific information describing the aspects of this speaker you aspire to when speaking in public. #4: Public Speaking Content Curation Using one of the following Content Curation/Social Bookmarking sites: Pinterest, ThingLink, or Symbaloo, find nine or more (9+) research and public speaking videos (3), research articles (3), and interviews with public speaking teachers or figures (3). Annotate what can be found at each site and/or video and highlight one (or more), key quotes and a strategy for public speaking highlighted in the resource. Describe in 2-3 sentences how this content can help you to be a better public speaker.

You can read about the expectations for the Words Are Powerful Badge and Presentation Guru Badge in this post.

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