This textbook was compiled for use with Tennessee's State Dual Credit (SDC) COMM 2025 course. It covers communication basics, listening, verbal and nonverbal communication, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, group communication, and public speaking. Please see supplemental materials in the TBR Speech and Communications folder (https://www.oercommons.org/groups/tennessee-board-of-regents/6827/18643/), including assignments, assessments, and PowerPoints.

This is a great handout to complete in class with your students as an in-class activity or assign as out-of-class work. This handout helps students generate speech topics. 

This unit has been developed to guide students and instructors in a close reading of Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” The activities and actions described below follow a carefully developed set of steps that assist students in increasing their familiarity and understanding of Lincoln’s speech through a series of text dependent tasks and questions that ultimately develop college and career ready skills identified in the Common Core State Standards.

This multiple day lesson focuses on Booker T. Washington’s life as a slave and as a free man trying to receive an education.  Students will read chapters 1-4 of the text to gain an understanding of the obstacles that Booker T. Washington encountered and what motivated him to pursue his education.  Students will identify the central ideas in the text and participate in a discussion which will inform their routine writing. Image source: "Bookert T Washington" by Harris & Ewing from the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Library of Congress.

Are your students struggling to create visually-organized speech outlines? This GoogleDocs handout demonstrates Harvard outline formatting, the most common type of outlining used in public speaking. It explains and demonstrates formatting expectations for: speech sections, main points, transitions, sub-points. It also offers advice about: indentation and symbolization, the principle of division in outlining, how to adjust your numbering scheme in GoogleDocs and Microsoft Word, spacing. Finally, it offers two student outline examples for clarity.

Have you ever talked with a friend about a problem, only to realize that he just doesn’t seem to grasp why the issue is so important to you? Have you ever presented an idea to a group, and it’s met with utter confusion? What’s going on here? Katherine Hampsten describes why miscommunication occurs so frequently, and how we can minimize frustration while expressing ourselves better.

This module features a step-by-step process to create an informative speech. It provides concise instructions supported by topical learning resources (textbook chapters, short online articles, brief videos).

This course surveys the core perceptual and cognitive abilities of the human mind and asks how they are implemented in the brain. Key themes include the representations, development, and degree of functional specificity of these components of mind and brain. The course will take students straight to the cutting edge of the field, empowering them to understand and critically evaluate empirical articles in the current literature.

I Have a Dream Speech. Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington, August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

Students will discuss their future career preferences. They will practice how to be persuasive with their speech to achieve something or to be convincing. Students will decide appropriate ways to talk about themselves and their talents in a formal setting.This OER Lancaster Spanish Level 4, Activity 07: El mundo del trabajo / The workplace (Face-To-Face) was remixed by Jill Camargo and as part of the 2024 World Language OER Summer work and training. Educators worked with Chrystal Liu, Nick Ziegler and Dorann Avey to create OER Learning Plans and materials. The attached Lesson/Activity is designed for 9 - 12 World Language Arts teachers for Novice Learners of Spanish. Students will analyze and evaluate the elements of literary text, build background knowledge to clarify text and deepen understanding, and use relevant evidence from a variety of sources to assist in analysis and reflection of complex text. This Lesson Plan addresses the following NDE World Language Standard(s): NE.WL.1.1.D, NE.WL.1.3.D, NE.WL.4.1.D  It is expected that this Lesson Plan will take students 90 minutes to complete

Students will discuss their future career preferences. They will practice how to be persuasive with their speech to achieve something or to be convincing. Students will decide appropriate ways to talk about themselves and their talents in a formal setting.

This inquiry takes students through an analysis and evaluation of the Compelling Question “Is protest important in a democracy?” using the Vietnam War as a lens to approach the topic. To accomplish this, students will become more media literate through evaluating sources, biases, perspectives, and the goals of creating media. Throughout the inquiry, students will engage in activities designed to promote and develop media literacy while analzying the Compelling Question and learning about the historical protests of the Vietnam Era.This inquiry is expected to take two weeks (10 periods) to complete: one 45-minute class period to stage the question, introduce the inquiry, and to review media literacy; two 45-minute class periods for each of the three supporting questions; and then three 45-minute class periods for students to write and research their argumentative thesis. If students are as of yet less familiar with media literacy, the instructor should add at least another class period, or more, introducing them more fully to this.The full unit, along with all materials and resources, is available as a PDF attachment.

This course is about the study of speech sounds; how we produce and perceive them and their acoustic properties. Topics include the influence of the production and perception systems on phonological patterns and sound change, students learn acoustic analysis and experimental techniques. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments.

This course studies the development of bilingualism in human history (from Australopithecus to present day). It focuses on linguistic aspects of bilingualism; models of bilingualism and language acquisition; competence versus performance; effects of bilingualism on other domains of human cognition; brain imaging studies; early versus late bilingualism; opportunities to observe and conduct original research; and implications for educational policies among others. The course is taught in English.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton asked Maya Angelou to write a poem for his inauguration. After Clinton’s inaugural address, Maya Angelou recited her original poem “On the Pulse of Morning.” As the second poet in history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration—Robert Frost was the first when he recited a poem at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961—Angelou captured the attention of the nation. President Clinton called her poem “an eternal gift to America.” This clip from American Masters | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise features part of her performance at the inauguration and provides background about Clinton’s reasons for asking her, her response, and how the poem was received by the public.

In this resource, students explore the role of poetry in American politics, compare Angelou and Frost, and consider how Angelou’s poem reflects the challenges and concerns of the time. Discussion questions, teaching tips, and a student handout push students to engage with Angelou’s words and to think critically about her famous work.

This course explores the theory and practice of scientific modeling in the context of auditory and speech biophysics. Based on seminar-style discussions of the research literature, the class draws on examples from hearing and speech, and explores general, meta-theoretical issues that transcend the particular subject matter. Examples include: What is a model? What is the process of model building? What are the different approaches to modeling? What is the relationship between theory and experiment? How are models tested? What constitutes a good model?

Students will review the parts of speech by following the instructions for this activity.  Students will also learn from each other as they view and listen to what others have created.

Folder of documents includes syllabus, readings, activities, worksheets, and videos.

COCC Catalog’s Course Description: “Emphasizes enhancing the relationship between speaker and audience through the content, organization and delivery of short oral presentations. Helps relieve student speech anxiety.”

Comm111 offers basic instruction in public speaking. The ability to speak successfully in public will benefit your professional, academic, and social life. Much like good writing, good public speaking requires preparation, organization and structure. This course will provide you with the tools for presenting your thoughts and ideas to others, orally, as you practice speaking to your peers. This course will also enable you to become a more discerning consumer of speeches – including political oratory.

Students pick a character from their favorite novel and create a speech telling about themselves and the novel they are in.

“Introduction to Reported Speech” is an ESL lesson plan download aimed at students with advanced proficiency levels. To fully grasp the material, students must be very comfortable with changing verbs between various tenses including the perfect, simple and continuous tenses.If you want additional lesson plans and support, including teachers’ notes, be sure to register for a free Off2Class account.