Practice for Public Speaking
When I was in school, I was required to give presentations but was rarely given time to practice public speaking.
So here’s how my speaking drill lesson goes.
- Identify / Re-list speaking skills. I use the skills identified in Holt’s Elements of Language.
- Students Identify Goals in Writing – Based on skills that are identified, past lessons and feedback, or past experiences.
- Digital Projector Slide Show – I collect ten slides and project them without label. Students use this to generate topics and opinion statements. Over time, I invite students to begin collecting these images.
- Preparation Time. Tell students how much time they need to speak and how much time they have to prepare.
- Speeches. I usually ask 9s to speak for one minute at first, working with just a hook, an introduction, one argument, a conclusion, and call to action. I also use time signals.
- Feedback is immediate. This can be done through self reflection, peer coaching, or teacher feedback. I once sat in the seat of the student that was speaking and wrote feedback in their notebook.
The biggest improvements that I have seen are that students tend to look less at the slide, they tend to produce better summative presentations, and their topics and opinions become more interesting given practice.
