What Happened When I Made Students "Run the School" in Their Speeches?

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Polish, attention to detail, creative thinking.

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We all want to get our students

there, but how do we do it?

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Welcome back to The Lesson Lab,

the show that equips teachers with

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time saving grading strategies and

meaningful lessons that create a

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lasting impact on teachers and students.

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in the classroom.

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We scaffold these lessons every

week and we run each assignment

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through the gauntlet and reflection.

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The gauntlet is a five question checklist

that ensures we're creating impactful

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lessons and saving time when grading.

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So our five questions are, why

is the assignment important?

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Number two, what are the goals?

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Number three, how does it

save the teacher time grading?

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That's important.

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Number four, how was it fun?

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And number five, how long should

the assignment or project last?

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The assignment that we're running

through the gauntlet today is one of

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my favorites, the inauguration speech.

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So

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the inauguration speech, the origin of

it was just, I want my students to be.

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polished.

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I want them to pay attention to details

and think creatively about the things

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that they would change about school.

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Because most people complain about school.

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And so I go, all right, well, if you could

do something else, what would it be then?

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Then they go, uh, dress code.

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No more tardies.

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So.

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This opens up with a president and a

vice president and the kids are over the

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school like they can run it, you know,

it's not based in reality because I would

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get all of the same stuff all the time.

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So I got to kind of say, all right, if

you wanted to make the school partners

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with NASA and we're creating astronauts,

you know, we're putting everybody on

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that track, then you could do that.

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You know, cause I don't want to

hear all the same dress code,

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school lunch, more pep rallies.

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You get all of the same stuff.

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It'd be about 12 things over six

classes and it will be no fun.

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So why is this assignment important?

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Of course we got to start there.

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Uh, the inauguration speech is made to

push them to be creative, but be formal.

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Everything is completely written.

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There's no freestyling.

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Everything should be planned.

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Also working with your partner

and being mindful of time.

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Cause when you get up and you give a

speech as a, you know, as a president or

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someone in office or giving a campaign,

there's not just unlimited time.

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You can just talk for forever, but

you also can't be too short, right?

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You have a time slot

and you have to make it.

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So paying attention to the details.

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Each step of the way throughout

this project is imperative.

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Now, I've talked about some of these

details in other projects where we have

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our outline, we have our presentation,

and those are still prevalent here.

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So, question two of our

gauntlet are what are the goals?

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Again, polish in detail.

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This project gets them to see

how hard these speeches can be

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if they're not paying attention

to the details like they should.

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So, needless to say, the

lesson works for everyday life.

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Okay, you have to pay attention to to

do dates, you know, to the things that

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you say, the words that you choose.

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So that's a both a long term and a short

term type of goal is that detail and that

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polish and being able to be formal when

necessary because it's not always going

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to be an informal setting or situation.

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So number three is how does it

save the teacher time when grading?

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Now here's where we get

into the weeds a bit.

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So the speech has to be completely

written and And when they practice

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the speech, they either have enough

information to make time, which is

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three minutes and 20 seconds to three

minutes and 40 seconds, or they don't.

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So I don't need to spend time

dissecting their speech because if it

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makes time, it's likely good enough.

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It likely has enough good

elements to be a good speech.

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So this is more of a glance

headed type of grade when they

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start to turn in these outlines.

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And we use the same outline that

I've talked about in previous

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episodes that you can also find on

the Teachers Pay Teachers website.

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So the next part is practice.

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Practice grade is really the same

thing because of how our LMS or

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learning management system is set up.

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I don't have to, and I never will.

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Watch these practice videos.

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They're meant to be practiced.

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So I don't expect them

to even be really good.

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The point of the practice

again is to make them practice.

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So I'll take it for a grade

three to five practice videos.

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Most times I'll do one day.

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I think this time idea two, I'll talk

about that more in a reflection, but

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they're required to submit these videos.

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So I glance at the submissions, make

sure that they have enough, make sure

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that the time doesn't say something

like, One second or 10 seconds.

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Cause you know, students try to get over

as long as the time looks reasonable.

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Uh, we will continue on.

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So as long as they've submitted enough

videos, they'll get a hundred and

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it's on them if they're good or not.

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So we'll see if they're good once we

get to the major grade presentation.

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So, so far outline is like,

all right, let me look at it.

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Okay.

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Looks fine.

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Hundreds.

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Practice videos.

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Okay.

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Let me look at it.

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Uh, we got enough videos.

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We have enough time on those videos.

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Okay.

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100.

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And each person has to submit

everything because, you know,

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when you start to look at these

submissions, you want to make sure

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everybody is accountable for the work.

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So now we get to the presentations.

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And presentations are

always graded pretty hard.

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There's a rubric which is also on

the Teachers Pay Teachers website.

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Just look up Tony Rambo's lesson

lab and you can find those there.

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And I use the same rubric all the time.

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I just change the numbers around as

far as how much is worth how much.

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So in a situation like this, your

voice and your communication clarity is

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worth more than body language because

you're standing behind a podium.

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Now, body language is still

important always, but not as

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much on this specific website.

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So, the students see the rubric

beforehand, if they bother to

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look, so they know what to expect.

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Now, presentations are always an

actually graded situation because,

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you know, we have to evaluate.

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That is the, you know, the biggest part

of what I do in my class where, you know,

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I'm teaching speech and professional

communication and public speaking.

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So lastly, we have our self critiques,

which is a part of the presentation

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rubric and a separate assignment

for reflecting over the process.

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So I have them evaluate

themselves themselves.

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And then I also have them

reflect over the process as a

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whole, the past two weeks or so.

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And those, eh, if it's there a hundred, if

not zero, So, a lot of what I do is kind

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of 100 or 0, and then if they turn it in

late, then you can take off points there.

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But, the biggest part of the grading

is always going to be the presentation.

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Because the proof will be in the pudding.

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If they've done a great outline,

if they've had great practice,

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then their presentation is probably

going to be pretty good too.

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But if their outline sucks, they halfway

did it, their practice is half baked, they

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weren't prepared, then their presentation

is going to be, uh, bad, more than likely.

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So everything will work out in the wash.

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So don't feel like you have

to meticulously grade every

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single piece of the way.

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I just give them the directions and

then offer support and different

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Um, ideas throughout the process,

but from there it's up to them, you

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know, let them be accountable and

let them come up with great stuff.

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So the next question is, how is it fun?

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So I believe that fun comes from

relevance, opportunities to create, share,

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uh, being in groups and a challenge.

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So is it relevant?

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Yes, because it gets them to

evaluate how they see school and

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how they like to make school better.

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Most of the time, these ideas

that they come with come up with

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aren't going to be things that

they can implement in real life.

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But sometimes they can.

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So just being able to evaluate

your surroundings, I think, is

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always going to be relevant.

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Um, they of course get to create,

um, sometimes they come up

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with really, really cool stuff.

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Uh, they also have to come up with

a campaign poster and a slogan

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like, uh, building better schools,

better, uh, building better lives.

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There you go.

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And we fight for your comfort,

swap desks for cozy success.

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That's a couple of examples, which

I'll talk more about in the, in

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the reflection on the next episode.

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Bye.

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So they do get to share

because 100 percent of this

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work is going to be presented.

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So, uh, I don't mind them working

with other pairs to talk about

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ideas and to just kind of brainstorm

because I don't look at any of

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that stuff as, as cheating per se.

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Now, if you just steal somebody's

idea, that's not going to work.

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But if you are brainstorming

together, this is our idea.

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Think about this.

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Think about that.

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Oh, okay.

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What do y'all have?

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Okay.

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Think about this.

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Think about that.

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That's cool.

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I, I agree with that.

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Uh, group size two.

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And then I make this challenging

by saying no to their ideas.

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So they'll come up with something.

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And a lot of time I'm like,

well, what does that lead to?

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How does that build upon each other?

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Cause you know, in a campaign

you have a big idea and then

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you have a plan of action.

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What are the steps that you're going

to take to bring this idea to fruition?

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So a lot of times I'll say, no, that

doesn't really make sense with what you

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want to do or how, how does it make sense?

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How can you bring things together?

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What else can you come up with that's

going to work towards your big vision?

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Um, So make them think more

deeply about what they want to

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do by rejecting their ideas.

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Or at least saying, uh, let's

see if we can add more to this.

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What else can we do with this?

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So if they're too surface level

and they aren't, and they aren't

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cohesive, then I'm just like, nah,

maybe we should go something else.

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I often say our first idea

is not always our best idea.

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So sometimes it takes,

nah, I don't like that.

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In order for them to come up with

the best stuff that they can.

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And of course, sometimes the

first idea is a great idea.

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So we go with it.

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And then the last question

for the gauntlet is how long

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should this assignment be?

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So the outline should take

about two or three days.

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And then the visual aid should be

about one day because of like Canva,

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there's all kinds of templates

and stuff that you can use.

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And then we have our practice,

which is typically one day,

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depending on the timeline.

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I may give them two days because

if, if I'm looking at the practice

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or I'm walking around and so many

people either aren't ready, their

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stuff's late, practice isn't good.

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People are still working.

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What's the point of starting

the presentations the next day?

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If I know they're going to be bad, That's

on me as a teacher to kind of make that

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that decision to make that executive

decision to go One more day because I

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like the work that we're doing progress

just isn't there now as they turn in that

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stuff late It's still late and you can Use

your own discretion as a teacher to take

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points off or not But I'm like, okay as

long as I'm seeing good work in progress

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No wasting time You Then, okay, I'm good.

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We'll keep going.

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Presentations take

about two or three days.

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Uh, my groups, uh, of two, you

know, have thirty ish in the class,

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sometimes less, sometimes more.

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Uh, they should take about two

or three days, and hopefully we

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don't have many people absent, so

we don't have to take another day.

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Which you all know, when you draw

out your curriculum and you got your

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big spreadsheet and you have your,

your scope and sequence, you're like,

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hey, we only got this many days.

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So, try to keep that moving along.

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And then we have one day for reflection.

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So, it's ten questions and then

they only have to answer six.

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You can make your kids answer all of

them or make your students do all of

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them or have less questions, up to you.

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I'll try to put that in my teacher's

pay teacher document as well.

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And then from there, uh, you can

look at making it shorter or longer.

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You can have them, uh, take less time.

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You can have them do more time.

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I know my dual credit classes

do a six minute speech.

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So that just really, uh, makes

them look more into the details,

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uh, accommodations and mods.

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That's always something

that we have to look at.

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So again, you can shorten time,

shorten a number of practice videos.

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Uh, you can have them do just one

plan of action to go with their theme.

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Uh, you can also curve the rubric,

you know, give them more time to

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speak, give them more time to work.

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So accommodations mods as

teachers, that's always something

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that we have to keep in mind.

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But these are some ways that

you can, that you can do it.

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So just depends on the

students needs as always.

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So that is.

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The inauguration speech project, it takes

about two weeks is one of my favorites.

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And we focus a lot on polish attention

to detail, creative thinking.

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I would say those are

the three big things.

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So now before we get out of here,

remember you can get the resources

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from this episode and others on

the Teachers Pay Teachers website.

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Just search Tony Rambles Lesson Lab.

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I also run a Facebook group filled

with fun, supportive teachers called

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Teacher Triumphs, where we help teachers

through classroom burnout together.

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Let's keep the conversation going there.

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You could also post assignment ideas

there to help out other teachers.

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The links will be in the description.

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Until next time, keep teaching,

keep learning, and I will

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see you all on the next one.