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I dreaded them, but I also wish I had been properly taught public speaking at a young age. My school was basically like "hey, do a history report on this and then stand up here and present it". We had no public speaking classes, debate classes, etc. Most people I know didn't get an actual public speaking class until college, it should be done way earlier in a students career.
I dreaded them, but I also wish I had been properly taught public speaking at a young age. My school was basically like "hey, do a history report on this and then stand up here and present it". We had no public speaking classes, debate classes, etc. Most people I know didn't get an actual public speaking class until college, it should be done way earlier in a students career.
I totally agree with your point. The difficulty is that they are "left alone " until HS and they are asked too late in life to prepare presentations and other projects. It is a little late to start as they are over 15yo. Another issue is the fact that they are all used to stay on their phones, not being criticized by them, not made to feel bad no matter what. Now that is something we have to work on too. You ask them to read from their phones or about other people and all is good, you ask them to become personal and express an opinion and we have a problem. Is the fear of being judged, is the fear of not showing the others that they do not have an opinion and if they have one they do not know how to express it. They use the phones to express sadness, to send an emojy, in fact the emojy is expressing a smile, not them. And yes, they are not introverts but the system is allowing them to become it. We need to see the whole picture. And we need to teach the teachers not to judge our kids. But hey, they do not learn that in their curriculum: to be indulgent and to care.
I had a student in a language class once, who asked me not to call on her in class, because it raised her anxiety. Well, needless to say, this was a unique request; I've never heard that one before. So I asked her in all seriousness, trying to be flexible, what she might suggest, in terms of alternatives for demonstrating to me that she was learning the material. Crickets. Sure, there were work sheets I'd give out as homework, for practicing grammar concepts, but still, in a language class, you need to be able to demonstrate some verbal competency, at least minimally. You need to show that you're absorbing the material you're working out on the worksheets.
She dropped the class. I'm like-- . IIRC, she was also in another language class, which she didn't drop. Go figure.
School is about learning new stuff, and demonstrating your knowledge. IDK, kids; I don't really see a way around "performing" in class, if you want a passing grade.
But if she had a diagnosed anxiety disorder that was registered with the school, you would have been required to make reasonable accommodations for her classwork as part of the ADA.
Then give them a class, give them the tools they need to learn how to make presentations and let them sink or swim in that class. But to give bad grades in other classes because they don't know how or don't cope well with giving oral presentations they haven't even been taught how to properly do is unfair. And I don't care if the world is an unfair place, it doesn't mean we shouldn't work to change that.
There are classes on public speaking. If they're not in their school than you can find classes(many are free) just on this subject.
You see when you're unhappy about a situation, look for a solution, not just whine about it. That's the problem today everyone is a victim, oh poor me.
Are you serious with the bolded part? Ever hear of the Civil Rights Movement? Just one example.
Young people(mostly white) known as "The Freedom Riders" boarded buses in the 60s in the north and went down south, putting themselves in great harm.
You see this generation doing anything like that? No, it's all about them. I would bet most if you asked about the Civil Rights Movement and the Freedom Riders would give you a blank look.
Unless they are terribly nervous. Not about their topic, which they might be well schooled in, but presenting it to a group. Having said that I still think it's a very bad idea for teens to be excused from these presentations.
What's next. "I'm too nervous to interview for this position, I just got my college degree, can't I just have the job".....LOL.
You see this generation doing anything like that? No, it's all about them. I would bet most if you asked about the Civil Rights Movement and the Freedom Riders would give you a blank look.
I could provide many more examples. Just because there's not a primary unifying cause like the CRM doesn't mean they don't care about their future. And realistically, it was only a very small fraction of them that participated in the Freedom Riders.
There are some people with clinical anxiety disorder for whom it's not a simple matter of "suck it up" and powering through. For them, it's like the nervous system goes completely haywire. I know one person who can literally black out if her anxiety goes untreated.
But it's far too easy for people to claim "anxiety" when it's just a simple matter being scared.
The students with a true anxiety disorder are likely going to be under a doctor's care, and it's likely part of a larger diagnosis (autism, etc). Those students are usually eligible for an IEP and will have an alternative curriculum when necessary. There's no reason to do away with presentations altogether.
When I was young, the idea of giving a 'presentation' could (and did) make me physically ill. I never did one, in the lower grades I would actually be ill and not go to school, when I got older I simply skipped whatever class it was.
So I'm a 'pansy', right?
Wrong. I've done things that would scare the bejesus out of most people- Military, including an experimental program under SOCOM and EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal AKA making bombs not go BOOM!); 'private contractor' (recruited less than 8 hours after signing out of Active Duty); [secret] gov't security services in conjunction with the AF OSI; private investigator, bodyguard and 'security services consultant'. I've got more scars and had more broken bones than you can shake a stick at (bullets, bombs/grenades, knives, broken bottles, falls from heights, etc.), but a 'presentation'? No way. Given a choice between a 'presentation' and a gunfight, I'll take the gunfight every time.
I don't think kids should be forced to give presentations, and I don't see any 'reasons' for doing so as valid. It can be an extremely traumatic event for those of us who are disinclined to it. There is no good reason to force a kid to do it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zymer
When I was young, the idea of giving a 'presentation' could (and did) make me physically ill. I never did one, in the lower grades I would actually be ill and not go to school, when I got older I simply skipped whatever class it was.
So I'm a 'pansy', right?
Wrong. I've done things that would scare the bejesus out of most people- Military, including an experimental program under SOCOM and EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal AKA making bombs not go BOOM!); 'private contractor' (recruited less than 8 hours after signing out of Active Duty); [secret] gov't security services in conjunction with the AF OSI; private investigator, bodyguard and 'security services consultant'. I've got more scars and had more broken bones than you can shake a stick at (bullets, bombs/grenades, knives, broken bottles, falls from heights, etc.), but a 'presentation'? No way. Given a choice between a 'presentation' and a gunfight, I'll take the gunfight every time.
I don't think kids should be forced to give presentations, and I don't see any 'reasons' for doing so as valid. It can be an extremely traumatic event for those of us who are disinclined to it. There is no good reason to force a kid to do it.
If you'd been forced to do it in elementary school, Zymer, you'd be able to do it today.
Just because other things don't frighten you that do frighten other people, doesn't mean a skill as basic as speaking in front of a group is a really handy skill to have.
But it's far too easy for people to claim "anxiety" when it's just a simple matter being scared.
This is my beef as well. I remember taking speech class in high school and college, ofcourse no one wanted to do it but we all needed the credits. In college, about halfway through the course you had about half the students withdraw from the class haha. My old professor once explained that she had a student run out of class with anxiety while giving a speech, however, this was not clinically diagnosed by a professional.
Is it fair that society makes kids do this? Probably not. But a person does need some practice on public speaking at some point in time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinm
How do you learn to give presentations and get over your anxiety without practicing??? I had the same problem as a shy introverted kid in high school. I got job selling Kirby vacuum cleaners one summer. After 50+ presentations to people who did not want to buy from me, I got over my fear of speaking in public.
Same here, I would generally suck at briefings/public presentations but discovered a long time ago that if I go over the material countless times, study it, and know it my anxiety goes down and now I’m just having a regular conversation with the crowd instead of nervously speaking.
The more briefings you give, the better you get at it. But the key factor is knowing the material you are presenting like the back of your hand. Ironically, most folks don’t even ask questions after a presentation as they just want to get back to work or go home.
In the 1800’s and early 1900’s every student had to stand up for recitations in school.
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. IIRC, she was also in another language class, which she didn't drop. Go figure.
