In a normal year, we head downtown to do our Soapbox speeches in a public setting with 3-4 other schools jammed into the same small room.  There is lots of mixing and social interaction.  This year, not so much.

Yesterday, we had our Soapbox Event, albeit it was done virtually.  Students who performed well in our classroom presentations had videos of their speeches sent to the organization.  A select group of those students had their speech played yesterday.   They were then provided with feedback from a panel of judges.

To view the entire event, select the link here.  To view only speech submissions, select the link here.  We did have 2 of our students make it to the main event; which was really awesome!

Our first three volunteers presented their Soapbox speeches today.  They set the bar very high and were amazing!  Holy smokes, what a group of talent.

For those not speaking today, they had the opportunity to provide written and oral feedback, based on the rubric we have been using, as well as the opportunity to record all speeches.

Three more speeches up tomorrow!

Much of the work done in class from afar might not look like much.  Some kids sitting in the hallway with their computer does not look like learning…but it is (and yes, this process takes a LONG time).

Yesterday, we had some amazing peer editing sessions for our Soapbox speech.  These students have developed a knack for honest, constructive feedback.  They utilize the rubrics available and focus on helping their classmates.  We worked on providing peer feedback to two partners yesterday; which is a testament to the amount of time, energy, and detail each student provided for their classmate.

The most shocking thing of all during this process …they actually listen, consider, and incorporate that feedback into their speech.  If only they would listen as closely when I give them advice!

As we continue to prepare our Soapbox speech, we are working on increasing our comfort with public speaking.  Students are randomly selected and randomly select their topics.  They get on our “soapbox” and give a speech, ranging from 30 seconds to 45 seconds.  This is providing experience for many students to give speeches in a public setting with less stress.  It has been awesome to see the growth in our students and their comfort with public speaking.

Earlier this year, in collaboration with Jewish Studies and ELA, our students researched inequalities in our world, our country, and our community.  During this exploration, each student selected a topic they felt passionately about.  We have put that topic on the backburner for now…until now.

We are starting our next area of focus: Project Soapbox.  Project Soapbox (linked here) is part of a nation-wide organization that encourages youth to voice their opinion on a topic they feel strongly about.  Students identify a topic, write their own brief persuasive speech on the topic, and then present that speech to an audience of their peers and community.

This year is obviously different…no in-person speeches.  But, we will still be preparing our speeches on our topics, as well as delivering them to our community and beyond.  We started our speech process yesterday by identifying what makes a speech good and what makes a speech bad.  Stay tuned for more.