Practice Matters: Motivating Students to Rehearse

Submitted by Michele Valdovinos on
Duration
-
What is the Purpose of the Assessment?

Students are not actively engaged in the group rehearsal activity that precedes their in-class speech.

Describe the necessity for this assessment

As part of a public speaking assignment, students are asked to rehearse their presentation.  Many do not engage in the process or they don't use this practice time effectively.

Describe how the practice will be implemented

To improve this part of the lesson plan, the rehearsal was broken down into several occasions rather than just one.  In addition, students rehearsed small sections of the presentation to optimize each individual component of the speech.

Interpret, compare, and describe the results

I was able to compare and contrast metrics for previous students both in terms of their presentation scores as well as their self-described anxiety measurement to determine if engagement in the rehearsal activity optimizes performance. The redesigned approach had significant impact in two ways: 1) students exhibited decreased public speaking anxiety as measured by the PRPSA 2) students mastered their content with improved rubric scores than previous cohorts.

After analyzing, and reflecting on the outcome, what are the next steps?

I will implement this new approach in all lesson plans that include public speaking assignments.

Abstract

As a Communications instructor I stress the importance of public speaking skills in many of my courses.  To aid students in optimizing their speech presentations, I include class time for small group rehearsal.  After a dozen semesters teaching communications I have observed that many students do not engage in the rehearsal activity or they use the dedicated time ineffectively.  To optimize the process and motivate students to practice their speeches, I changed the lesson plan in two ways: 1) conduct more than one rehearsal activity for shorter periods of time and 2) break down the components of the presentation and have them rehearse each one individually before a summative rehearsal. The redesigned approach had significant impact in two ways: 1) students exhibited decreased public speaking anxiety as measured by the PRPSA 2) students mastered their content with improved rubric scores than previous cohorts.

Completed Full Cycle
Yes
Course Number
Com225
Rating
Average: 3.3 (12 votes)

Comments

Becky Baranowski Tue, 11/10/2020 - 10:45am

Michele - thanks so much for documenting what you are doing to support our students.  This is great that you are giving students smaller chunks to do the practice.  There is a lot of research that shows assessing more often to give students more opportunities to learn and grow is a highly recommended thing to do.  Thank you so much for documenting this.  I hope to learn more about what you are doing in the classroom to improve teaching and learning.  

Catherine Cochran Wed, 01/13/2021 - 8:46am

Happy New Year Michele!

I love how you are helping your students overcome anxiety while they are practicing their speeches. This is a creative and very helpful way to improve their presentation skills.

Great job!

Catherine