To be an effective public speaker, students need to understand a variety of elements, including use of  appropriate tone, natural gestures and effective eye contact. If stymied by stage fright, all of their hard work might feel for naught. In this interview style blog post, professional actors and teaching artists Victoria Reinsel and JJ Johnson share with Ford’s Education team some of their best strategies and advice for teachers and students to calm nerves and speak with confidence. In this interview style blog post, professional actors and teaching artists Victoria Reinsel and JJ Johnson share with Ford’s Education team some of their best strategies and advice for teachers and students to calm nerves and speak with confidence.

Teacher Joyce Erb-Appleman shares how she helped a colleague use a close-reading approach to analyzing word choice to help students gain a deeper understanding of a primary source text.

The National Oratory Fellows program is a signature initiative of Ford’s Theatre, drawing on our institutional expertise in history, education and performing arts. It is a long-term teacher professional development program designed to build teacher capacity to use public speaking and performance as teaching strategies in middle and high school classrooms.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) surveyed more than 10,000 administrators, teachers, counselors and support staff about their post-election classroom and school environment. Data showed that half of teachers surveyed were uncomfortable bringing up the election and politics in their classrooms. We must build a community where students feel comfortable exchanging ideas. Creating a safe learning environment starts on day one of the school year.

In spring 2016, Jason Rude, a seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher at New Hampton Middle School in New Hampton, Iowa, worked with Ford’s Theatre on a pilot project to transcribe primary sources from the Remembering Lincoln website with his students.

In the following post, Ford’s Theatre Teacher-in-Residence Dave McIntire discusses how to use podcasting as a teaching tool for middle school students’ public speaking. 

Summertime with Ford’s Education means welcoming our new Teachers-in-Residence. This year, we have the good fortune of working with not one, but two incredible educators! This year’s powerful duo will help us better understand teachers’ needs and steer us toward developing and implementing more useful resources and programs.

Fifth grade social studies teacher Angelo Parodi discusses his involvement with the Ford’s Theatre National Oratory Fellows program and how it has influenced his teaching.

This week, Oratory Fellow Darrin Comstock explains a visit his students shared with former Congressman Hal Daub. Read how their meeting encouraged the students to consider the importance of effective public speaking.

In this post, eighth-grade teacher and Ford’s Oratory Fellow Giani Clarkson shares his experiences teaching the art of oratory to his students in Washington, D.C.