English Language Arts · 10th Grade

Active learning ideas

Public Speaking: Non-Verbal Communication

Active learning helps students move beyond abstract understanding of non-verbal cues by putting posture, gestures, and eye contact into deliberate practice right away. When students experience how small shifts in stance or gaze change audience perception, they shift from seeing these behaviors as nerves to seeing them as tools they can control.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.6

• 15–35 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Posture and Perception

Play two 60-second video clips of speakers delivering the same short text: one with open, forward-leaning posture and one with closed, hunched posture. Partners discuss what assumptions they made about each speaker's authority and confidence before noting that the content was identical. Class debriefs on how physical presence shapes perception.

Analyze how a speaker's posture can convey confidence or uncertainty.

Facilitation Tip

During Think-Pair-Share: Posture and Perception, give students exactly 30 seconds of quiet observation time to notice how posture shifts their own feelings about a speaker before they discuss in pairs.

What to look for

Students present a 1-minute persuasive speech. After each presentation, peers use a rubric to rate the speaker on eye contact (e.g., consistent, avoids gaze), posture (e.g., confident, slouched), and gestures (e.g., purposeful, distracting). Peers provide one specific suggestion for improvement.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Role Play
• 35 min · Pairs

Peer Coaching: The Non-Verbal Feedback Protocol

Students deliver a 90-second excerpt of a prepared speech while a partner tracks three specific behaviors on a checklist: eye contact frequency, gesture use, and posture. After the performance, the observer shares only what they observed (not opinions), and together they identify one adjustment to try in a second run.

Evaluate the effectiveness of specific gestures in emphasizing key points.

Facilitation Tip

During Peer Coaching: The Non-Verbal Feedback Protocol, model how to give feedback that starts with what the speaker did well before naming one specific area for improvement.

What to look for

Show short video clips (15-30 seconds) of different speakers. Ask students to write down one observation about the speaker's posture and one observation about their use of gestures, noting whether these elements supported or detracted from the message.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Inquiry Circle
• 30 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Muted Speaker

Groups watch a 2-3 minute clip of a public speech with the volume muted. They note every non-verbal choice they observe and infer what the speaker might be communicating at each moment. After sharing inferences, they watch with sound and compare their non-verbal readings to the actual content.

Design a presentation incorporating strategic non-verbal cues to enhance a message.

Facilitation Tip

During Collaborative Investigation: The Muted Speaker, pause the video at key moments to let students compare the same spoken line delivered with different body language.

What to look for

Students reflect on their own practice presentation. Ask them to identify one non-verbal behavior they consciously used to enhance their message and one non-verbal behavior they want to focus on improving for their next speech.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should treat non-verbal communication as a skill to be practiced in low-stakes settings before students present formally. Avoid overwhelming students with too many cues at once; focus on one element per activity. Research shows that feedback focused on specific behaviors, not general impressions, leads to faster improvement. Keep practice cycles short and repeatable.

Successful learning looks like students intentionally using posture, gestures, and eye contact to reinforce their message rather than relying on words alone. They should be able to identify specific non-verbal choices that make a speaker appear confident or unsure, and adjust their own delivery accordingly.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Think-Pair-Share: Posture and Perception, students may believe that standing very straight feels unnatural and therefore should be avoided.

  During Think-Pair-Share: Posture and Perception, assign pairs to test three postures—slouched, neutral, and confident—and have them rate how each posture affects their own impression of the speaker’s message before discussing which feels most natural to maintain.

• During Peer Coaching: The Non-Verbal Feedback Protocol, students might think gestures should be spontaneous rather than planned.

  During Peer Coaching: The Non-Verbal Feedback Protocol, ask each speaker to point out exactly where in their speech they used a planned gesture, and have peers rate whether it emphasized the intended word or moment.

• During Collaborative Investigation: The Muted Speaker, students may assume that strong content overrides weak body language.

  During Collaborative Investigation: The Muted Speaker, play the same 15-second speech twice, once with strong body language and once with closed posture, and have students write how each version made the speaker seem credible or unsure.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share
• Role Play
• Inquiry Circle