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Recommended Reads
- Books for students and teachers:
- The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
- Respect for Acting by Uta Hagan
- Books for teachers and other aspiring coaches:
- Leadership Is an Art by Max Depree
- The Myth of Laziness by Mel Levine
- Sense of Direction by William Ball
- On Directing by Harold Clurman
- Playwriting by Louis Catron
- The "Find Your Voice" Book: Find Your Voice by Gail Noppe-Brandon
Information:
http://books.heinemann.com/products/E00701.aspx
Free downloadable Teacher's Workbook
http://books.heinemann.com/findyourvoice/
Book Excerpt:
Introduction: Losing Your Voice
The Find Your Voice methodology outlined in this book is designed to help students conquer their fear of public sharing and to help them become more literate. By literate, I'm not referring to their ability to recognize and decipher letters and symbols but to their ability to communicate effectively, and to effectively receive the communication of others. To help them accomplish this, I use re-acting and re-writing as tools to improve students' reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. I use fear management to make it safe enough for students to acquire them. Based on my twenty-year track record of successful Coaching, the book is primarily geared toward English teachers, who remain on the frontline in the battle against in-articulation. But it's also intended for use by teachers of all subjects. Even when students raise their hands in math class, they are sharing publicly. The Find your Voice methodology has been used in private programs, in after-school programs, and in college and public school academic classes. However it is used, the goal is to improve communication -- to strengthen voices.
I firmly believe that above and beyond acquisition of the basic skills, we bust be taught from a young age to have faith in expressions of ourselves. But this kind of faith is not easy to endow! Most people are a little afraid to really communicate with another person. Whether as a speaker or a listener, communication requires a degree of intimacy, and intimacy requires trust; and trust has to be earned. In a classroom of thirty students that's headed by a teacher whose communication skills may also be weak, trust is rarely earned. I've found this to be particularly true when the majority of students come from homes where no one listens and no one encourages them to speak. With good reason, these students always fear that they won't be well received. Any expression of themselves -- whether it's a memorized fact or an imaginatively interpreted idea -- makes students very vulnerable. This is why public speaking is the number one fear.
- Educators may also want to check out the "Find Your Voice" Program Discussion Guide. Please note that Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this document.
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