Project Based Learning - How to be a Public Speaker

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Do your students need help in speaking publicly? Is this one of the standards that you have to teach or assess? You can check HERE to see. 

By this time of the year, your 2nd graders or older students may be ready to move on to this  project based learning activity. 

We called it Collections or Hobbies Exhibitions. The students are to think about things that they might collect. It might be baseball, football, Pokemon, or other kinds of cards. It could be barrettes, Barbies, jewelry, shells, rocks, or Legos. Or it could be action figures, medals they've earned in sports, or books. 

For the students who don't have a collection I let them share a hobby they enjoyed participating in. That could be self defense, scouting, making things with Legos, or other building materials. It could be knitting, making pot holders, or other crafts. The possibilities are endless. If they can justify it, they can use it. 

At home the students will gather their materials and think of a way to display them. They can use the display boards (that can be found at discount stores), cardboard that lies flat on the table, a colored or designed piece of paper (similar to scrapbooking or wrapping paper), a piece of fabric, or even a towel. They just need to find something that makes their collection stand out from the table. 

There is a form they can fill out at home with the parents' help. This will be used in the classroom during writing time to write their report. Once the report is complete, they will practice reading it aloud with a partner or small group. Their goal is to know their topic well and be able to share their collection/hobby with others, orally. 

This is what comes with the set when you purchase it. 

On the day that you have determined to be the sharing day, you will have each student stand in front of the class with their project and share all they can with the class. If you'd rather have them share in smaller groups, that's ok too. 

After they have shared, you can give your other students a chance to ask questions.  There is a question cheat sheet that can be used to help your kids who struggle with formulating questions. 

Be sure to secure the area for your whole class display with your administration. For me, we used the gym in our building. But maybe you have a different place or building that you want to display your entire class's projects. There was one other 2nd grade class who participated with me on this project. When we displayed them in the gym in the evening, there were many projects to look at. I encouraged parents to ask questions of the students who were standing in front of their display.

If you wish to grade this project, you can use the rubric that is included in the set.

If you choose to do this with your class, please come back and share with me how it was received. I'd love to hear about it.