I think my son loves the Classical Conversations presentations time the best of the day. He puts so much effort and time all week into his presentation I wanted to help him narrow down a few “key points”, so I created a Presentation Outline.
Classical Conversations is all about Rhetoric. What is Rhetoric? The Greeks defined it as, “the art of speech or of a speaker.” The CC homeschooler knows how to engage an audience and present a speech incredibly well. I was floored by the Challenge A Science Fair a few weeks ago and can’t wait for my son to present his next year.
Right now in the Masters Foundation Class, the students share a 2-3 minute prepared presentation on a topic during snack. Some kids have been in CC for numerous years and are utterly bored with presentation time. They get up, shrug they didn’t do one, then share something quick and painless. Not my son. He is all in, 100%, go big or go home attitude. It also helps he loves acting and getting up in front of people.
After CC meets on Monday he usually has a topic in mind. By Tuesday possibly Wednesday we’re at the library checking out every single book you can imagine on his topic. Every. Single. Book.
Friday he starts typing up his presentation. Love he works on typing skills. Come Monday of the next week he’s itching to be called on first because he just can’t wait to share his presentation. I’ve asked him not to share with me before – I like being surprised to hear it in the class.
I love his enthusiasm. Yet, he can go on and on and on – sharing 3-5 pages of information. Even my eyes get a little glazed over as he flies past those key points down tangents he doesn’t need to share. This Presentation Outline helps keep him focused.
I’ve created space for: key points to share, questions to engage the group, and resources used. As with all our worksheets we’ve eliminated the demanding penmanship lines that make him feel anxious. Even younger students can use this Presentation Outline there is room for pictures!
Once this outline helps him “map out” his speech, he can then type it all up and hopefully keep the information down to 2 pages.
I added a “rating” area to the bottom of the sheet with hearts. Moms can rate the actual presentation – making eye contact, engaging the group, inflection, less reading straight from notes, etc. Or students can rate themselves.
This outline is not specifically for Classical Conversations. It’s a great worksheet to use for any presentation.