Skip to main content

Speech, Debate and Communications

 


Students will learn the fundamentals of spoken communication in this two semester course.  The  focus will be threefold: study, theory and application.

The “Study” component will focus on the greatest speeches and debates in history, from the “Apology” of Socrates to “I Have a Dream” and beyond.  These famous speeches and debates will be analyzed from the perspective of argumentation, structure and rhetorical devices, forming the theoretical basis for in-class application.

The “Application” of what we learn will consist of several speeches and debates that will be conducted live in class.  Students will present individual speeches and will engage in two-person debates.  Students will be coached in how to avoid common errors, such as saying “like” as a filler word, how to speak extemporaneously when called upon (particularly in an oral exam) and how to be effective and engaging when addressing an audience.

FALL: 13 Sessions - Tuesdays at 8:00 am Pacific; 9:00 am Mountain; 10:00 am Central; 11:00 am Eastern from Sept. 10 to Dec. 10, 2024, with no meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving Break.

SPRING: 13 Sessions - Tuesdays at 8:00 am Pacific; 9:00 am Mountain; 10:00 am Central; 11:00 am Eastern from Jan. 14 to April 15, 2025, with no meeting on Tuesday, March 11 for Spring Break.

Age Range: High School

Popular posts from this blog

About Me

I'm  Kevin O'Brien! I am a creative and passionate online teacher. Here are a few things about me ... Professional Actor and Comedian Many years ago, I made a living as a stand-up comedian.  I also owned my own singing telegram company and performed over 2,000 singing telegrams in the St. Louis metro area. In 1991, I performed at military bases around the world with an Old Fashioned Comedy Melodrama that I wrote and produced, on a USO-style tour. Since 1989, I have been producing and performing in my own interactive murder mystery dinner theater shows.  I appear in about 150 live performances a year, at venues such as mansions, wineries and dinner trains.  I write all of the scripts and we perform a different script every month! Click on the photo below to visit my murder mystery website. To get a better idea of the kind of shows we do, check out the promo video I put together for George R. R. Martin, who hired us to perform murder mysteries on his train in New Mexico.  I'v
Read more

Live Courses 2024-2025

Here are the live courses I'll be teaching online Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.  I'll be adding links as more info become available! Adventures in Writing  - Grades 6 & 7 Speech, Debate and Communications  - High School Drama and the Human Spirit - Middle School and High School Dystopias in Fact and Fiction  - High School Symbolism, Allegory and Imagery - High School
Read more

Rave Reviews!

"I cannot tell you what a difference your class has made this semester for [my daughter]. She came downstairs the other day and said, 'I'm so sad that Mr. O'Brien's class is over.'  This semester I watched some of your classes with [my daughter] because she'd say, 'Mom, you're going to love this!  Pull up a chair!' You are an outstanding teacher ... We are so grateful for your impact on my daughter's life,"  "We love Mr. O'Brien!! Our son is really enjoying his class this semester. Thank you so much!"  You are so very real and down to earth, so spontaneous. You're not afraid to just be who you are. You are alive and that's what your students love. Of course you can throw in a great sense of humor and intelligence to boot. Thank you for drawing all your friends more deeply into the mysteries of life. We can't help but think about the deeper things, the most important things in life...you lead us
Read more