Day 12: Going on the Road

Making a presentation to young people is very different than one made to a group of adults. As teachers, we were probably made painfully aware of this the first time we got in front of a classroom. We need to get to the point and make it relevant. We need show that we are interested in what we are saying or our students won’t be either. And we need to keep our cool. Sometimes one of your “audience” members will do something to distract you from your train of thought. This when remembering 5 Fail-Safe Tips When You Forget or Get Flustered During a Presentation will help you out. I never thought of “fiddling with fodder” to buy some time to get my thoughts back. I may have to try that in my classroom.

Day 11 Readings: Portfolios and Assessment

An assessment portfolio is designed to show a student’s progress toward and achievement of certain objectives. They are collaborative in that students self-assess and reflect on the pieces they choose to include. It is a true teaching tool in that it engages the student’s metacognitive processes. They begin to understand what they know. However, until the culture of assessment changes, the use of portfolios as an alternative assessment will be hard to implement. The desire for objective, standardized, numerical scores still guides many parents, administrators, universities, and employers.

Day 10: Electronic Portfolios for Students

Digital portfolios provide a richer picture of what our students can do. Instead of the simple snapshot in time that a multiple-choice test might provide, the e-portfolio allows for a broader picture over time. For elementary students, the ability to show growth over time is an ideal purpose for a digital portfolio. For the parents of my students, that growth is their primary concern. As a sixth grade teacher, the opportunity to give my students more involvement in choosing what they feel is a true reflection of what they know or can do is one which I can’t pass up.

Day 9: Electronic Portfolios

Dr. Barrett points out that the versatility of electronic portfolios is their biggest benefit. Eportfolios allow you to add links to navigate around your collection of artifacts. They also allow you to add more than text and images; audio and video can also be added. As a society, we have moved beyond one-dimensional text and pictures. The compilation of our best teaching practices must also be multi-dimensional, especially since these portfolios frequently serve many purposes – documenting the meeting of standards, showing depth of learning, and highlighting teaching competence.

Day 8: Professional/Teaching Portfolios

If teachers wish to be treated as professionals, then we must be ready to show evidence of our expertise. A portfolio presents much more information than a simple resume; it provides a snapshot of our daily practices and thus a clearer picture of what we do. With the proliferation of technology tools available, it makes sense for teachers to utilize digital portfolios in lieu of paper binders. But, in order for this collection of our best practices to be effective, we must go beyond merely grabbing everything we have created for inclusion in the portfolio. We must take the time to reflect on what we have done and choose only the most relevant examples. Unfortunately, presentation of our portfolios often only happens when we search for a new job (which hopefully isn’t too often.) But, in my graduate work experiences, I have discovered that in order to rejuvenate our teaching, we must take the time to celebrate our successes occasionally.

Day 7: Tips for Different Types of Presentations

The keys to a good presentation are preparation and conclusion. I tell my writing students that they must provide a finish for their readers. The audience remembers the beginning and the end of your story and maybe some of the middle.
Unfortunately, as teachers, we are usually in a time crunch, so we skip the planning stage and often cut or rush the conclusion of the presentation. Instead we use what time and energy we have on the content of the presentation.
As I think back over some of my less-than-successful presentations versus my enjoyable ones, I realize that the ones I enjoyed the most were the presentations where I felt most prepared and confident. My audience responded in kind. It’s worth taking the time.

Day 6: Using Multimedia Peripherals

Although I found the Top 10 Tips to be informative, the article about 1001 Educational Uses for a Digital Camera got my imagination started. I started thinking about linking curriculum with my digital photos. At the beginning of the year, I take an individual photo of each student and hang it in my framed friends’ gallery. I take another at the end of the year so the students can see how much they have changed. But, it never occurred to me to link the photos to an introduction interview or connect it to a data sheet for math. Such a simple extension to something I’m already doing. I find myself examining my curriculum with a closer eye to see if there are any other ways I could use digital photos.

Day 5: Using Fonts, Clip Art and Photographs in Multimedia Presentations

We live in a world of first impressions. If something is not visually appealing, we frequently move on. I tell my students that appearances can get you into as much trouble as reality. This is especially true of presentations. Most presentations are designed to market something, either a product or information. In order to sell that “something”, we must make the marketing tool visually appealing. If it is not, the audience will move on.

Fonts and visuals such as clipart and photos are the first things the audience will register, even before the content sinks in. Therefore, we must make the fonts large enough and clear enough to read. We must also remember the visual effect of the font style. Some fonts project strength and confidence; others project casual friendliness. We must choose carefully to give the right impression. Equal care must be taken with visuals. If you want to be viewed as professional, then your photos and graphics should be professional. When I reflect on my own use of these elements, I realize that I frequently fall back on clipart. But, even sixth graders get tired of cutesy. So, I guess my goal should be more photos, less clipart.

Day 4: Defining Multimedia. Multimedia, Copyright Law and Fair Use

My definition of multimedia incorporates visual, sound, and text to deliver a message or complete a task. It usually involves a combination of text, graphics, video, animation, and/or audio elements.

Copyright and Fair Use
In this digital age, it has become so easy to copy and paste someone else’s words, pictures, graphics, etc. With the proliferation of music and video downloads, kids have become desensitized to the notion that taking something directly from the Internet may be stealing. Adults, including teachers, sometimes fall into this mindset as well. Rereading the rules of copyright and fair use forced me to mentally review all of the multimedia that I have gleaned from the Internet. Fortunately, so far I have erred on the side of caution and followed the rules for Fair Use. But, it would be so easy to reuse something each year. The conclusion I reached is that we must be ever vigilant ourselves about using something from the Internet. We must teach our students how to properly use information, artwork, video, etc., from the Internet. We must rethink our assignments and transform our teaching to adapt to this new source of information. Preventative is so much better than punishment.

Day 3: Setting the Organizational Stage

Presentation Storyboarding gave a good foundation for understanding storyboards. Although screen storyboards can be more collaborative and allow for duplication, paper storyboards have the flexibility of being able to record them anywhere the urge strikes. It is important to remember that storyboards are the intermediate stage of planning a presentation. The beginning stage was the vague ideas in your head. The final stage includes all of the details for an end result. However, when creating the storyboard, it is perfectly acceptable to use placeholders for images/video and only write the beginning of lines of text. The idea is to provide you with a visual road map to your final presentation.

Defining Tools for a New Learning Space: Writing and Reading Class Blogs by Sarah Hurlburt made some interesting points about class blogs versus real-world blogs. In a real-world blog, students are motivated by their own interests. In a class blog, students view the entries as assignments. This makes the class blog an “unnatural” social networking application. Students may experience anxiety when discussing areas in which they are not as proficient. They are very cognizant of personal exposure. In order to be successful, class blogs must take into account the need of the students to bring some personal authority to the subject, must provide external accessibility to information as needed, and allow for the personal exposure that a student may feel. Personalization of the blog will allow the student to create a safe zone where comments are viewed as peripherals. This may minimize the personal exposure felt.

One potential success of class blogs may be felt in writing. The author pointed out that the opportunity to read other students’ entries and the comments (especially of the instructor) gives the students a chance to view other work and judge for themselves what is successful. I think this supports a constructivist view of learning. Students analyze, compare their own work, and create their own definitions of “successful”. In my writing class, I frequently give students the opportunity to see student samples. I know myself that I feel better equipped to complete an assignment when I first have the opportunity to see what a finished product looks like. It allows me to create my own parameters of what my product should look like.

Day 2: Setting the Theoretical Stage and Design Basics

In the article, How Do I Apply Constructivism in My Classroom?, the author focuses on five main principles for implementing constructivism in the classroom.
The first is to pose problems that are, or may be, relevant to the student. In my class, for example, when teaching persuasive writing, I always choose a topic of relevance to my sixth graders such as cell phone use in schools. If it is a topic in which they have an interest, students start finding the solutions almost immediately.

The second principle discussed was to structure learning around essential concepts. With the current focus on trying to cram as much as possible into a school year, designing your instruction around an essential concept seems key. In math, an essential question could be “what strategies help with multiplication and division facts?” This allows students to find more than one way to find a solution.

Another principle involves using open-ended, non-judgmental questioning to allow students to explain themselves. When students have the opportunity to express their views and explain their reasoning, they are building new paths of knowledge. Before any writing assignment in my class, I open the floor for discussion. This includes brainstorming and exploration of the topic before we write a single word.

The fourth principle of implementing constructivism is to adapt your curriculum to make it developmentally appropriate. We need to remember that our students need to stretch a little; don’t give them an assignment that they’ve done over and over. For example, my students have done PowerPoint™ presentations for projects for the last two years. This year, I might have them use a different tool such as creating a simple webpage to present information.

The final principle focuses on assessment. We must shift our emphasis away from how well or how poorly a student performed and instead, examine what the student may need to be successful. One way to do this is for students to decide what is needed as a final product or result. Have them design their own rubrics. The design process alone is informational to teachers in that it provides a picture of what students think is of value in this topic.

Design Tips and Hints
When designing a presentation, it is important to remember to keep it simple. The key is to get your audience’s attention with your message, not your artistic prowess. When writing for the Web especially, remember that you may only have your audience’s attention for a short time, so get to the point.

As you sit down to stage your message, keep in mind that whether you are crafting a verbal or a written presentation, the same steps will be the same: planning, preparing, practicing, previewing, and presenting. Remember a great presentation is a balance of content, design, and delivery. Give each step equal time. Unfortunately, many people skip the most important phase, planning. Don’t! This sets the stage for the rest of your presentation.

When you organize your ideas, set aside about 15% of presentation for introducing your topic and giving a preview of what is to come. Use 75% for the body of your message; no more than 3 key points with supporting details. Finish up with the last 10% for your conclusion. Don’t skimp on the ending. Use this time to review your main points and to tell your audience what you want them to do.

Specific things to remember when crafting a presentation:

• Consistent format on all screens and/or slides
• Don’t recite slides or use audio with text (unless it is exactly the same words) – audience can’t listen and read at the same time
• Avoid obnoxious animations
• Webpages
• Give buttons meaningful labels and use no more than 12 on one screen
• Use no more than 5 colors per screen. Blue tones are good for backgrounds. Bright red/yellow get user to respond quickly
• To attract attention to text, animate the border, not the text
• Use transitions (wipes/fades) to change media but use sparingly
• Use sans serif for titles/bullets. Avoid pronouns. Never use ALL UPPERCASE.
• Rule of thumb – few characters per line, few lines per screen, use links to provide comprehensive information.

• 7 Deadliest Sins of PowerPoint™ presentations –
• bullet points
• clip art – use photos instead
• grainy pictures
• copyright theft
• purely decorative images
• too long video clips
• corny images