Presentation Activity: Ignite Talks with Students

Ever see an Ignite Talk or Pecha Kucha? Ever heard of one? The concept is straight forward. 20 slides playing on the screen switching every 20 seconds. In the end, you have a presentation on any topic done in just under 7 minutes. The slides are minimal - images, gifs, light text if any, no videos - and accompany the story the speaker is telling. There is a ton of practice needed obviously but what emerges is a crisp, concise presentation on the topic of choice.

This would be excellent practice for our students at any level in any subject. For years, teachers have had a difficult time incorporating speeches (whether formal or informal) into their curriculum for obvious reasons: they take a lot of time, require a lot of guidance and monitoring, student fears of getting in front of their peers detracts from effort, teachers, although public speakers on a daily basis, aren't trained to coach the skills, and with content standards to meet they are difficult to justify. Well...standards have changed to include Speaking and Listening skills to get them College & Career ready. And it shouldn't be just ELAs job to meet the standards.

This activity could be used as an assessment, a mid-unit check in, or as an introductory activity related to a theme of the unit. I loved doing formal and informal presentations in class as it gave students an opportunity to learn from each other and work out those fears of speaking in front of others. I'd give students time in class to build their speeches and practice with one another and myself. I'd have them film themselves so they can see what others see in order to analyze their practice performances. In the end, students realized the speech was an important venture because they know they need practice in the skill. They wanted to do their best...right down to the shyest person in the room.

Now, I wish I could tell you each speech incurred a standing ovation. But what I can tell you is that students learned what made a winning speech, what constituted as good techniques for them to borrow from others, and most reported after initial jitters their nerves faded as they had to focus on the speech itself. The process is lengthy but worthy if we're committed to preparing our students for a world that values presentation skills.

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To run this process in your class, follow these steps:

1. Introduce the topic (can be anything related to your curriculum or on a topic of their choice) and the assignment - 20 Slides/20 seconds (of course you can adjust the slides and time based on your needs)
2. Give students time to brainstorm and build the framework of their speech - lots of hands-on help here
3. Introduce the Rubric (see below)
4. Show them videos of other Ignite Talks to give them an idea of what they look like - YouTube is full of them
5. Get your students to write their speeches in class so you can ensure they are writing something of substance
6. Introduce the Visual Component - Let them know that they need to create "X" amount of slides for their speech
7. Have students practice their speeches with peers complete with video so they can see and analyze their performance 
8. Commence with the speeches

The Rubric
I've found Google Forms works best for this as I can sit in the back and assess the student as they're giving their speech without missing much if at all. I fill out the Form and after submitting I click the link that allows me to submit another entry on the Form. I then create a spreadsheet with all the data and share that with the class for immediate feedback. Below is a generic Form I created for this purpose. You can get a copy below it.


If you want this Speech Rubric, click that link and make your own Copy as anyone with this file can edit it. Once yours, you can alter the Form ti suit your needs. If you need help with this, let me know.

Peer to Peer Feedback
I've also found for any speech, it's important to include the audience in a certain task. This keeps students focused on a part of the speech. The discussion that takes place after is actually more helpful for the audience than the speaker themselves. The most effective way that works for me is to break the class into 4 groups (number them off 1-4). The picture below are the four tasks the class completes collectively for every speech.

So the same group doesn't continue doing the same thing, after each speech, I rotate the roles to the next group. So if Group 1 was "A" for the first speech, they will be group "B" for the next.

After each speech I select a student or two, in each group, to report out what they observed (the speaker standing in the front of the room simultaneously relieved and feeling awkward standing in front listening to their peers talk about them). I then give some brief verbal feedback of my own and ask the class to give the speaker an enthusiastic round of applause - despite how they did up there.

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We need to make time for learning experiences like these in the classroom. Not just because there are standards now. They need the chance to practice these essential skills, get feedback from peers and professionals, in a safe environment. Public speaking is a necessary skill in many aspects of life. Our kids deserve these opportunities.