Week 11: Message Development and Organizational Skills (outline pending)
Week of Mon, Oct 26 · week closes Sun, Nov 1
This week's items
- Week 11 reading — Public Speaking Foundationspoints in Canvas
- Speech Topic Selection (scaffold)points in Canvas
Exact due times are in Canvas.
Read this week
Know these cold
- Identify the three general purposes of public speeches: to inform, to persuade, to entertain.
- Write a specific purpose statement: 'After my speech, the audience will be able to…'
- Explain the difference between a topic, a general purpose, a specific purpose, and a thesis/central idea.
- Describe the three parts of a speech: introduction (attention-getter, relevance, credibility, preview), body (3 main points), conclusion (summary, call-to-action, memorable close).
- Explain the four main organizational patterns: topical, chronological, spatial, problem-solution.
- Define transitions and explain their role in speech coherence.
- Use the Topic Selection scaffold to identify three possible topics for your Informative Speech on the arts.
- Explain why audience analysis matters and how it shapes topic and language choices.
Meerk's quiz — open the Week 11 gate
10 questions, no time limit. 85% on your first attempt in a 24-hour window opens the gate. Retakes inside the window are practice — they help you learn, they don't count. Work alone; the point is to know it, not to have seen it.
Stuck?
Raise your hand. Mr. James gets a message right away and can help you remotely. Nothing else is stored — just your last name, grade, and where you're stuck.
Dinner Table Question
Ask at home: If you had two minutes to convince your family of something important, what would you say first — and why would you start there?
En español: Si tuvieras dos minutos para convencer a tu familia de algo importante, ¿qué dirías primero — y por qué empezarías por ahí?