Researching the topic

 Through researching the topic, I found an article which discussed the process of using public speaking and oral presentations in the classroom.

Boyce, Alber-Morgan, Riley (20067). Fearless Public Speaking: Oral Presentation Activities for the Elementary Classroom. 

Through communications with Naomi Rosedale from the Research team at Manaiakalani, I was reassured that Public Speaking was the correct avenue to be looking down for my inquiry however, I needed a bit more direction as this is still quite a vast topic.

Naomi also suggested I look into read aloud - in particular vocal modulation and prosody. She also suggested I look into 'journalism.'

With a focus on confidence, Naomi suggested I need some baseline data of speaking (by getting the children reading aloud or speaking) as well as confidence (self-efficacy). I have already had children fill out a questionnaire/survey for confidence/self-efficacy however I haven't yet got any baseline data of speaking. This is therefore my next step. I will need to formulate a rubric for speaking which includes such things as delivery, content and audience awareness.

Something I should be aware of (which my attention was drawn to during communicaitons with Naomi) is whether my focus is on scripted or un-scripted oral language. These are quite different things. In terms of the children I am focussing on, I think my focus for this year will be on scripted oral-language as I want my focus to be on developing confidence for these children. The children who I would like to work with are not my general news crew, but a group of children with which we want to develop confidence.

                           

Graphing the data

 I have begun to graph data on children's self confidence. 

Feeling Listened To:

There was a slight increase in number of children who responded positively (4 or 5 - green) when asked about their friends listening to them compared to their classmates. This suggests that there are some children who are more confident with those they have a closer relationship with. Interestingly, this trend was even stronger when asked about their teachers listening to them. So more children felt more listened to by their teachers than their friends. 

The last graph is an interesting one. 5/14 children were quite low in confidence when it came to feeling listened to by others. This could have a major impact on these children and their confidence in speaking if they are not feeling listened to. How can I use the various jobs within the school news to act on this finding?

Talking about Learning

The same trend of a group of children lacking in confidence continues into this section but only with a small number of children. There is however, quite a large group of children who are "sitting on the fence" suggesting they aren't confidence but aren't totally overwhelmed by the idea of speaking out. This is a great finding for my inquiry as children sitting at the orange zone would be a great group to target for increasing confidence by presenting on the news. 

Speaking & Presenting

When responding to standing up and talking in front of others, the number of children in the "red zone" increases.

Speaking my Thinking

On the whole, these children don't have a problem with vocabulary - most children feel quite confident that they have the words they need to be able to explain themselves.

Listening to others

All children in this group feel confident that they are good at listening to others. This is a really clear find which confirms that these children don't have an input challenge but an output challenge, with speaking and presenting.

Preliminary Data

 I have begun gathering some preliminary data for my target group of children. These children were selected due to being at the 'reading to learn' phase of their reading development. I have selected children whose reading ages are at 9 years and above as these children will be required to read from a script which changes on a daily basis.

Using my knowledge of these children as well as asking for teacher recommendations, I have selected a group of children who are noted as lacking some confidence or oral language capabilities, despite their confidence in reading and writing. These children are also children who show potential in developing their confidence. This information was found through anecdotal notes from previous teachers, conversations with teachers as well as my own knowledge of these children.

I asked these children to fill in a questionnaire about their own confidence and communication abilities.

I colour coordinated responses from this survey to create a picture of self confidence.

Example 1:

Response 1 = Red

Response 2 = Red

Response 3 = Orange

Response 4 = Green

Response 5 = Green

Example 2:

Response 1 = Green

Response 2 = Green

Response 3 = Orange

Response 4 = Red

Response 5 = Red

From this survey, I have created a target group of students. Students in the target group are children who scored orange and red across a number of their responses.

Their responses sat alongside the responses of a group of children who demonstrate strong confidence, oral language and communication. These children will not be in my target group as they always have strong self confidence. This will be some of my baseline data which will be compared at the end of the year.

Once I have found all children in my target group, I will use a standardised self efficacy test to which will be used to compare the responses of individuals in this target from the beginning to the end of the year.