Explore Your Voice
At its simplest, your voice is the sound coming out of your mouth. Students in ALERT can have high voices, low voices, quiet voices, and (sometimes) loud voices — but the concept of voice goes well beyond people talking or singing.
Metaphorically, voice can also mean the way students express themselves. Writers, musicians, and movie directors talk about finding their voice, which means they've developed a unique identity or style.
As you prepare for your presentation this year, some students may want to work on expanding their voice (their vocal range) and some may want to find their voice (speak with ease and confidence in front of an audience). This page will include links to other pages on the website and external tools to give you a selection of techniques and exercises.
Your mind, your message, your emotions, and your voice are connected in a network or system and will cause feedback. If you're feeling nervous or insecure, underprepared or off-balance, it will be heard.
Ultimately, what determines how your message is received on presentation day comes down to you--the person behind the voice--how well you have chosen to prepare, and whether you chose to face some of the difficult but important elements of your presentation or whether you entrusted success to the parts that came easier to you.
You are always communicating. Voice dynamics, vocal techniques, body language, facial expression, and research, preparation, and planning are all important factors in a successful presentation day. We can work together or at your own pace on all of these.
If you are dissatisfied with past public speaking experiences, selecting some of the exercises that appeal to you and following them will allow you to be proactive--you are taking an action in order to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome in a future event. You have anticipated a potential obstacle and in your imagination you can envision facing it head-on or slipping over, under, around, or through a hurdle.
At its most basic formulation, most voice difficulties are founded on fears. Public speaking is rarely physically risky or dangerous--students fear the possible outcomes that may occur: fear of challenge, fear of change, fear of others' opinions being different from our own, fear of ridicule when we make a mistake, fear of missing out if we back out, fear of not living up to family, friends', or teachers' expectations, and even fear that we'll do so well we'll be asked to give the presentation again for our homeroom, the school news show, or the school board meeting.
It is one of the foundations of ALERT that no matter what projects or activities we engage in from year-to-year, students are encouraged to exercise metacognition, thinking about our thinking. Many educators and theorists have looked at metacognition in so many ways, but one of the recurring ideas or patterns is that much of our educational experience comes down to perception. Is it possible that we can approach our fears about public speaking as a mindset exercise? Recognize the public presentation for what it is--an opportunity to practice something that at first very few people will be good at. That's why we begin early and with few consequences.
At its most basic formulation, most voice difficulties are founded on fears. Public speaking is rarely physically risky or dangerous--students fear the possible outcomes that may occur: fear of challenge, fear of change, fear of others' opinions being different from our own, fear of ridicule when we make a mistake, fear of missing out if we back out, fear of not living up to family, friends', or teachers' expectations, and even fear that we'll do so well we'll be asked to give the presentation again for our homeroom, the school news show, or the school board meeting.
It is one of the foundations of ALERT that no matter what projects or activities we engage in from year-to-year, students are encouraged to exercise metacognition, thinking about our thinking. Many educators and theorists have looked at metacognition in so many ways, but one of the recurring ideas or patterns is that much of our educational experience comes down to perception. Is it possible that we can approach our fears about public speaking as a mindset exercise? Recognize the public presentation for what it is--an opportunity to practice something that at first very few people will be good at. That's why we begin early and with few consequences.
A Bad Case of ALERT-itis: Let's work to become more aware of how our physical tension is in response to mental or emotional anxiety. The sore throat the morning of a presentation is ALERT-itis.
"Oh, I don't feel so good; I just want to get the speech over and done with, so I'll hurry through it because my throat is sore."
"I might not do so well today. Maybe I should give my presentation after all the others."
If instead we acknowledge the tension and anxiety, the sore throat clears right up. This is not a competition. It is a time to share the joy you found in your topic and the excitement of sharing your thinking about an issue.
One curious medical solution to avoiding an ALERT-itis sore throat is to prepare well.
ALERT Weekly Voice Warm Ups
During Focus Group or during Extra Time, you may want to seize the opportunity to tell a joke, read from your journal, recite a poem, or act out a brief scene in order to gain fluency and confidence. The pages below include links to monologues, scripts, and soliloquies.
Train Your Voice: Vocal Range
Your physical voice is a system of organs and muscles; just as there are routines you can follow to become a better athlete, there are exercises and routines that will result in better voice control and strength.
Discover Your Voice: Speaking Well
Your communication skills will improve with thoughtful practice, reducing the impact of stage fright or pre-performance nervous spells.
Master Your Voice: Influence and Persuasion
Reaching beyond tone and tenor and communicating with confidence, you can convey information, share personal anecdotes, entertain audiences, and persuade listeners through further study and practice.