Have you ever been forced to sit through boring student presentations?  You know what we mean, the kind of presentation where students read their report in a monotone voice. We see this kind of presentation in passionless oral book reports and dull recitations of facts. We know presentations are dull when the other students in the class are bored, and the class is barely able to maintain a polite demeanor as the dull recitations drone on. We also know presentations are dull when we are bored.

In our experience, teachers are more likely to assign oral presentations than they are to teach students how to do presentations. We give students the task, and sometimes a rubric, and expected to give polished presentations. We tell them to use expression, but rarely teach them how to read with expression.

Unfortunately, the assign and present method rarely results in excellent presentations.

We say enough already!

We know students should learn to give effective presentations. Oral presentation skills are included in local, state and national standards. Almost all careers, and most jobs require some form of public speaking. Students can effectively demonstrate their learning through speaking, and if it is done well, they can help others learn.

Many teachers struggle to help students with presentations because they fear public speaking themselves. In some studies, fear of public speaking is the number one fear of the American public. In one study, 41 % of people listed public speaking as their number one fear and 19 percent listed death. We should take note when people are more afraid of public speaking than death!

We can eliminate the fear of public speaking if we teach students the skills for good speaking, give them opportunities to practice in low stress situations, and start by frequently practicing they are young. A high school or college speech class is extremely intimidating if students have had no formal instruction in speaking up until that time. To make matters worse, speech classes are seldom required, so many students don’t even get that training.

Where do students get an opportunity for frequent, low stakes practice in speaking? In the classroom.

Every teacher, not just language arts teachers, have an opportunity to help students become confident speakers. Students can improve their presentations skills in history, science, social studies or math in addition to language arts classes. Subjects such as the arts and languages come alive when students learn and use good presentation skills.

You can take back student presentations by teaching students effective presentation skills.

 Before you begin, establish rules and expectations.

Emphasize that the goal of speaking assignments is practice to help students become effective speakers.

Help students to understand how having good oral presentations skills will be an asset in the future.

Encourage a growth mindset- if students are nervous, explain that they haven’t perfected the skill yet.

Teach students how to be a good audience and set the expectation that they will be polite. Teach them how to ask good questions of the presenter.

Teach students that their role is not just to create the content, but to practice the skills of effective speaking.

Determine an attention getting signal to use to call students back to you for further instruction.

Teach, model and practice the basics of effective speaking.

Project your voice.

Have student practice projecting their voice across the room without shouting. Try it with a whisper. Students will be amazed that they can whisper so loud that others can hear them at a distance. Practice reading a line or two with different volumes. Have students partner up and try speaking at different volumes from different distances. They want to be sure that everyone can hear them.

Practice standing with a confident stance.

Students should be comfortable, but not slouching. They should stand still and can move occasionally, but not sway back and forth. They can take a few steps or move across “the stage” occasionally, which adds interest.

Practice good eye contact.

Good eye contact helps speakers connect with the audience, which means they will be more engaged in your presentation. Students often miss this one. If they are nervous, they will often fail to make eye contact with others.

Teach students to look up and smile at the audience before they begin. This often puts all parties at ease.

Lack of eye contact also occurs when students read their papers or power points word-for-word. Good speakers often share the content with notes rather than reading from a script. Good speaking is more like talking than reading. If students must read, have them write “look up” at various points in the script. Alternatively, have students write highlights from their papers on note cards, choosing the most important or interesting parts.

Pay attention to speaking rate.

Rate is effectively taught by modeling. Try reading something very fast. It is difficult to keep up. Then read something slowly. It becomes boring. Have students practice reading a paragraph with a partner, alternating fast and slow until they come to a happy medium. Advanced students can learn to modulate rate for effect, for example slowing down to build suspense. This will avoid the dreaded monotone.

Teach students to articulate. 

In general, Americans can be sloppy speakers. Teach students to pronounce things carefully. Voice all of the letters, for example say running, rather than runnin.”  Look for other culprits of sloppy speech, “Ta” for “to” and “gonna” instead of going to. Watch out for mumbling.

Use a more formal tone than you might use in every day speech.

Teach students that there is a time and place for slang and sloppy speech, for example when you are with your friends or in informal situations. Public speaking is a time to use more formal pronunciations.We once heard a student presenting to the board of education and he opened by calling them “Dudes.” It was not well received. You don’t want to put off your audience by appearing unprofessional.

Teach students to use facial expressions to add interest. 

If students have a good command of vocal parts of speaking, teach them to add facial expressions, which will increase audience attention. Give students an opportunity to practice facial expressions. Ask students to show disgust, happiness, sadness, nervousness in their faces. Show accusing looks, hopeful looks and embarrassed looks. Students can make a note in their scripts to remind them to use a facial expression.

Teach students to use gestures. 

Using gestures appropriately will also help your audience maintain interest. Students may use their hands or some part of their body to add emphasis to something they say. If they choose to use a gesture, make sure it is a full gesture, done slowly and purposefully. Students often rush a gesture, throwing it away and eliminating effectiveness because it is done too quickly and not completely. Practice gestures by having students say “goodbye” and waving. Too little or gesturing too quickly, and it isn’t effective. Too long and it looks ridiculous.

Students often like to use gestures. If students want to add gestures, they should plan for them and practice them.

Have students write an attention getting opening.

Students want to get the audience’s attention right from the start. “This report is about the role of farmers in 15^th Century China” does not inspire interest.  “Did you know that each and every one of you has something in common with 15^th Century farmers in China?”  Now we are listening.

Have students start with an intriguing question, an interesting fact or a surprising statement. Have them hint at something valuable they are going to share. Tell them to find a way to connect their topic to their audience.  A little time spent here can have a big pay off in terms of audience interest.

With time and practice, students will improve and gain valuable public speaking skills.

Many students have something to say and want to be heard. Others crave attention and relish being in the limelight. Teaching students the basics of speaking will help them to feel comfortable and confident with public speaking.

Developing good public speaking skills will serve them well in many situations in life, from communicating well in relationships to giving a wedding toast to making a presentation in their future careers.

We hope to banish boring speeches from our classrooms.

What about you?

Our best,

 

 

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