Public Speaking Reloaded: Chatham Hosts TED Talk Friday

CHATHAM, NJ - The School District of the Chatham dealt with flagging enrollment in their traditional public speaking course by modernizing it, upgrading it and now is on the cusp of sharing the results of that overhaul in Friday's TedXYouth@Chatham presentation.

"This event is the culmination of a ton of work and collaboration between school staff and community members, with the end-product serving as a showcase of some of the outstanding work accomplished by the students in Chatham High School's Talking the Talk course," Superintendent Michael LaSusa said. "We hope that you will mark the date and join us for this inaugural event."

On June 14, these community members will join Chatham High School students to reflect, inspire, and connect.

The revamp was the brainchild of English teacher Christina McCabe who reinvented Public Speaking into a class called "Talking the Talk" and used the TED Ed curriculum created by the TED organization for school districts to do so, according to LaSusa.

"If you watch TED talks and see something on the bottom of the screen like 'TEDx@London' that means that the event was held in London. We are doing one here in Chatham, and it is a TEDYouth event, meaning that the talks will primarily be those of our students," LaSusa said. "We are running an English elective at the high school this year that is called 'Talking the Talk.' The focus of the course is public speaking and every student is required to create their own TED Talk. So we are very excited to make this happen."

LaSusa said before the change was made enrollment in the Public Speaking elective was a handful of students. The new course offering garnered 53 students.

Want To Go?

• TEDxYouth@Chatham on Friday, June 14 in the CHS auditorium
• Music and entertainment begin at 5:30 p.m., house opens at 6 p.m. and talks start at 6:30 p.m.

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