At Speakers' Corner we train our debating and public speaking coaches to practice 'intentional coaching'.
This is a core aspect of our educational philosophy. Intentional coaching involves three key steps:
Assessing students: in our first lessons, we design debating and public speaking activities that are focussed on assessing our students. Our coaches take extensive notes on each student in their class.
Identifying areas of improvement: Our coaches are proactively thinking about the core areas in which each student in their class can improve. That might be their rebuttal, their argument structure or the manner in which they present ideas.
Developing a strategy: Our coaches then work with students closely to develop an improvement strategy. This strategy is executed over the term to ensure our students take huge strides in their debating and public speaking journey.
Intentional coaching also involves proactive coaching during practice debaters. Our coaches will regularly use practice debates on a particular topic area to train our students and assess their progress. During this process, they will actively observe students during preparation time and provide guidance where required. They will also provide direct feedback during debates to ensure students understand where they have made errors in the moment.
At Speakers' Corner, high quality coaching is part of our DNA.
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