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
2 comments:
Patti, I really like the way that you are able to tie in readings with examples of good teaching practices from your own classroom. Your classroom sounds like a fun place to be, what with creating webpages and powerpoint presentations! I have to say that I am a little bit jealous! My second graders and I are lucky if we make it to the computer lab once a week!
Something I must concur with is what you said about changing the way we view our planning/assessments of students to reflect open ended questioning strategies and a specific goal or focus in mind to help direct our teaching. It's interesting, but I think that it takes newcomers or novices to our profession a couple of years to know how to do this effectively and efficiently in the best interest of our students. Like parenting, there are many places within the realm of teaching where there IS NO HOW TO MANUAL! Bummer. I think you present a good example of what to do in a modern day technology friendly classroom.
When it comes to design and instruction implementation can be a nightmare. I agree that when it comes to planning and assessing students, we as educators need to get students to reflect open-ended questioning strategies. Higher level thinking is how to get students become successful. What a better way to do that then incorporate technology.
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