These are resources for you to choose from when working on oral presentations for class. Students are required to present one (two to three minute) oral presentation on assessment day as well as complete peer assessments for oral presentations given by other students. Visuals and multimedia presentations are encouraged. Research and study your subject so that you create a presentation which enables you to feel confident. Practice in front of family and friends to polish speaking skills.

1) Textbook "Choices and Challenges" section – Complete one of these activities for your presentation. (See page 36 Writing Options #2.) Write your presentation and/or speaking notes for your presentation and be sure to follow the time restriction of two to three minutes.

2) Communication Handbook in textbook – The Speaking and Listening section of the handbook (pages 1174-1178) provides resources and skills for oral presentations and listening/critiquing skills.

3) Historical Research – Since literature relies heavily on history, research a relevant historical topic. Present how/why this history is important in understanding the literature selection. For example, research an aspect of the Great Depression and relate your findings to the story "Marigolds."

4) Become a Character – Present "your" views, insights, and thoughts to the audience as a character from a reading selection.

5) Literary Term/Skill – Explain how a literary device is used in the literature. Create a list, chart, illustration, etc. to show how the author develops this device.

6) Debate- Student should take one point of view, research that view, and argue that view persuasively

7) Dramatic reading- Student will read a work while using voice and facial expressions to convey emotions.

8) Games- Create a board or computer game to represent themes or plots of a story.

9) Imaginary conversation/Improvised dialogue- Create a conversation between two authors or between two characters within a work.

10) Interior monologue- From a character’s traits and context clues, create a monologue that reveals that character’s inner workings of his mind.

11) Journalist’s meeting- Students act as editors and reporters, role-play a staff meeting for a sensational tabloid newspaper, discuss covering an author, theme, plot, etc. of a work.

12) Mock Trial- Students will decide on an accusation from the selected reading, take on the roles of prosecutor, defense attorney, plaintiff, defendant, and judge, prepare questions for both sides of the case, conduct a trial while the rest of the class acts as the jury.

13) Movies- READ a work, then view the film of that work. Acting does not always explain what is going on inside the characters’ minds. Not all movies are true to the original work.

14) Multimedia presentation- Use Powerpoint, overhead projector, slide machine, videos, audio tapes to present something which focuses on literature, literary elements or a related theme.

15) Music- Add musical accompaniment to an oral reading; using an original or borrowed song, create a ballad from a selected reading; set a sonnet to music; create recording of background music from an instrumental work (or excerpts from several pieces) that complement the mood of the work read aloud

16) Opinion poll- Student will ask ten or more participants to complete a sentence, answer a question, comment on a work, etc. and record the responses in writing, video or audio tape.

17) Oral interpretation- Read aloud and compare/contrast different poems and/or works within a literary period (example: Walt Whitman & Henry David Thoreau)

18) Oral retelling- Student will simplify details and language of a work to suit an audience of younger children, go to a library or an elementary school, and tell the "new" story.

19) Performance presentation- Student will perform or recreate a scene from a work; include analyzing, planning, delivering, and evaluating performance.

20) Personal Interview- Student will prepare by researching background information and making a list of questions, participating as an interactive, respectful listener, summarizing notes immediately following the interview, and sending a thank-you note to the person interviewed.

21) Poems- Students should always read poetry aloud.

22) Radio play- Rewrite a scene from a work, relying heavily on dialogue and sound effects, including descriptive passages for a narrator.

23) Role-playing- Assume a different point of view from the one taken in the work and role-play how the work would be different; role-play the author’s or character’s answers from an interview; role-play a counseling session with a character within a work; role-play a conversation between two characters.

24) Socratic discussion- Choose a few questions of issue from themes, characters, plot, etc. from a work. Students will express thoughts on these issues by supporting details from the work.

25) Soliloquy- Memorize a famous soliloquy and perform; paraphrase a soliloquy into modern language and read aloud.

26) Soundtrack - Using sound effects, voices, and passages from recordings, create a soundtrack that captures the mood of a work.

27) Speech- Memorize or read aloud a famous speech; write and deliver a speech from an author’s point of view; write and deliver a speech in which you nominate an author or character for an award.

28) Survey- Conduct a class survey using a reasoned judgment question, tabulate the results, and discuss why people responded as they did.

29) Telephone conversation- Act out a modern telephone conversation in which one character tries to persuade another character to do something different than he did in the selected reading.

30) Town meeting- Pretend you are in the historical period of the selected reading, appoint a moderator and record keeper, as well as character types from this period, discuss problems and proposed solutions.

31) TV or radio talk-show- Student will use props, interview literary guests.

Please do not deliver a simple summary of the literature for monthly oral presentations.