When I first began teaching one of the district requirements to graduate from high school was delivering what was known as a "Senior Speech." At first I thought this meant speaking in front of the student body, but it was actually a speech delivered in English class. Eventually, the requirement was dropped because there were so many students who refused to do it. That's a sad commentary. Rather than dropping the requirement it should be expanded so that kids give speeches every year of their high school career. How else are they going to become competent speakers? It's sad how many careers, promotions and inventions have been derailed because someone wasn't confident enough to speak in front of a group.

Teenagers place peer acceptance very high on their list of "stuff that matters." They place much more emphasis on it than adults do. The primary reason why so many students refused to give a Senior Speech was because they were afraid to look bad in front of their peers. That held more significance than graduating from high school. Wow!

So how do you get teenagers to stand up in front of their peers and speak? I think the assignment has to be framed very carefully. Often teachers assign a speech or group presentation but give very little in the way of guidance about how to do it. Teens need to be taught the following before they can be expected to stand up in front of their peers. Without this guidance their solution is often just to not go to class on speech day.

What needs to be role modeled and taught:

* How to create a speech outline

* How to practice delivering your speech so that it fits the time required

* Delivery skills such as gestures, audience eye contact, vocal variety, conversational tone

* How to project with their voice

* How to use note cards

All of these skills need to be taught, role-modeled and practiced. This should be done in short segments (5 minutes) over a period of time. You can also practice these skills one at a time as part of units throughout the semester.This requires a lot of up-front planning for the teacher. But if you've observed kids standing up and reading from a paper, with a mumbling tone and no eye contact you quickly realize there's no point in having them do a speech if you don't spend the time teaching them to do it correctly. You will be doing them a huge favor.This skill will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

The key to this practice is to have them talk to just one other person initially. This is much less frightening than speaking to a group. They practice with one person and then another and another. Then have them speak to small groups and eventually speak for 30 seconds to the entire class. Then other skills can be slowly introduced the same way.

Take away the frightening concept of standing up and speaking for 10 minutes to the class and they will become much more comfortable with the process. By the time they have to give that 10 minute speech they will be adequately prepared and confident.

Don't give up on having students speak in class. It's a crucial life skill. But be willing to put in the time necessary to do it right. Society will thank you.

Barbara is a professional speaker, seminar/workshop presenter, staff development trainer with 32 years of classroom experience. She is the current president of FACCMasters Toastmasters Club in Colorado.

Her book, A Teacher's Book of 10s: Best ways to Do Everything in Your Classroom, will be published in the summer of 2011.

Contact Barbara at http://www.barbaratoney.com