This article should be mandatory reading in all schools at all levels. In fact, it will be a required reading for all of my students. In addressing the question "what are your visuals saying about you, he has broken down the precise steps very simply.
Step 1 Ask yourself a very important question - "What are the stakes associated with your presentation today? Quantify it" This to me speaks directly to the issue of accountability. Ultimately, we need to recognize what is at stake and be prepared for the consequences if we fail to meet the objective. I equate it to students not taking time to study, failing a final exam, which is worth 20% of their final grade, and than arguing (or having their parent's argue) that it's not fair because it's just one test. Obviously, the stakes are higher for a final exam versus a regular test, therefore, more preparation is needed. As educators, no doubt we all understand that students need to be held accountable for their work, but I'm not confident that the parents are in agreement.
Step 2 Professional benchmarking - "We're evaluated on quality of the images used to tell our stories and how effectively we deliver that message - period." This statement says it all.
Step 3 Get another set of eyes to look at your presentation - I absolutely insist that my students do peer reviews of each others presentations and I've found that it not only saves me time in making editing comments, but they get more comfortable asking each other instead of always coming to me for help.
Step 4 Good delivery skills make simple visuals great - "screen visuals are there to support you, not vise versa" was a phrase that I found myself repeating to my students over and over again. However, by the end of the semester, it paid off and my students gave some of the most outstanding presentations. The ultimate compliment for me was having my colleague, with whom I shared a room, say to my students that she had never seen such excellent presentations. After they left the room, she confessed that their presentations were better than she had seen from adults.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree, students need to know that the teacher isn't their only resource. Students learn just as much, if not more from one another.
You set high expectations for your students and they rose to the occasion! That was your doing though!
Understanding the stakes associated with a project is extremely important for our kids to understand. Whenever I present a project to my students, I always show them the rubric and explain to them how they will be graded and what is expected of them. Sometimes I get frustrated with my 4th graders because I don't think they understand the difference in quality and how to present their work.
Kuddos to you on modeling good presentation skills so that by the end of the year your kids were presenting just like today's business schools are instructing their students. :)
It is amazing how poorly some adults will put together presentations...and then read them word for word...argh... The challenge for us as teachers is to make sure students are continually evaluating their own work not only for accuracy but for presentation quality...taking an idea from a response from Patti, how about creating a "style book" from student ideas...like a wiki...
Students need to know all resources that are available to them. As part of the beginning of the year we review all rubrics and do exploration of sources of knowledge. It is important that student's have a clear focus nd learning outcome.
Post a Comment