Speech Makers

Across the country today, children and young adults are taking a stand for causes that they believe in. Young people like Greta Thunberg, David Hogg, and Emma Gonzalez are now household names for their activism and powerful speeches. They have become symbols of hope and change with the ability to make a profound difference through their honest, passionate words. Project LEAD’s Speech Makers curriculum brings the skills and practical experience of making and giving speeches to all children, preparing them to also stand for the causes that they believe in as they grow into the LEADers of the future.

Through exciting, experiential games and workshops, Project LEAD’s Speech Makers curriculum provides students with the opportunity to explore age appropriate topics that inspire them while simultaneously practicing new skills and engagement strategies. Students learn how to incorporate imagery, similes, metaphors, anecdotal stories, and repetition into their rhetoric in order to effectively engage an audience. They explore the ins and outs of writing a speech with a strategic structure to include a grabber, a specific message, a theme, and a call to action. An essential part of this curriculum incorporates warming up for speech with exercises including breathing, projection, enunciation, and diction techniques.

Project LEAD’s Speech Makers features a different historically notable orator at the top of each lesson to set the tone for the class, spark inspiration, and give students material to practice new skills with. By the end of each lesson, students will have developed a mini-speech to practice for their peers, providing ample opportunities to develop a comfort level speaking in front of an audience. Speech Makers culminates in the exciting Project LEAD Speech Symposium, where each student can choose their favorite works to present for an audience of peers, family, and friends.

By the end of the Speech Makers curriculum students will have gained essential Language Arts and communication skills, while also developing a sense of confidence in themselves as LEADers. By seeing themselves as capable of using their voices to create change, they are one step closer to being able to take a stand for the causes that they care about in school and beyond.

Current Phase Of Speech Makers Curriculum Development

Speech Makers Curriculum Package Options

Weekly Curriculum

Day Camp Curriculum

Common Core State Standards