In this course, students will get weekly video lectures and tips on how to perfect their voice as a public speaker. They will in turn take the weekly topic, turn it into a speech of their choosing, and submit it to the class for peer critique and feedback. Students will also be exposed to a variety of speeches that demonstrate unique topics covered by other strong speakers to give samples of successful speech-making. Ultimately, this course will not only help students face their fears of public speaking and give them tools to strengthen their voice as a speaker, but it will inspire them to grab the microphone and share their voice with the world. A detailed description of how the students will interact with myself and their classmates each week is below:

~Class Outline~
Week 1: Body language and poise while on stage (a speech is more than just words). 
*Video Challenge: An obstacle you've overcome.

Week 2: "Ums" and "likes"... slowing down your nerves to speak calmly, methodically, and enhance your vocabulary. 
*Video Challenge: What you want to be after you graduate, and what steps you are taking to get there (a plan to action).

Week 3: Adding "umph" to your voice: incorporating passion and energy into your speeches. 
*Video Challenge: Making a change in the world.

Week 4: Engaging your audience and responding to questions on the spot. 
*Video Challenge: Interview skills

While this is a flexible schedule class, it aims to still be interactive with myself and the other students. Each week, students will begin by watching my video lecture on the topic. This will explain the weekly focus as well as explain the video challenge they are to complete. Students will have a variety of links to read and watch clips from in order to further analyze the week's focus in their own time. Once learners are ready, they will make a recording of their speech in order to submit the weekly video challenge. Afterwards, there will be a variety of ways to keep interacting with myself and other students to get feedback and critiques on their speeches: there will be a reflection form for each student to fill out on their own video; there will be a feedback poll for students to take in the classroom so students can compare their own experience to what other students experienced as well, building community engagement and understanding; there will be a weekly quiz for students to assess what they have learned during the week's public speaking focus; lastly, there will be a discussion board to encourage insightful and meaningful discussion among students, also offering an opportunity for students to peer-critique fellow learner's videos with what is working well along with what next steps should be. After all, the students in this class share a similar goal, and it's important to build those communication and community involvement skills. One team, one dream! 

I will check in daily to the classroom chat and discussion board to help facilitate the conversation, but it is expected that students participate throughout the week as well following this tentative format:

~Weekly Format~
Monday: View weekly video challenge and lecture
Tuesday: Read links, watch video clips, and practice writing/recording your speech
Wednesday: Submit written speech, upload video recording, and complete reflection
Thursday: Complete feedback poll and quizzes
Friday: Finish student critiques and respond to discussion questions