speech presentation rubric

speech presentation rubric

Developing an Effective Speech Presentation Rubric

1. Introduction to Speech Presentation Rubrics

To mitigate against confusion and anxiety, as well as to be fair and professional, a rubric should be shared with the student prior to the presentation date. A rubric is simply a document that sets out criteria and tells the student what is expected. Rubrics are also an essential tool to communicate the teacher’s goal for the students’ work and to convey to the student what is needed to achieve the standard. Rubrics are commonly used tools in education and often serve as a guide to document student learning outcomes that are publicly shared with accrediting organizations, students, and other stakeholders.

The most critically important expectation of student presentations is for the student to be able to convey the information in a comprehensive, thoughtful, and persuasive way. To aid in student success, the assignment to present information should also be accompanied by a clear understanding of the presentation requirements. Although the assignment may seem straightforward, each teacher has his/her own standards for the quality of the student presentation.

A popularized approach that crosses instructional levels is to give students the assignment to present information to the class. The presentation can be of many different types, including a speech, a demonstration, or a PowerPoint presentation. Additionally, the presentation topic may run the gamut from a demonstration of a topic in science, a book report, or a detailed study of a political candidate or issue.

Public speaking is an essential life skill for people of any age and a necessary skill for citizen engagement in a democracy. Public speaking is especially important in an academic setting where it provides an opportunity for students to critically evaluate and synthesize new information and relay it to an audience in a meaningful way. Formally in K-12 education, public speaking is integrated into the curriculum starting as early as kindergarten through college-level studies.

2. Key Components of a Speech Presentation Rubric

There are a few key components of a speech rubric: – An introduction that frames your lesson. – A lesson, in which you classify and discuss the characteristics of the key elements of a successful speech presentation. – A step-by-step process for developing and using a speech rubric. – Examples of what an unacceptable, acceptable, and outstanding presentation of a certain trait could look like. This is to guide your students and to give form to your verbal and written instructions in class. – A conclusion section that suggests how you can differentiate the complexity of your rubrics and/or modify the standards (the items being evaluated) should you have students with special needs.

An effective speech rubric provides criteria by which students’ speeches are evaluated. It can help students to prepare themselves to do better in class and can motivate your top students to work even harder. It’s a chance for your students to see that you have high standards. Above all, it’s a way to document for the school, district, and administration that you indeed have high standards and hold your students accountable to the highest level.

3. Designing and Implementing a Speech Presentation Rubric

Given the substantial evidence on using a rubric that provides succinct scoring descriptions, strict is likely to lead to better responses. Examples of speech presentation rubrics and assessments that instructors use in the classroom would be the TED-talk rubric, Elevator pitch assessment, or different mini-assessments from various well-known and well-curated online FAQs across different levels of topics inside of speech education, such as communication theory, speech communication, small group communication, and organizational communication. These standard speech presentations can then be applied to students in business communication, organizational communication, public relations, and corporate communication in the corporate educational sectors. Because individual students and school projects warrant different grades in their annual work, findings may vary while keeping consistency in various expectations that align individual student grades across different courses taught by the same school.

Once instructors are aware and equipped to teach their students to develop on-point, descriptive speech presentations using a sound content structure, the next step is to use a speech presentation rubric as feedback. Rubrics are scoring guides that describe the content during various stages of production and provide feedback to support evaluations and revisions. Although many types of rubrics can assist students in their performances, achieving higher cognitive and affective skills occur through the interaction between the attributes of the task and the categories in the rubric. However, to be effective, a good rubric ensures that the criteria are specified, and the grade book rubric allows the students to use that criteria to understand the relative grading of some portions, based on how the criteria apply to judge the speech reaction of various individuals.

4. Assessment and Feedback Strategies for Speech Presentation Rubrics

Our rubric has two main components: (a) language, content, and delivery and (b) presentation context. This approach is designed to assist communication instructors by utilizing an outline of expectations to develop additional or alternate criteria for evaluation. Effective delivery of a message involves all aspects of interaction between a speaker and their audience. An increased emphasis on self-performance and an expanded criterion list for instructor and audience evaluation are hoped to provide the support needed to help students improve and confidently share their professional development with others.

Assessment of student speeches plays an invaluable role in teaching presentation skills effectively. When students are assessed in an anonymous manner, audience members are less inclined to be attentive and provide thoughtful feedback. One strategy for engaging all audience members and providing some level of feedback involves providing the class with a rubric. Presentation rubrics possess several advantages including: (a) providing access to a feedback list intended to enable the speaker to self-assess and refine their presentation and delivery skills, (b) simplifying audience feedback as each member can list one positive element of a speech and one change for improvement, and (c) increasing the likelihood that students will thoughtfully engage with the speaker. The increased involvement of the entire class is valuable for speaker learning outcomes.

5. Case Studies and Best Practices in Using Speech Presentation Rubrics

The evaluative criteria on these speech presentation rubrics encompass numerous factors such as the structure and content of the speech, the competence of the speaker, the organizing of relevant research, and a professional follow-through during the course of the presentation. These five speech presentation rubrics focus on five real programs at unique educational institutions. Using these institution-specified rubrics, student success was positive during the tenure of the related communication or composition courses. Also, context issues for such rubrics were addressed. The chapters in this work share lessons learned on how to improve speech presentation rubrics and prepare students for ever-changing communication world. However, improving speech presentation rubrics can bring about more effective classroom outcomes, winning additional support for their use.

This chapter provides a description of potential areas of opportunity where speech presentation rubrics can be employed in the public speaking, composition, and communication studies fields. The rubrics may also be compatible with a variety of student and instructor audiences. The chapter concludes with a list of best practices to enable more effective use of speech presentation rubrics. Primarily, a one-size rubric does not suit everyone. Instructors should adapt and adjust a speech presentation rubric to their unique needs and abilities. For the novice user or reader of the chapter, sample rubrics for use are provided to serve as thought starters for students, instructors, and administrators in their quest for evaluating student speech performance.