How to Help Shy Students with Their Fear of Presentations

Looking for ways to help shy students get out of their shells?

In this 3-Minute Classroom Problem Solver, SimpleK12's Teacher Learning Community presenter Kim Munoz explains how you can use Voki to help shy students speak up and express themselves.

Help shy students get out of their shells with Voki.

Voki is a free web tool that allows you to create your own talking characters. Your students will have so much fun creating their own Vokis, they won't even realize how much they're learning along the way.

So how can Voki help shy students? When students create their own talking avatars, they can present information behind the comfort of their electronic selves. Eventually, we'll want students to be comfortable presenting information in real life, but this is a great first step in the right direction. Your students will build self-esteem and get more comfortable presenting information to their peers.

There are so many fun options available when creating and editing your Vokis. Let your students have fun with the creation process, but you may want to set a time limit so they don't spend too much time creating their character. Remember, it's not about the technology, it's how you use it to help students. Their Vokis don't need to be 100 percent perfect to work as presentation aids; 10-15 minutes is plenty of time for your students to create their first Voki.

How else might you use Voki in the classroom?

• Create your own Voki and record an introduction about yourself. Embed the end result on your classroom blog or website.
• Have students create Vokis of their favorite historical figure delivering a famous monologue or quote.
• We all know how easy it is for students to “zone out” when a substitute enters the classroom. Leave instructions on a Voki for the substitute to play while you're out – hearing your voice may snap students back into work mode.

About Our Help Shy Students with Their Fear of Presentations Presenter
Kim Munoz is an Instructional Technologist for Franklin ISD and a former Bryan ISD middle school technology teacher with over 16 years of teaching experience. She has conducted well over 50 unique training sessions for SimpleK12, click here to take a look at more videos from Kim.