Bob Behnkendorf stays involved by teaching Speak Up! to students
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/08/2010 9:03 AM
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LU VERNE, Iowa —Speak Up! is the gold medal of Bob Behnkendorf's career with Iowa State University Extension career.
Behnkendorf retired last summer as Extension director in Kossuth and Palo Alto counties, but the Kossuth County Extension Council asked him to continue teaching Speak Up! to all fifth graders in the county's seven schools.
Behnkendorf learned about Speak Up! while attending a national youth conference in Des Moines shortly after he started working for Extension 12 years ago.
The program was first introduced in Des Moines Public Schools in 1994 as an intergenerational initiative of United Way's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. He received permission to adapt it for use in his county.
On a recent afternoon, he was in Zoe Fett's class at Corwith-Wesley-Lu Verne School Grade School in Lu Verne.
Elementary School in Lu Verne.
Behnkendorf and volunteers like Doris Barber and Jerry Huggans, both of Lu Verne, and Dianne Chambers of Corwith work one-on-one with fifth graders to increase their self esteem, confidence and communication skills through public speaking.
The program runs for 45 minutes each week for seven weeks. Behnkendorf and his team of volunteers teach students how to research, write and deliver a prepared speech. The students also learn to "think on their feet" by giving impromptu responses. They are instructed on introducing speakers and shaking hands.
"If you only learn one thing, I hope it's the importance of a proper handshake," Behnkendorf told the students. "If you go into a job interview, look the interviewer in the eye and greet him with a firm handshake, you'll have an advantage over the other people who never learned that."
Fett said she finds the program valuable and is happy that Behnkendorf was able to continue it after he retired.
"The kids keep me coming back," said Doris Barber. "I love it when the kids remember you and talk to you later."
Behnkendorf draws the students into the process and helps them narrow their speech topics. Katie Pepper's plan to talk about dogs is funneled down to how to care for a dog, and Justin Nall, who likes farming, is going to give a speech about showing his bucket calf.
The week before, students helped Behnkendorf narrow his topic of fishing to worms, and this week he delivers his 3-minute speech.
He asks the students how they'd like to make $100 this summer as he unfolds a $100 bill. He describes how they can raise worms and sell them as fish bait. He has props to make the speech more interesting —a cooler, newspaper bedding and worms.
During the speech, Dawson Anderson is master of ceremonies, Mariah Burma is timer, Stuart Curtis counts "ums and ahs" and Hunter Giese holds up a "Speak Up!" sign if Behnkendorf needs to turn up the volume. Following the speech there is "a praise and improvement" session.
Behnkendorf has been teaching Speak Up! to 300 students per year for the past 10 years.
"One of the most memorable speeches was when a boy started his speech by calling and whistling for his dog, Princess, and he suddenly fell flat on his back on the floor," Behnkendorf said with a chuckle. "That was how he got our attention. He called his dog, and he pretended that Princess knocked him down."