Practicing speeches rather than lecture
One of the subjects discussed during the conference had to do with public speaking instructors cutting back on lecture in exchange for more speech practice. As a student/teacher what do think about this approach?
Well in my opinion I think that teachers spend in general enough time. At Stark State College there is a group of people who do tutoring for speech classes. The job of these students is to listen to people’s speeches and help them improve. I think that is the best approach to offer help outside the classroom. JMS
It would depend on the size of the class. Over the years, I’ve had public speaking classes ranging in size from 7 to 27. Obviously, students in smaller classes can get more practice in class than those enrolled in a large section. Personally, the more and varied presentations a student can do in class, the stronger s/he gets. It parallels writing papers. Another option would be to design collaborative activities that have the students engage in the learning process–less instructor lecturing–and make mini-presentations and team presentations.