Sophomore Final Exam

Sophomore Final Exam Assessment- Level 2
Persuasive Presentation

This assignment is worth 40% of your mark

What will you do?

• You will deliver a 4 .5  minute no more than 5 minute persuasive presentation
• Choose a topic or issue
• You will try to persuade your audience to agree with you
• You must use at least one visual aid or prop.

What should you focus on?

• Choosing a topic or issue that you have an opinion about and that you think is important and/or interesting to your classmates
• Clearly organizing your argument  to ensure clarity and persuasiveness
• Speaking loudly and clearly with proper pronunciation and in grammatically correct sentences
• Focus on your classmates as they give their presentations and think of (make a note of) good questions to ask
• Be prepared

• VERY IMPORTANT: Remember you are not just a presenter—you also need to be a good audience member who listens to and supports your classmates while they are doing their presentations.  To encourage active listening and engagement while others are speaking you are able to gain bonus points!

After each presentation you may be called upon to ask a question about the presentation.  If you are prepared to do so when you are called upon, then you will earn 2 bonus points per question asked. Notice there is a place for bonus points on the rubric!!!

Remember—this is a speaking activity, so make sure you focus on speaking and not reading!

Persuasive Presentation Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1-0
Story message/ organization	Clearly defined introduction, body and conclusion with main points, focus points, transitions and sequencers.	Very good attempt at organization. Some more organizational elements required.	Some original elements present. More were needed.	Lack of structure. Many or all of the required organizational elements absent.
Content	Presentation focused on a topic and described the issue thoroughly with examples and evidence	Presentation focused on a topic and described the issue somewhat with examples and evidence	Presentation somewhat focused on a topic and did not give good examples and evidence	Presentation did not remain focused on a topic and needed more examples and evidence
Dead Air	There is no "dead air" during the presentation.	There are no more than 10-15 seconds of "dead air".	There are no more than 15-20 seconds of "dead air".	There are long periods of silence, with more than 20 seconds of "dead air"
Visual aid	Uses visual aid/prop that shows considerable work/creativity and which makes the presentation better.	Uses visual aid that shows thought and consideration for the presentation and makes the presentation better.	Uses a visual aid, however the visual aid does not really add anything to make the presentation better.	Did not use a visual aid.
Conclusion	Signals end of the presentation in an interesting creative manner.	Signals end of presentation in an interesting way.	Signals end of presentation in a usual manner as ”thank you for listening"	Does not signal end of presentation.
Voice	Always speaks loudly, slowly and clearly. Is easily understood by all audience members all the time	Usually speaks loudly, slowly and clearly. Is easily understood by all audience members almost all the time.	Usually speaks loudly and clearly. Speaks so fast sometimes that audience has trouble understanding.	Speaks too softly or mumbles. The audience often has trouble understanding.
Physical message	The student uses voice inflection, facial expressions and gestures to make the presentation interesting and more easily understood.	The student often uses voice inflection, facial expressions and gestures to make the presentation interesting and more easily understood.	The student tries to use voice inflection, facial expressions and gestures to make the presentation interesting and more easily understood.	The student does the demonstration but does not use voice inflection, facial expressions or gestures to make the presentation more interesting or clear.
Preparedness	Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed. No reading.	Students seems very prepared but could have used a few more rehearsals. Did not read.	Student is somewhat prepared, but it is obvious that rehearsal was lacking. Read about 10% of the time.	Student does not seem at all prepared, or read more than 10% of the time.
Time limit	Presentation was 100% of time...did not go over limit.	Presentation was80 % of time.	Presentation was 60 % of time.	Presentation was less 60 % of time.

**Bonus points:  # number of questions asked __________X2= __________

List of possible topics

http://persuasivespeechideas.org/100-good-persuasive-speech-topics/