Presentations

There were several things I liked about the presentations in class yesterday. I'm not sure of everyone's names, though.

In the first presentation about symbolism, I thought those two girls did really well. Their powerpoint was very nicely put together and effective. They chose a great topic that was very appropriate for their target audience (9th grade English class). I remember studying Romeo and Juliet my freshman year of high school. They really sounded like they were teachers talking to a bunch of fifteen year olds, not two college students with their peers. They also did a good job paraphrasing information for us and not reading every word from their slides. I loved the projects at the end, too. That's a great way to reinforce the lesson.

In Carmen and Tanner's presentation, I also thought their powerpoint was well done. They picked a great topic and did an awesome job engaging their audience with the list of things for students to research during the lesson. The book they talked about sounds like a really interesting one. The video they showed about the four girls who were killed in the bombing was very moving. Racism is a big issue in our country and I think the way they addressed that in a classroom setting was very effective.

I thought the presentation where we did the personality quiz was good, too. Since both the "teachers" had different subject areas, they found something that would be useful for all teachers. Of course the personality quiz would probably interest most students, since it's all about them. I know I like to do stuff like that and it would have been really cool to get to do those things in school. Their idea about grouping students together based on their personality types was good, too. Like they said, that allows everyone to realize that people are different and that others may learn differently than they do. It also helps the teacher to understand each student a little better.

I thought Brittany and Gabe's presentation was fun. It was targeted at a younger class so I think their use of colorful maps and stuff in their presentation was very appropriate. Singing the names of the states would definitely help students to memorize the 50 states. I loved their little Animaniacs video. That would work so well with a young class because kids love cartoons. I also liked that they included a little quiz at the end to help reinforce their lesson.