By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — “I want you all to think of a song on today’s top 40 list. Now take that song and play it to yourself in your head,” Lucas Kinney said, pausing for his audience to mentally play a few bars of a song. “Now I want to ask yourself, were you listening to music, or computers?”
That was the opening for a speech on music and technology Kinney gave last Friday — the capstone project of the speech elective taught at the Caribou High School by former Maine Teacher of the Year Alana Margeson.
Kinney was one of three presenters that day, and his fellow students offered 10-minute speeches on robotics and the topic of time — hardly the standard subjects for a speech among high-schoolers.
Margeson utilized the popular speech series “TED Talks,” which promotes ideas worth sharing, to teach her class. Ted Talks are often engaging, passionate and compelling presentations that run the gamut of subjects.
“We used TED Talks to analyze effective public speaking techniques. Students enjoyed the variety of topics — from card tricks to bouncing back after adversity,” Margeson described. “As the course evolved, it made sense that our researched speech at the end of the course should evolve into a model of a TED Talk — an idea worth sharing.”
Even though a large portion of society dislikes public speaking, Margeson’s course has received resoundingly positive feedback from its students.
The elective course was developed in an effort to add more elective opportunity to the schedule and with the knowledge that “public speaking skills are essential for college and career readiness,” Margeson said.
She also mentioned that her students did an excellent job of utilizing the space of the Performing Arts Center stage during their presentations.
“I am so proud of these students!” Margeson concluded.
