Prove it!
In Cathy’s elementary school math class, the teacher writes a difficult question on the board.
The whole class stares at it stumped… except for Cathy.
Cathy throws up her hand and says, “the slope of the line is 5!”
Teacher says, “You are correct…but can you prove it?”

Students in school are asked to defend their answer every day in every class, separating ‘good’ from ‘excellent’ answers and ‘average’ from ‘exceptional’ students. To be able to think critically about an answer and clearly articulate your reasoning is difficult for many students but can be developed with practice. Training students to think quickly, consider different sides of the argument and explain their position and reasoning making students competitive for private school admissions.
 
The Keys to Leadership program trains students that effective communication is KEY. We utilize the art of debate and public speaking to training students to be engaged and confident in conversation inside and outside the classroom.
 
1)  Clear and Confident: sometimes nerves can cause students to fidget or voice to crack. At KEY, students are trained with proper enunciation to command a room when speaking aloud.

2)  Act Respectfully: Feelings can guide conversations so debates are fueled by emotion rather than logic. In these instances, it's important to remember to stick to the facts and stats!

 
3)  Listen and Learn:  KEY provides a safe environment to learn that your own ideas aren’t always the best, it's important to listen and learn to your classmates.

4)  Balancing Act: It is theorized that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. But we know that everyone is busy so our education experts can help students balance their workloads and meet expectations now and in the future.
 
Now when Cathy is challenged to defend her reasoning, she takes a deep breath to prepare herself. She smiles and dives into a detailed explanation of how and why she isolated the missing variable, impressing her teacher and her classmates!