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Lorin Heaton

American Rhetoric - http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ - 2 views

copyright-free historical_speeches movie_speech_clips higher_education_audio_resources k-12_audio_resources transcribed_speeches American_rhetoric communications public_speaking history

started by Lorin Heaton on 28 Mar 14
  • Lorin Heaton
    #1 Lorin Heaton on 28 Mar 14
     
    This site functions as a repository for text, audio, and video speeches from present and historical eras. The information presented would be helpful in both the k-12 and higher education environments across a variety of subject areas. In particular, I could see this site being used in a Public Speaking or American History course in the following way:
    *Public Speaking - Students are required to find and analyze a speech on American Rhetoric which exemplifies one of the types of speeches covered in the course (i.e. argumentative, persuasive, etc). Students will be required to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the speech as described in their readings.
    *American History - Students are required to find and analyze a historical speech and reflect on the historical relevance, speaker's/audience's views and opinions of the subject matter as it pertains to the historical context, and the overall impact of such a speech as it was presented in its original era.

    The majority of resources provided on this site are in the public domain and may be used freely by any interested party; however portions of the site are copyrighted by American Rhetoric or private holders. Pages copyrighted by American Rhetoric specifically may be used freely for educational purposes and do not require additional permissions to be obtained. Some content which is copyrighted by private holders may require additional permissions to be requested by the original owner prior to use. All materials which are not under the public domain will contain copyright information at the bottom of the individual page in question.

    Overall, this site attempts to organize speeches into relevant categories; however navigation and search capabilities may present an obstacle for some younger and/or inexperienced users. There are multiple speech categories which house similar speakers and subjects but are presented separately on the site homepage. Additionally, the search functionality is available but would not compete for students' attention as compared to the more flashy and grandiose text and graphics presented elsewhere on the homepage. To mitigate this issue, I would provide a brief instructional document to students to help better direct their attention and research. This document would encourage students to bypass links and graphics on the homepage and instead navigate directly to the "SITE SEARCH" option as their primary guide for the site. Despite these navigational shortfalls, the resources on this site maintain a high quality and are presented in a way that is consistent with the recording capabilities of the decade in which they were chronicled (appearance of color, audio clarity, etc.) . Each speech is paired with a corresponding transcript and in many cases a relevant image is included to enhance the historical context of the speech being presented. This is an audio and video repository that I hope to use in the future and would recommend to other educators.

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