Page 168 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 168
šolsko polje, letnik xxx, številka 5–6
Pupils perform oral presentations from 1st grade onwards. Although
the Slovenian syllabus outlines the topics and steps in the preparation of
the oral presentation, it is up to the teacher to set the criteria and descrip-
tors. Teachers of rhetoric can therefore help other teachers at school as
they guide the pupils through the preparations for oral presentation. This
way, the pupils are aware of the five speaker tasks and really learn to use
them, work together to set the criteria for oral presentations that increase
the complexity in accordance with the pupils (and not in accordance with
the teacher) and to make sure the criteria for oral presentations are harmo-
nised vertically in all courses. Teachers of rhetoric can organize seminars
for other teachers of the teaching staff and share the knowledge about
the basic tasks of the speaker, speech structure, performance, verbal and
non-verbal communication as well as a flexible (i.e. verbal and non-verbal)
control of the speech situation and argumentation skills.
How to move forward?
The elective course in rhetoric has numerous benefits. A rhetoric course
actually puts into practice exactly what curriculum designers want to
bring to primary school, i.e. for the pupils to carefully read different types
of texts or listen to them, read between the lines and use reason based on
facts. Rhetoric can help pupils acquire the skills for preparing an oral pres-
entation with arguments and, at the same time, train their public speak-
ing skills, which is a competence they develop from 1st grade onwards. It
would therefore be worth considering whether it would be suitable to of-
fer courses in rhetoric as early as in the 8th grade (i.e. to both the eighth-
and ninth-grade pupils) as the gained knowledge would benefit them in
various subjects in the 9th grade and it would also mean that the rhetoric
teacher could be more interdisciplinary interconnected.
It would also be appropriate as well as necessary to organize profes-
sional seminars for the teachers of rhetoric, who nowadays have to extend
their knowledge on their own. The seminars would not only provide them
with expertise they did not acquire during their formal education, but
could also offer some training in didactics they urgently need, that is, how
to transfer this expertise to the ninth-grade pupils, how to distribute the
objectives within one school year, how to upgrade and differentiate them,
what to assess and how, and how to interact and connect with teachers
vertically.
Teachers grow and develop professionally at peer-to-peer meetings,
where teaching and assessment experiences can be exchanged, where dis-
cussions on what achieving the objectives looks like, where recorded oral
presentations can be evaluated, and in this way unify assessment criteria.
166
Pupils perform oral presentations from 1st grade onwards. Although
the Slovenian syllabus outlines the topics and steps in the preparation of
the oral presentation, it is up to the teacher to set the criteria and descrip-
tors. Teachers of rhetoric can therefore help other teachers at school as
they guide the pupils through the preparations for oral presentation. This
way, the pupils are aware of the five speaker tasks and really learn to use
them, work together to set the criteria for oral presentations that increase
the complexity in accordance with the pupils (and not in accordance with
the teacher) and to make sure the criteria for oral presentations are harmo-
nised vertically in all courses. Teachers of rhetoric can organize seminars
for other teachers of the teaching staff and share the knowledge about
the basic tasks of the speaker, speech structure, performance, verbal and
non-verbal communication as well as a flexible (i.e. verbal and non-verbal)
control of the speech situation and argumentation skills.
How to move forward?
The elective course in rhetoric has numerous benefits. A rhetoric course
actually puts into practice exactly what curriculum designers want to
bring to primary school, i.e. for the pupils to carefully read different types
of texts or listen to them, read between the lines and use reason based on
facts. Rhetoric can help pupils acquire the skills for preparing an oral pres-
entation with arguments and, at the same time, train their public speak-
ing skills, which is a competence they develop from 1st grade onwards. It
would therefore be worth considering whether it would be suitable to of-
fer courses in rhetoric as early as in the 8th grade (i.e. to both the eighth-
and ninth-grade pupils) as the gained knowledge would benefit them in
various subjects in the 9th grade and it would also mean that the rhetoric
teacher could be more interdisciplinary interconnected.
It would also be appropriate as well as necessary to organize profes-
sional seminars for the teachers of rhetoric, who nowadays have to extend
their knowledge on their own. The seminars would not only provide them
with expertise they did not acquire during their formal education, but
could also offer some training in didactics they urgently need, that is, how
to transfer this expertise to the ninth-grade pupils, how to distribute the
objectives within one school year, how to upgrade and differentiate them,
what to assess and how, and how to interact and connect with teachers
vertically.
Teachers grow and develop professionally at peer-to-peer meetings,
where teaching and assessment experiences can be exchanged, where dis-
cussions on what achieving the objectives looks like, where recorded oral
presentations can be evaluated, and in this way unify assessment criteria.
166
