Butler University
Speech and Communications
Professor David Waite
Speech Organization/Click and Drag Tool. In persuasive speeches, outlines serve as a method to test our organization and reasoning. One must introduce a central argument and then develop it with coordination of statements of equal importance and subordinate statements that may provide detail or clarification of the main theme. The click and drag tool provides an opportunity to create an organizational outline into which statements that represent the central theme and subordinate statements may be placed into an organized outline. The student is provided with a series of statements and an organizational outline. The outline consists of answer boxes laid out to represent a particular organizational scheme. Each of the statements must be dragged into the correct box in the organizational scheme.
The Click and Drag tool is also used in another, more complex organizational problem.
Speech Organization/Intelligent Paragraph Tool. Another approach to the organization of persuasive speeches is to use the intelligent paragraph tool to allow the student to place statements in an order that reflects a sound organizational structure. In this case six statements are provided to the student. Four of the statements can be combined to create a well organized persuasive speech. Four answer boxes are provided to the student, although the boxes are not labeled with a particular organizational scheme as is the case in the click and drag application. The student must therefore implicitly understand the organizational scheme needed to create a well crafted persuasive speech.
Speech Evaluation/Evaluation Tool. All students and instructors complete a rating form for each speech heard in class. This provides feedback for the speakers. More significantly, we used the rating system as a teaching device. Training students to use the form should simultaneously teach them to be better speakers. As a student understood what observed behaviors exhibited excellence in speaking so they understood what behaviors they should exhibit to be rated as an excellent speaker. As we trained students to use the form, we were also training students to create, organize, and deliver speeches.
