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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Famous Speeches and the Art of Persuasion

For Teachers All
Students can learn speech writing skills and analyze famous speeches with these activities.
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Interactive
Teaching American History

A Word Fitly Spoken: Lincoln's Most Famous Speeches on Union

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
Abraham Lincoln's words carried American democracy through one of its most tenuous and violent moments in the nation's short history. Explore an interactive timeline that places events of the 19th century in the context of Lincoln's...
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Unit Plan
ReadWriteThink

Analyzing Famous Speeches as Arguments

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A speaker, a message, an audience. After analyzing these elements in Queen Elizabeth's speech to the troops at Tilbury, groups analyze how other speakers use an awareness of events, and their audience to craft their arguments....
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Writing
2
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K12 Reader

MLK: Complete the Speech

For Students 3rd - 8th
Take a close look at a few paragraphs of Martin Luther King, Jr.s' famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Class members fill in the missing words using the bank of words provided and then respond to a question about the speech and modern day...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Civil War: A Nation Divided

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Discuss the differences between the North and the South and how those differences led to the Civil War. Middle schoolers examine and analyze a famous speech or writing by President Lincoln in order to better understand the speaker's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gaining Perspective

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Discuss race in the United States. Start by having each learner read a copy of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Then, have them read the article "Shared Prayers, Mixed Blessings" about a church in Atlanta,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding JFK's Presidency through his Speeches

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students reflect and discuss the major events that happened in the United States in the 1950's and 1960's.  In this U.S. History lesson plan, students read and analyze the famous speeches during this time frame, then complete a worksheet...
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Activity
Curated OER

Express Yourself Lesson Seed 14: Dedication

For Teachers 6th Standards
Connect Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream," to The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Taylor refers to the speech in his dedication, which creates a natural segue into talking about the speech and how it relates to the novel....
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Worksheet
Polk Bros Foundation

Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address

For Students 9th - 12th
Thursday, November 19, 1863. The dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA. The Gettysburg Address. The full text of Lincoln’s famous speech is here for your class members to examine, to research, or to replicate....
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

“Read All About It”: Primary Source Reading in “Chronicling America”

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore Roosevelt's...
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Lesson Plan
Shakespeare Uncovered

Merely Players

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
“. . . one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages.” Jaques famous speech from Act II, scene vii of As you Like It sets the stage for an examination of the roles people play. Class members not only consider the roles...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1863: Shifting Tides

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The victory at Gettysburg is forever immortalized in the famous speech given by Present Abraham Lincoln. Designed for secondary pupils, an interesting lesson plan explains how 1863 was a pivotal year for the Union. Academics explore the...
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Activity
Shell Education

A Tribute To Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
How much do your learners know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Set up an opportunity for kids to learn about Dr. King while practicing reading fluency with a reader's theater activity. The script is for four voices and includes...
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Lesson Plan
Civil War Trust

Gettysburg Address

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
The Gettysburg Address may have been four score and seven years ago, but its message is still as relevant today. Young historians explore the context of the famous speech, as well as its central theme and argument, before discussing the...
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Unit Plan
National Center for Families Learning

The Summer Fun Summer Learning Dramatic and Story Reading Unit

For Teachers 1st - 8th Standards
What's the difference between story reading and story telling? Participants in a summer enrichment program learn all about the difference as they listen to famous speeches, engage in dramatic readings, and craft their own short stories...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding Connotation

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," which is available online, is used in the language lesson presented here. Middle schoolers read through the text for comprehension. Then, they reread the first paragraph and identify all the words with...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Speech in the Virginia Convention

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream"

For Teachers 10th
Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech provides the text for a study of how to analyze a speaker’s content, delivery and attitude. Visual learners identify specific lines that reveal King’s purpose and point of view while...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Famous Speech

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the rules of direct/indirect narration. They identify and use proper punctuation marks in a given write-up and change the narration according to the rules.
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Interactive
1
1
The New York Times

Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
One of the reasons presidential inaugural speeches are so inspiring is the way word choice reflects the historical context of the time. An interactive timeline invites learners to click on their president of choice and view the most...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Leadership and Impact of Booker T. Washington

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders explore the life and leadership of Booker T. Washington. In this Booker T. Washington lesson, 12th graders examine images of Washington, listen to audio of his voice, and his most famous speech. Students wrote responses...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Study Skills-Note Taking

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners use a note card to record a direct quotation from a collection of famous speeches. The top right-hand corner should contain the name of the speaker, and the top left-hand corner should contain the name of the speech.
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death: The Journey to Revolution

For Teachers 8th Standards
The words of "Common Sense" and Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech ring throughout history. Scholars explore the nuances of each patriot's argument using excerpts from the famous pamphlet and speech and a recorded...
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Activity
1
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Pearl Harbor Activity #2: Why Do Words Matter?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Words matter! That's the big idea behind an activity that asks scholars to replace words in FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech with synonyms. They then listen to a recording of President Roosevelt's address and compare his version to their own.

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