15 Second Elevator Pitch

Public speaking...pitching an idea...confidence....

This week we started thinking about our upcoming Ted Talks.  Each student will be writing and giving a Ted Talk based on something they want to share about their current event topic.  This is part of their final project for our website/blog endeavor.

We have been thinking a lot about what makes a good Ted Talk.  What we are realizing is that we need to have a clear point, defend or support this point and entertain our audience.

In order to get us started, I had students write for 20 minutes.  They were answering two questions:  What does it all mean?  Why does it matter or why is it important?

Along with these questions, I asked them to complete these two sentences:  This makes me realize... and What I am really trying to say is....

This writing exercise helped students begin to come to a big idea, a focus, a point or thesis.

The next step was to web this idea.  Our 140 character Twitter headline went in the middle of a circle and branching out from that was the ways we would support this idea.

Finally, students prepared to present this web to their classmates in a 15 second pitch.

As we went around the room and shared, I was so proud of each and every one of them.

We will keep working on these Ted Talks and also our public speaking skills.  It is amazing how fired up some of them are getting about their point.