BOOKS
FIND YOUR VOICE AND TAKE THE LEAD
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Find Your Voice and Take the Lead: A Student’s Guide to Public Speaking:
Find Your Voice and Take the Lead: A Student’s Guide to Public Speaking is a step-by-step guide to developing leadership skills, a natural confident speaking style and the ability to create and deliver powerful messages that encourage action.
Donald Sterrett and I developed this program and workbook to give high school students the skills they need to become advocates for change and to be engaged active citizens. We have seen participating students gain confidence – even those that were afraid of public speaking. It became clear that when students choose a topic they care about, understand their audience, structure a powerful message and practice their speaking skills, they will overcome their fears and speak with power and confidence.
Our approach includes learning to think as a leader, speak from the heart, understand the audience, create a powerful message, and present with style.
Our goal is to help individuals learn to speak with confidence and conviction in front of an audience.
After all, if we are to make this unwieldy democratic form of government work, we need to hear all the voices – not just the loudest and most powerful. We want individuals of all ages to find their voices and develop their speaking skills so they can become part of the solution as well.
The second book in the series will be published in 2014.
TO COME
NOW WORKING ON BOOKS FOR CHILDREN THAT SHOW THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY FORWARD
After a career as a writer and coach – helping others tell their stories -in articles, speeches, video scripts for adults, I began teaching kids how to become public speakers and advocates for change first at The West End House in Boston then at Environmental Charter High School in Los Angeles. This led to co-authoring Find Your Voice and Take the Lead: A Student’s Guide to Public Speaking published by Nebbadoon Press, which is still being used in classes. Now I’m in order to tell my own stories, I’ve been studying writing for children. This has meant learning the craft from the best by attending SCBWI conferences and events, and by taking online courses including Jolie Stekly’s amazing Write for Kids, more than once.