1. Senior Final Assessment

2. All seniors will:  Go through the steps of the writing process to create a 5-7 minute speech.  Brainstorming  Writing  Revising/editing  Rehearsing  Publishing (in the form of presenting) to senior English class

3. Topic will be of your choice:  Graduation Speech  Most important lesson learned  Passion you have developed  How have you changed through the years  Challenge that has helped you  Who you wanted to be vs. who you have become and how  If you have an alternative idea, MUST get approval from teacher.

4. This is a REFLECTIVE speech  It should focus on and demonstrate that you have thought back about your high school career and are able to recognize growth, challenges, important moments, etc. (may vary according to topic)  The audience should be able to clearly identify the topic and “claim” of your speech.

5. Timeline  Assignment Presented May  Lesson on public speaking  Topic choice confirmedMay  Writing beginsMay  RehearsalJune 1-3  Presentations beginJune 4th

7. Public speaking: the basics

8. What is public speaking?  Public speaking is anytime you have to speak in public!  Speaking in public scares more Americans than going to the dentist, falling, or death!  It’s the #1 fear for all Americans!  This presentation will give you public speaking basics and help you realize some good multimedia presentation skills at the same time.

9. Fears…  While most people fear public speaking there are some very simple ways to get around it…  Practice  By practicing you get around the reason for the fear: saying something stupid or messing up in front of people.

10. Before the presentation…  Preparation is key!  Figure out a thesis for your speech.  Write down the structure for your presentation.  Introduction, body, and conclusion.  Read it out loud.  Edit your writing.  Read it out loud again.  Put it into your visual presentation.  Practice again.

11. Basics of Public Speaking  Know your topic  You are the expert of the topic you have chosen.  Nobody in the room knows more than you so make sure that you know it thoroughly so you can teach others.  Know your audience  What do they find funny? What are they interested in? What would they like to hear about your topic?  What is appropriate or inappropriate

12. Basics, continued.  Find a hook  A hook is an interesting, funny, or creative beginning to your presentation. The first 30 seconds of a presentation are very important, so a good hook will keep your audience focused. DO NOT USE A RHETORICAL QUESTION. I WILL LIGHT YOU ON FIRE (WITH WORDS) IF YOU START YOUR SPEECH WITH “HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED…?” ETC.  Be yourself  If you try to do what your friends would do, you will mess up. Just be yourself and you will feel the most comfortable!  Stay on point  Do not discuss topics that are not important to your presentation. They will distract your audience and you will lose your focus.  Do not repeat yourself  Do not repeat yourself. Repeating a point more than a few times sounds as if you do not have anything else to say. So avoid repetition.

13. Pet Peeves:  Use language that is appropriate  You do not know what offends your audience, so words like sucks, blows, screwed etc. are absolutely NOT APPROPRIATE!!!  I will stop you mid-speech if you use unprofessional language. You will get a zero.  Verbal clutter  Repeated filler words are distracting and annoying.  Like, um, uh, yeah, you know, etc. are most common

14. Be Confident! Project a calm, confident tone while speaking. You are the expert on the topic, so you have nothing to worry about! Audience members can tell when you are nervous or do not know what you are talking about. Confidence can be gained through good preparation and effective practicing.

15. Eye Contact  Be sure you smile at the audience  Take a deep breath  Look at each person in the room as you speak  Do not talk to the screen or to your notecards…the screen is not judging you. Talk to the audience.

16. Tips  Attitude is everything!  Preparation is key  Confidence comes with practice  First 30 seconds are the most important!  This is the hook.  If you have a creative, witty, or interesting introduction, you can hold the audience’s attention for the rest of the presentation.  Strong conclusion  Just like the introduction, have a strong message the audience can take away from your presentation.  Avoid just repeating your introduction and your thesis statement.  Action statements make good conclusions.

17. 6 PowerPoint tips 1.Have consistent slide backgrounds. 2.Contrast helps people see your presentation. 3.Animation adds some flavor (but too much can be distracting!). 4.Make it large ! 5.Too many words turns your audience off. 6.Images are important!

18. Consistency  Having a consistent background adds to your presentation.  An easy way to distract your audience is by having your slide background constantly change.  You want to seem in charge of your presentation, so keep the design simple and consistent.

19. Contrast  Contrast is when two colors are put next to each other which are very different from one another.  For example green and blue or black and white.  Look at the boxes to the right. Which one is easier to view?  The greater the contrast, the better your audience will be able to read your slide. Can you read me now?

20. Large… Notice that in this slide everything is large and easy to see. Making your words and pictures large is very important when working with power point!

21. Wordy Slides…  Multimedia presentations are visual tools. It is not a good tool to use if you have too much to say.  So keep your words to a minimum.  This slide has quite a few words, some may say too many.  They are easy to read, however, because they are large enough.  Also, the addition of the fish animation adds to the slide.  A multimedia presentation is not a chance for you to write a paper. It is a chance to give a summary of the main points of a paper.  Use bullet points to break up the writing.

22. Images…  Images are important to a multimedia presentation, so do not shy away from clip art, images, or artistic designs to show off your text.  The slide at right has an image, a box around the words, and a strong background.  The overall effect is very professional and pleasing to the eye.  Integrate your pictures into the presentation.

23. Based on years of watching speeches…

24. The Best Speeches  Convey emotion or passion  You are the one who chose this topic…show why you picked this above all other topics.  If you don’t have it…fake it!  Show outside connections  Any “warm fuzzy” moments should absolutely be conveyed…bonding time with dad or grandparent, losing 75 lbs., personal growth as a result of volunteering, life plans that have changed…audiences will LOVE this.  Use humor…or at least SMILE!  Keep the audience engaged, not falling asleep. If your speech lacks passion, so will the grading.

25. Visuals  Your PowerPoint counts, but…..why not bring other visuals to show?  Obviously, if you are talking about a school project, then bring it in!.  Other ideas:  Sheet music  Instruments  Tools you used

26. Headings  The headings on the checklist are there to guide you…not to be said out loud.  “Results. Some of the results of my project were…” No!! Results is not a complete sentence, and it sounds exceptionally choppy.  Work on blending your statements to incorporate the item on the checklist.  i.e. “Overall, I was pleased with what I learned in my high school career.”  NO PRESENTATION SHOULD HAVE A SLIDE THAT SAYS ‘HOOK’.

27. When you use names:  Be sure you are using the correct title  Mrs. = Married woman  Ms. = woman who is either single or married  Miss = single woman who is still using original last name  Names of teachers, authors, ANYONE should be capitalized. They are proper nouns, which means they are automatically capitalized.  Be sure you know how to pronounce names correctly without stumbling over the words. If you don’t know how to say it, you shouldn’t be trying to.

28. Pacing  On your notecards, you might want to consider the following ideas:  Writing words like  Change slide (or having a symbol that means it’s time to move to the next slide). This way you don’t have to keep looking at the screen.  Breathe (reminding yourself to pause and take a deep breath. Your brain needs oxygen!)  Slow down (reminding yourself not to rush)  Smile (smiling helps you feel relaxed and relaxes the other people in the room as well…remember, you want them to like you and pass you!)

29. Slide definition  Many of your presentations were WAY too dark.  Be sure the background is light, the writing is dark, and the clip art is not the focus.

30. Wording  Proofreading is required! This should be your HIGHEST QUALITY WORK!!!  Have a buddy edit your Power Point for errors!

31. Subject Verb Agreement  Many students use the wrong verb form in their speeches when discussing the topic areas.  For example, “some of the skills I learned was”  NOOOOOOOOO! “The skills I learned WERE”  OR “My work habits was” (augh…killing my spirit)  Or “I never knew how much problems I was going to have” (MANY)  You sound uneducated and like you don’t deserve to graduate high school when you can’t get this basic grammatical concept correct.

32. Conclusion  You need a strong conclusion to leave the audience with a polished, finished feeling to your speech.  Ideas:  Quote: something memorable that an influential person said, a famous quote about perseverance or hard work, a snippet of a mission statement etc.  Statement of purpose: “Because of AP Biology, I now know that I want to be a marine biologist. I plan on pursuing that goal next year at the University of Hawaii and I can’t wait to deepen my knowledge in the field.”

33.  You can bring a bottle of water to sip from  You will listen to all the presentations and be attentive  Be sure you are talking about your topic in past tense

34. Dress code  No jeans  No tennis shoes  Dress as you would for a professional interview (not an interview for a mechanic job or Hooters )

35. Remember…  Your final speech must be 5-7 minutes  Must have a visual  Must be dressed appropriately  Notecards are required and you will be turning them in for points. Don’t read from them, just use them as a prompt  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!