First-graders deliver speeches to their classmates. Fourth-graders recite original poems in front of teachers and peers. Fifth-graders perform a holiday play on stage for the school community.
Public speaking is everywhere at Chicago City Day School.
City Day threads public speaking throughout the curriculum so that students can enter high school as confident thinkers and communicators. While this begins in junior kindergarten, the first in-depth exploration of public speaking, and the skills behind it, happens in first grade.
A first-grader delivers a speech about his love of math.
City Day first-graders deliver four speeches during the course of the school year. They choose their own topics and compile all the information about them. The speeches start at 1 minute long and get longer as the school year progresses, culminating in a 3-minute speech in the spring.
The difference between the first speech and the fourth is usually dramatic, said grade 1 teacher Page Dow.
"Even by the second speech, we usually see a big jump in confidence in the students," Mrs. Dow said. "By the final speech, they can't wait for their turn to speak. It's pretty incredible."
The first-graders recently delivered the second speech of the year. The topics included American Girl dolls, king cobras, math, and football. When speaking, each student worked on maintaining proper eye contact with the audience and speaking in a loud, clear voice. The audience members, meanwhile, worked on being attentive and respectful listeners. The class broke into small groups from time to time so that audience members could ask questions of the most recent speakers.
The first-grade speeches took place just days after the fourth grade's "Poetry Cafe," during which the fourth-graders stood up in front of an audience and recited original poems. Also happening at the time was City Day's Winter Drama Production, which featured fourth- and fifth-graders acting on stage.
In the coming months, public speaking opportunities will be plentiful at City Day. Eighth-graders, for example, will present data at the annual Friends of the Chicago River Student Congress, and students in senior kindergarten through grade 7 will speak about their projects during the school's annual Science Fair.
A fourth-grader recites during the class's Poetry Cafe.
Mrs. Dow said the variety of ways in which public speaking skills are put to use in the curriculum has a powerful cumulative effect on City Day students.
"By giving students so many different opportunities to work on these skills, our program makes students more confident overall," Mrs. Dow said. "City Day graduates often attend high schools that are much bigger, but they have no problem advocating for themselves and making themselves heard — 'I have an opinion. I have a question. I need help.' That's a vital skill."
See more photos of the first-grade speeches and the fourth-grade poetry cafe below.
- Interested in learning more about our focus on public speaking? Attend an admissions event.
