Quote:
Originally posted by darling1
Okay,
I will speaking at a Leadership Seminar for High School Students on this Friday. I will discussing Courage, Perseverance and Goal Setting to incoming 9th graders for 35 minutes. I would like for this discussion to be interactive.
I plan on giving out notebooks and pens to the students so that the kids can have a journal to use specifically for writing down their goals. I will share some of my personal story and highlight points that I think are key for them to know. Do any of you have any suggestions on what I can do to make this presentation effective and interactive? Any websites that I can go to that may help me with this?
This is my first public speaking event so I really want to do a great job. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Small "buzz" groups that move quickly are effective, just make sure you haev some type of noise maker (bell, whistle, etc.) to bring the group back together, especially if you have a large group.
You could do something like have the students organize themselves into small groups (4 - 6 is best) and come up with a fictional character that they feel exibited courage/perserverance/goal setting and why they feel this character displayed courage/perserverence, etc.. Have each group pick one character and reason why to share with the larger group. One person can be spokesperson for their small group. If you have an overhead or flip chart write down their responses. Use this list as the spring board for your discussion. This shows them they already KNOW what it looks like, not just have to do it!
The SMART Goals acronym is a good tool to use for goal setting if you are familar with it. After you teach them the qualities of a good goal, have them spend a few minutes writing a goal in their notebook. You can either have them work in small groups to share their goals and evaluate if the goal meets the SMART criteria, or you can have several people volunteer to share their goal and have the group as a whole determine if it meets the SMART criteria.
Another idea I have used in the past is to give the students a puzzle to solve. An easy one is the "connect the 9 dots using 4 straight lines and without lifting your pencil" exercise. I'm not sure what you call it, I just call it DOTS. After a few minutes you can give them a hint of "think outside the box", and if they can't solve it, you can solve it for them. The learning point is that sometimes to be successful you have to go outside the norm, do things different that others. Real courage comes from thinking outside the box and doing things differently from other folks", etc. etc.
If you can, give small prizes to those that go out on a limb and show "courage", by volunteering. Stuff like motivational bookmarks, pens or post-its can be inexpensive, but will mean something to the kids if they are recognized in front of their peers.
Hope these help at least a little bit! If you want more info on any of the ideas, let me know, I just did this off the top of my head.