Hi everyone! So there’s actually a holiday today; it’s César Chávez Day, but it is also National Bunsen Burner Day and Eiffel Tower Day so we can celebrate those as well. I had a pretty productive week and finally finished the lesson plans, so you will be happy to stop hearing about those after this post.
Wednesday I worked on the middle school lesson plans once again (same as the last couple weeks, just updating links and statistics) until 1pm, when the public speaking training started. It was a really small group of three of us and then the teacher and he went over basically how to talk about Habitat for Humanity, whether it be in a casual conversation or a formal presentation.
The first thing he focused on was preparation, which is a pretty common piece of advice for presentations. Don’t wing it, obviously. But another part of preparation was field work, he said, actually volunteering on Habitat builds so you could share the experience, as well as researching your audience.
Next he emphasized finding the purpose of your presentation, whether it be to perform, persuade, or inspire, and make sure that every part of your presentation matched this purpose, ending with a call to action. He also talked about the structure of a presentation or speech and the importance of an engaging opening that explains why you believe what you believe, which would lead into the whats’ and hows’ later in the presentation.
Lastly, he discussed some common mistakes people make when presenting, separating them into preparation and deliver mistakes. Some mistakes in preparation were not preparing, not listening to your audience, and not including a call to action or next steps. Mistakes delivering included filler words (“umm”, “like”, “so”), double clutches (restarting your sentence in the middle), poor eye contact, and bad pacing (making your speech too short, too long, rushed, or lagging).
Thursday and Friday after finishing the lesson plans I worked on revising some youth presentations that already existed, making them easier for kids to understand and more aesthetically pleasing. The presentations were mainly to explain what Habitat did, but they were not engaging enough and oftentimes had blocks of text with complex words, which is what I’ve been trying to alter.
Next week I will be on spring break, hopefully relaxing and I hope you guys have a fun time (as much as possible) as well!
Have a wonderful Spring Break, Sarah! You definitely deserve a nice stressless week to relax! Happy César Chávez Day, National Bunsen Burner Day, and Eiffel Tower Day to you, too!! I loved reading about the public speaking training. It sounds super helpful, and I definitely see what he's getting at. Practice makes perfect and having a purpose, I think, are two key aspects of being a successful presenter. I'm also glad to hear you finished the lesson plans. Not sure if you've talked about this, but have you decided what your final product is? Thanks for another awesome post!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think that my final product will most likely be the housing simulation that I revised in previous weeks, but that might change.
DeleteI hope you have a great Spring Break. That is a very specific set of guidelines for presenting. And I thought our expectations were a lot. It is useful for any type of speech practice, so you don't get as nervous. Do you know what middle schools will be using you lesson plan yet or is it just going to be open to any school to use?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I don't think any schools are using them yet, but once they are on the main website they will be open to any school to use.
DeleteHi Sarah, I hope you have a fun and relaxing spring break!The guidelines for public speaking are interesting. Hope your preparations go as planned. Thank You.
ReplyDelete-Vara
Thanks!
DeleteHi Sarah! Would it be possible for you to show us some of the lessons plans you have been working on. Possibly a before and after?
ReplyDeleteThe lesson plans don't look all that different before and after since I was just updating links and statistics, but I could definititely show a before and after of the housing simulation or youth presentations which I edited more extensively.
DeleteHave a great spring break! How many lesson plans in total did you have to rewrite? It sounds like a lot of stressful work, but a great opportunity at the same time. The presentation also sounds like a great opportunity to get to talk more about Habitat for Humanity and its different aspects. I can't wait for the next post.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I updated about 12 lesson plans and reviewed about 10 more, finding nothing I needed to or could update.
DeleteThank you for going in depth about the speech giving because I feel like it can be applied to most public speaking opportunities. Would you consider yourself a strong public speaker? Did these tips help?
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I wouldn't consider myself a very strong public speaker because I get super nervous and shake and stuff, but usually things go okay because I prepare what I am going to say ahead of time and am ready to answer any questions.
DeleteHi Sarah, as always, good luck this week! I'll bet that the public speaking lessons are going to be really helpful not just in the last weeks of your project but throughout the years, public speaking is a really good skill to have even if you don't even intend to pursue a career that involves it. Good luck for your last two weeks, and until next week, goodbye!
ReplyDeleteIt's cool that you got tips on how to talk about Habitat for Humanity. You mentioned they said it is good to share personal experience, and I was wondering, have you actually gotten to work on a build? I know that was kind of an issue since you were too young when you were in the Habitat for Humanity club at Basis. Good luck with your project!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I've been on build sites volunteering at my internship, but I haven't actually been able to volunteer to build. I have, however, volunteered at the Restore multiple times which is something I could discuss.
DeleteIt's was so interesting to hear about the tips you learned about public speaking for Habitat of Humanity! Have you used any of the tips yet? Also, are you still going to work on the lesson plans more and how may more revisions do you need to make? Enjoy your spring and can't wait to see what happens next week!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I haven't used any of the tips yet but I might in my final week, we'll see. Also, I have finally completed the lesson plans so I don't think I will be working on them anymore.
DeleteWhat differences have you noticed between the learning patterns of middle schoolers and the younger kids. How do they learn? Thank you for considering my question, keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I haven't actually had the opportunity to use the lesson plans on either set of kids yet, but what I have noticed from the lesson plans is that for older kids they are more wordy with less pictures and more use of internet resources.
DeleteHi Sarah! I really appreciate the level of hard work and dedication your putting in into your project. Was coming up with the lesson plans pretty challenging?--Ismail Hamed 10
ReplyDeleteThank you! I didn't have to come up with them; I was just updating facts from previously made ones, so it wasn't that challenging. The hardest part was trying to find the web pages from the old website on the new website.
DeleteHi Sarah! I realized I'm a failure and forgot to comment on your blog, so here I am awkwardly asking a question. I'm really interested in one of the advice that your public speaking trainer mentioned about "researching your audience." What does this mean? Does it mean like know your audience (basically)?
ReplyDeleteIt basically means know what your audience wants to get out of a presentation. Are they looking for inspiration, information, new volunteer activities? Do they volunteer with Habitat for Humanity currently or do they volunteer with other organizations? Things like that.
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