Words That Shook the World

Curriculum for Teachers

Thank you for what you do for our kids.

There are few things more important than teaching boys and girls how to express themselves in their lives.

That's what this program is all about.

It is our hope that it will become a tool for you to accomplish some wonderful objectives in your classrooms:

1. To help students avoid or get over the fear of public speaking
2. To serve as a great exercise in creative writing and expression
3. To learn, academically, but especially by doing, how to give a compelling talk and/or communicate a compelling message in any context
4. Most importantly, to begin to see public speaking and public expression as both cool and useful in the furtherance of their career and personal goals.

We have designed this "curriculum" to be as easy and time efficient as possible in the hopes that you can find a way to fit it into your class schedule before the end of the school year. Depending on how you do it, this "curriculum" can take as little as 10 minutes and as long as one week. We reccomend devoting one class period to it, if you can.

SCHOOL CURRICULUM in ASSOCIATION with
The 2nd National High Schoo Public Speaking Competition

Great speakers do 5 things that average or poor speakers do NOT do. What is so much fun about teaching public speaking is that if you can get your kids to do even ONE of these secrets just a little bit better, they will show a TANGIBLE difference in front of the room.

Here are those 5 Secrets and the 20 criteria that we are asking our "Official Student Judges" to review before they start their all-important judging. It is also a wonderful Checklist for students to review before they write and deliver their speeches.

Secret #1: Great Speakers Use Their Words, Voice Tone AND Body Language to Great Effect
Secret #2: Great Speakers Have A Lasered, Compelling Message
Secret #3: Great Speakers Are Conversational: The Communication Effectiveness Continuum
Secret #4: Great Speakers Use All 4 "Languages" of Human Communication
Secret #5: Most Importantly, Great Speakers Have Authentic Passion (About Their Subject and Sharing It With Their Audience)

Here are 20 different things you can check off and send to your fellow students when you evaluate their videos. Be kind, be supportive, be fair, but also, don't be afraid to tell the truth. Constructive feedback is absolutely necessary when one is learning any skill.

Secret #1: Great Speakers Use Their Words, Voice Tone AND Body Language to Great Effect
1. Were the Words well chosen and effective?	YES or NO
2. Was there enough variation in the Voice Tone?
Enough variation in Volume? Sometimes loud, sometimes soft?	YES or NO
Enough variation in Speed? Sometimes fast, sometimes slow?	YES or NO
Enough variation in Frequency or Pitch? Sometimes high pitch, sometimes lower?	YES or NO
3. Were the important words (or syllables) highlighted through effective Punc-tu-a-tion?	YES or NO
4. Was the Resonance of the student's voice attractive and authoritative?	YES or NO
5. Was there an effective use of "The Pause? to build the drama in the speech?	YES or NO
6. Was the Body Language effective?
Was their posture centered with their shoulders showing authority and presence?	YES or NO
If they moved, did they move in a purposeful, centered way?	YES or NO
Were their gestures enough, appropriate and effective?	YES or NO
Did you feel they were really talking with you? Did they make good eye contact, even through the camera lens?	YES or NO
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Secret #2: Great Speakers Have A Lasered, Compelling Message
1. Was therea definite theme or message to the speech (as opposed to a lot of rambling bits of data)?	YES or NO
2. The theme, or message was so "Lasered" that you could recite it at the end of the speech?	YES or NO
3. If they used a story or anecdote to illustrate their Lasered, Compelling Message, did they tell it well (present tense, as if it were happening right then, and 1st person, whenever appropriate). Was it a powerful addition to the message?	YES or NO
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Secret #3: Great Speakers Are Conversational: The Communication Effectiveness Continuum
1. Where did the student fit on the follwing scale?
It felt like an act or a "Performance" AT the camera/audience?
It felt like a 1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 3 kind of "linear" "Presentation" TO the camera/audience?
It felt like a warm, personal "Conversation" WITH the camera/audience?
It touched me so deeply, it almost felt like I was right there with him/her. It was raw and real. He/she was, completely, just Being themself.
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Secret #4: Great Speakers Use All 4 "Languages" of Human Communication
1. Was there enough energy and excitement ("Visual Language")?	YES or NO
2. Was the student articulate, easy to follow with an attractive voice? ("Auditory Language")	YES or NO
3. Did the student support his message with enough detail/facts/analysis (or just make broad, unsupported assertions or argurments) ("Auditory Digital Language")	YES or NO
4. Did you feel connected to this student? Was there warmth and feeling? ("Kinesthetic Language")	YES or NO

Secret #5: Most Importantly, Great Speakers Have Authentic Passion (About Their Subject and Sharing It With Their Audience
Was the student genuinely and authentically passionate about what he/she was talking about?	YES or NO

"The 5 Secrets of The World's Greatest Speakers"

Here, in some greater detail, are the 5 secrets that define the greatest speakers. Get better in even one of them and you will be a better public speaker

There are 5 things that Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Jordan and all GREAT speakers do that others don't. Do even one of these better than you have and you, and everyone else, will notice a big difference.

Secret #1: The great speakers understand that words only create 7% of the impact they make on a small or large audience. Voice tone - varying the volume, pace and pitch of their voice, punc-tu-a-ting the important words and syllables and pausing actually contribute 38%. And, body language - standing tall, making decisive gestures, great eye contact and your overall energy make up a whopping 55% of how you impact and move others!

click to hear a segment:

Secret #2: All great speakers have what I call a "Lasered, Compelling Message", not a bunch of facts or random points that they throw out like throwing spaghetti against the wall, hoping that something will stick. "Ask not what your country can do for you . . . ", "The only thing to fear is fear itself", "I have a dream" - these are lasered messages, and certainly were compelling. What is THE single most important point you want your audience to walk out knowing. Start with that and weave it through your entire speech!

click to hear a segment:

Secret #3: Connect! Have a "Conversation WITH" your audience as opposed to a "Performance AT" or even a "Presentation TO" them. Envelop them with your body language, use a conversational tone of voice, talk with them like everyone is sitting with you in your living room. This was the secret of FDR's "Fireside Chats" and a big part of the magic of Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton.

AND... Do you have a fear of public speaking???
If so, THIS is the secret to help you get over it. "Public Speaking" is nothing more than having a "Conversation" about something you care about... while you just happen to be standing up!"

Is that scary? Is it scary to have a conversation? Usually not. But that's what the best speakers do. They have a conversation WITH each member of their audience, directly or indirectly. The more you can do that, the easier it gets and the less afraid you will be.

click to hear a segment:

Secret #4: Speak All "4 Languages" of Human Communication. That's right, there are 4 different frequencies, or "languages" that human beings speak, related to the 5 human senses.

Visual - bring some excitement into your speeches.
Auditory - tell it like an easy to understand story, no matter how complicated.
Auditory Digital - you have to support any points you make with enough details, facts and solid analysis, especially for those academic types who are focused on this "language".

Kinesthetic - the language that the greatest speakers use the most. No speech works as it should without feeling, genuine emotion and a human connection between speaker and audience.

click to hear a segment:

Secret #5: Authentic Passion. I'll take this one over all the rest. Ask yourself one question before you EVER write or give another speech . . .What is it about this topic that I am truly passionate? When you find the answer, go in that direction. If you don't get an answer . . . find another topic! This is the magic of Martin Luther King, the greatest orator of the 20th Century. And the really cool news . . . everyone, no matter how shy, no matter how much of an amateur at "public speaking", can shake the world like Dr. King if they can only find and let out their own "authentic passion"!

Remember, no technique, no matter how great, will ever be more important than the simplest and hardest thing we ever do . . . be ourselves! YOUR own "Authentic Passion" about your topic and your genuine desire to share it with your audience, is the greatest (and simplest) secret of the greatest speakers. Find that authentic passion, truly tap into what excites you about your topic and the words and emotions and voice tone and body language will take care of themselves.

A Note About Getting Over The Fear

This is the most important part. As much as 41% of people have significant fear about giving a speech. Kids will not enter the competition if they are afraid.

There are four ways to help students get over the fear:

1. Help them understand the "true" definition of public speaking. It is not meant to be scarey. It is only scarey when kids, or adults, approach it the wrong way - as a Performance.
One fun way to do this is to have them write the word SPEECH on a piece of paper and then ask them to draw a circle around it. And then, have them put a diagonal line through that circle. Have them write the word, "CONVERSATION" instead.

2. Help them understand the correct focus in giving a speech. The best speakers do NOT focus on themselves. They focus on the audience and getting the information and the passion communicated to their audience. It's all about THEM, not you. This actually helps take the pressure off them if and when they get this.

3. Ignite the passion. Compare the giving of a "speech" to what happens when they see friends at the mall after seeing a fantastic movie or a rock concert and can't wait to share the story of what they just experienced. THAT is the tone. Pure, simple enthusiasm. If the enthusiasm is strong, it will largely overcome the fear. Get them to get excited about the subject they want to speak about and you are more than halfway home!

4. Relaxation Techniques. Breathing is very helpful here. But deep, diaphramatic breathing. Here are two exercises I use:

A. The 1 - 4 - 2: Breathe in through your nose. Hold four times that long. Exhale twice as long as the inhale. So, if you start with 4 (a good, easy place to start), have them hold for 16, then try to exhale for 8. Move up to 6/24/12, then maybe even 10/40/20. The longer they hold the oxygen in their lungs, the more it expands (the body will heat the gas, oxygen, from 72 degrees to body temperature, 98.6. In the process, the gas will expand and force the oxygen deeper into one's body than the normal shallow breathing. Since oxygen, remarkably, is a relaxant and a stimulant, after 3 or 4 "rounds" your students will feel both relaxed and energized, in the very most natural way possible.

B. Alternate Nostril Breathing. This works in a different and equally wonderful way. Simply have the students put their thumb from their right hand on their right nostril and breathe into their left (for a decent sized breath). Then, after a little pause, have them release the right nostril, put their middle finger on the left nostril and exhale out of the right nostril. Continue, with breathing in the right, out the left, in the left, out the right, for at least 3 full cycles. While it will look and feel silly, and the kids will laugh nervously, this has a wonderful calming effect as well as it balances the left and right hemispheres of the brain, by making sure that they both have ample, and equal oxygen.

The "True" Definition of Public Speaking

"Public Speaking is nothing more than having a conversation, to 2 or more people, about something you feel passionate about, while you just happen to be standingup."

The revolutionary aspect of this definition is the focus on "having a conversation". This is the core of Secret #3. .

When delivering your speech, to a video camera or to a live audience, JUST HAVE A CONVERSATION!! Talk as if you were talking, with genuine enthusiasm, to a group of your friends at a party or over a meal. That's the tone. No pressure, no stress.

Every kid has done that. And that's all that is required.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals has placed this program on the NASSP National Advisory List of Contests and Activities for 2007-2008.