Just bless them! My students can talk...and talk...and talk some more when I would they prefer not; but ask them to present, and every nerve in their bodies become agitated!
In my now 30 years of teaching and encouraging students to present, only twice have I had a student have to take a Take 2. Oh, many have wanted to bow out, but my expectations will always excel their willingness to negate. Those who needed those few minutes to remember to breathe? Yes, they survived, and I imagine have told this story themselves numerous times!
Why require speaking and listening skills of students? Not only are they a part of the Arkansas State Standards, every secondary student must enroll in oral communications class, as required by state graduation guidelines. Why? The answer: A student's success rests on the foundation of communication. One's successes and one's failures, all stem from that person's ability to relate, whether verbally or non, to those in his/her culture.
Unfortunately, for students? Teachers love to talk. So true. As I reflect on just the previous three weeks, I know that shift needs to begin...and soon...from so much teacher talk to more student conversation and responses. Yet...here we are in a pandemic, where social distancing necessitates our every move, yet where becoming even better communicators remains vital.
Where once my desks were arranged to create tables of five, now those desks are lined up in rows as far apart as the room's breadth and width will allow. Where once these gatherings of minds planned, created, and presented group projects, now they sit apart...but...thanks to technology...Rona will be conquered.
So tell me...for this project, once completed as a group face-to-face, how might this same (or modified) project be achieved?
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