If you read my last post, you know that I had two kids on the verge of tears after making them speak in the front of the class to everyone. One just flat out refused to go, and the other stood up there for 5-10 minutes before a meager one sentence left his mouth and he fled to his seat. Yesterday I found that those efforts at making them get over their stage fright were worth it.
Their assignment for this week was to do a book talk (basically a verbal book review) for the class. They had a week to prepare (to plan and mentally prepare themselves :-)) and then everyone got up in front of the class and presented. The girl that had actually been crying last week, hemmed and hawed, and begged not to do it, but finally got up and did a very nice job. That was a victory in itself. The other student who had been terrified, but got a bit out last week also managed to survive another speech without passing out, and did a fine job as well.
However, the real victory came later on during Social Studies. They had already shared their current events with two small groups, and I asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to share theirs in front of the class in the last few minutes. I looked around and I noticed one of several hands that had shot up instantaneously. It was my crier from last week! She was waving her hand furiously in the air so that she could get up and share. :-) Needless to say, I let her go first (and she did an excellent job of presenting). At that moment, I felt like a good teacher :-)
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