Public Speaking Scoring Rubric

Category Does Not Minimally Fully Meets Exceeds Meet Meets Poise Slouches; leans Rarely looks at Stands tall & Moves on things; does audience; relaxed; expressively; not look at fidgets. engages relaxed audience. audience with demeanour; gestures; makes keeps eye- good eye contact contact. Projection Mumbles Hard to hear Easy to hear Good tenor & timbre. Fluency & Stumbles Reads prepared Good Good Speed frequently; reads speech; too fast. conversational conversational from script. speed; pauses to speed; no consult notes. hesitation. Clarity Barely Broken by Familiar with Easy delivery; intelligible. numerous ums material; clear very and ahs. delivery. understandable. Expression Monotonic Slight Lots of vocal Engagingly expression; expression. expressive. mainly monotonic. Introduction No introduction. Very short Clear intro Full intro to introductory paragraph. topic. paragraph. Content & Scarcely Marginal Provides Provides novel Originality informative. information on information on information on topic. original topic. original topic. Conclusion/ No concluding Brief Full concluding Thought Closing paragraph concluding paragraph provoking paragraph concluding paragraph Time Less than 90 90 – 119 secs. 120-180 secs. secs. & greater than 180 secs. Name: ______

Presenting Your Speech

Believe it or not this part of public speaking is the most important. The judges and your teacher are assessing how you present the speech. The written part is important because the judges and your teacher are checking to see if your ideas are well organized, BUT how you deliver the speech is the MOST important!

Do you get nervous speaking in front of many people? If you do, you aren’t alone! Public speaking is something that even some adults get nervous about. There are some things that you can do to make it easier. It is really important that the audience sees you looking at them A LOT!!!! Here is a little trick. Look at the wall just above the audience’s head. (Not too high, though) They’ll think that you are looking at them, but you can be more relaxed. It might help your nerves to know that the audience is rooting for you. They want you to do well. Also, don’t forget that you have practiced so much and worked so hard. You will do great. Believe in yourself. Sometimes it is helpful to remember that the audience doesn’t know what your speech is supposed to say. Therefore, if you make a mistake no-one will know as long as you keep going and ad lib. When you ad lib you just make something up on the spot until you can remember what you wanted to say. The audience will never know.

During public speaking, you aren’t allowed to use props or actions. Your voice has to do all of the work. Because of that you have to put a different emphasis on some words. Look at some of the sample paragraph again. The words that are written in all uppercase letters are supposed to be read a bit louder and slower. This is so the audience really pays attention to these words and notices them. If parts of your speech are sad, you need to change your voice to show that. If parts of your speech are funny, you need to make your voice show that and if parts of your speech are exciting, your voice should also show that. If the audience laughs during your speech, pause for a moment until they stop laughing before you continue. If you don’t, they may not hear everything that you are saying.

Try not to just read your speech off of your cue cards. It is hard to look at the audience when you are reading. It is also hard to be heard, if you are reading into your cards. If you are able to, memorize what you are going to say. Only glance at your cue cards, if you need to. This is hard to do, but it makes quite a big difference.

Sometimes it helps to practice in front of a mirror. If you get comfortable, ask a trusted adult or one of your friends to listen and give you some feedback. Ask them for suggestions that can help you improve, but also ask them what you did well. If you have a tape recorder, you might want to record yourself doing the speech. That way you can give yourself feedback and think about what you can do to make your speech even better. If you are asked by your class to represent them in the school finals, your teacher may spend some time helping you practice even more as well. Just ask.

Don’t forget to have fun. If you choose a speech that you care about and remember that nobody can expect you to do better than your best, you can have fun. Practicing with your friends and talking to them about your ideas as you write your speech will also make it more fun.

A quick, point form reminder of what is important: . A well written, organized speech . Eye contact- look at the audience or at least trick them into thinking you are . Volume- not too quiet . Pace- not too fast . Length- your speech must fit within the time limit for your grade . Feeling- your voice must show the feelings in your speech . Grab the audience’s attention and keep it . MOST IMPORTANTLY BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!! . Have fun!!!