Public Speaking

Expectations

So, after reviewing the "Advice for the Student" from the Poetry Out Loud materials, I am going to focus on the following skills:

• Relax and be natural. Enjoy your poem; the judges will notice.

• Project to the audience. You want to capture the attention of everyone, including the people in the back row. However, do not mistake shouting for good volume or projection.

• Proceed at a fitting and natural pace. People may speak too quickly when they are nervous, which can make a recitation difficult to understand. Do not speak so slowly that the language sounds awkward or unnatural.

• You are the vessel of your poem. Have confidence that your poem is strong enough to communicate its sounds and messages without a physical illustration. Let the words of the poem do the work.

• Avoid monotone delivery. If you sound bored, you will project that boredom to the audience. However, too much enthusiasm can make your performance seem insincere.

My Language Arts teacher also helped me connect my goal to a couple of our school expectations:

• Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

• Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Action Steps

To achieve these goals I plan to:

1. Watch the Learning Recitation video series from the national Poetry Out Loud web site

2. Listen to the Listen to Poetry samples

3. Video myself reading my poem before and after watching the video series

4. Practice my poem at least once a day so that I become confident/natural reading it

5. Get feedback from my teacher and peers

6. Join the drama club

Evidence of Learning

I am very proud of all of the work I did for this competition. Here is my final competition video.