The Seniors Become the Teachers?!

by Sam Levenson, SSLI '27

As a part of their Public Speaking class, senior students completed interactive presentations where they became the “teachers.” This assignment showcased the students' ability to educate their classmates on different topics of their choice.

The seniors had a great time learning from their classmates. (S. Thorgersen)

Mr. Thorgersen, the class’s teacher, explained, “As their final performance, students are asked to assume a pretty difficult public speaking exercise, which is to teach.” Mr. Thorgersen described how this presentation differed from previous presentations. In part, this time, students were not given a script to perform.

The presentations covered a diverse range of subjects, as the students were able to select topics that were meaningful and interesting to them. Senior Summer Walters said, “I did my presentation about how to raise healthy chickens. I got chickens a couple years ago, so I did [my presentation] about them.” Senior Jared Pitzer brought his passion for baseball to the class. Pitzer elaborated, “I taught [the class] about the art of pitching and went into details about the ins and outs of pitches.” Pitzer expressed that although he was only given twenty minutes to teach, he would have loved to talk about the topic for hours.

Students were eager to participate in their peers' projects. (S. Thorgersen)

These presentations contributed to the valuable skills and abilities the students have been learning, developing, and implementing all year. Mr. Thorgersen stated, “They have to learn how to keep an audience's attention, and they have to learn how to structure their lesson, so that students remain engaged throughout.”

After giving their presentations, the students felt great about their hard work. Walters described, “I feel like my presentation went well. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed learning about raising chickens. Everyone seemed to be very engaged, intrigued, and even asked a lot of questions.” Pitzer was also proud of his work: “I feel good about how my presentation went, as I wanted to teach an actual school-like class, which was different from what most other students had done.”

Mr. Thorgersen concluded, “The ability to interact with, and to engage, large groups is crucial in many leadership positions, so my course is meant to expose them to real world circumstances in which they might find themselves in the future publicly speaking.”

Sam Levenson is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since October 2023. Sam is currently a freshman at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: slevenson27@schechterli.org.