Stage Fright

Homework before this class- a) Online survey related to students’ experiences with, and fears of, public speaking (to be completed by midnight the day before class) b) reading assignment -  “Stage Fright: How to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking”.

Teacher before class - Compile survey results and put on PowerPoint slide

1.     Class warm up – watch 3-minute stage fright video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUYI9Rg1_oE

Teacher presents useful vocabulary related to stage fright. (glossophobia, nerves, butterflies, jitters, expectations, failure, success, etc.)

Class discussion about what happened in the video.

2. Show slide of students’ anonymous survey results and have them guess what percentage of people answered each question a certain way. This show students that they are not alone in being nervous about the topic.

3. Group work in Zoom breakout rooms – groups of 4 students. General discussion about giving oral presentations. Teacher visits each breakout room briefly to encourage and clarify if necessary.

4. End breakout rooms. Back in class students share with class what they discussed.

5. Teacher presents instructions for role play and oral presentation and assigns breakout rooms with 2 people per room.

6. Teacher visits each breakout room briefly to encourage and clarify if necessary.

7. Return to Zoom class - students present their oral presentations

8. Classmates and teacher provide feedback on the presentation

9. Wrap-up activity – Canvas survey - students take a minute or two at the end of class to complete a brief survey about their comfort level with presenting, how they believe they could be more comfortable, and most importantly, how the teacher can help them prepare for future presentations, for example if they would like to practice one-on-one during office hours.

This is a formative activity. The student pairs will present and the teacher and classmates will give constructive feedback.

Follow up: The Canvas survey done at the end of class could be done as a longer Discussion Board activity. Students could reflect on what they learned in the class, answer on a Discussion Board and respond to each others' posts.