HOMEWORK Tests Speeches Papers Does it sometimes feel like you face an endless list of tasks to complete for school And why To make your teachers happy Well yes completing your work is likely to make your teachers happy But that is not the only reason teachers assign work Believe it or not writing papers taking tests and mak ing speeches benefits you too Every time you complete one of these tasks you learn something more about how to do it and you become more pre pared to do it again in the future in high school college and even possibly your career But more than that these tasks teach you how to learn how to study how to find information and how to present your viewpoint And such skills will help you not only in the classroom but also life in
Presentations for example can teach you how to get your point across clearly and with confidence when you are talking with others And that's a skill that can be employed in nearly every aspect of your life from giving a friend directions to your house to trying to convince your parents to let you stay out late Of course as with any new skill learning to give a presenta tion takes information and practice What should you talk about Where do you get your research What kinds of visual aids should you use How do you deal with nerves Learning the answers to these questions will help you deliver a pre sentation that will make your teacher happy and teach you something in the process
CHAPTER ONE DON'T SWEAT IT Delivering a presentation com bines the skills of writing and speaking First you need to find and organize your information Then you need to present it Unlike a written paper a presentation is intended to be heard rather than read And that's what might scare you the idea of getting up in front of a group and speaking If so take heart public speaking is the number one fear of many students and adults alike If most people are so afraid of public speaking why does your teacher want you to do it Well for one learning how to give a presenta tion now will make it less scary in the future And you almost certainly will have to speak publicly in the future Believe it or not almost any career you might pursue will require some sort of speaking skills Teachers law yers doctors business owners poli ticians scientists and engineers all use public speaking skills at one time or another some on a daily basis And even if your future career doesn't demand that you speak to groups of people you will likely need to talk to your boss from time to time and it won't hurt to be able to persuade her to give you a raise But that's in the future Right now preparing a presentation will help you learn how to find evaluate and organize information It will teach you
