This post is part of an occasional series documenting my entry into project-based learning. This semester, my students are participating in a 20Time project, a 12-week experience where they choose a worthwhile project to complete (somewhat) on their own using 20 percent of our class time. You can read more about the path that led to this project here.
We’re a couple of weeks away from finishing our in-class work sessions and it’s time to start prepping students for their end-of-project speeches.
On Thursday, I’ll present my own 20Time speech to my classes, modeling what I hope to see in their presentations. After my speech, I’ll play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on my ukulele as I lead a full-class sing-a-long – yikes! Yes, I’m feelin’ some butterflies.
We spent some class time earlier this month studying public speaking skills from Chris Anderson and the TED Talk superstars, and I want to show my kids how to put into practice the lessons they’ve hopefully learned. (Click here to check out my public speaking lesson materials and here for a FREE handout that makes viewing any TED Talk a rich experience.)
After my Prezi-based wrap-up lecture (you’re welcome to make a copy and repurpose for your own classes, though you’ll want to swap out all of the ukulele stuff), I’m going to hand out this speech assignment and then assign speech dates via a lottery drawing. In a few weeks, students will each present their own three-to-five minute speech, explaining what they did and – more importantly – what they learned from the 20Time process. I’m definitely looking forward to those presentations.
In the meantime, fellow teachers who are considering their own project-based learning adventure might enjoy these resources:
Speech Assignment (PDF)
Speech Rubric (Excel spreadsheet) I’m required to use a specific, district-mandated rubric for my classes, which I don’t have permission to share. However, I really like the rubric I have posted. It was created by the turnitin.com folks and is made available here via the Creative Commons licensing agreement. Feel free to modify it to best suit your needs.
That’s all for now. After this last big push, I’ll be back in mid-to-late May with my final thoughts/reflections on 20Time. Stay tuned…
Teach on, everyone!