Session 4

This week I really enjoyed wrapping up Presentation Zen and reflecting on how this book has changed my outlook on presentations in general. I think that I became more aware of what I am doing right and the areas that I need to work on improving.

Overall, I found Prezi to be an interesting alternative for giving presentations. I liked how this presentation tool really forces the creator to think about the big ideas. Similar to the Pecha Kucha, this tool makes the presenter think about what is actually best for the audience, which will result in high quality presentations that are not too long/overwhelming. Once you spend some time getting to know how to use Prezi, it is actually an easy and fun tool. My only frustration was that I could not get the words "click anywhere to insert text" off of my Prezi. Has anyone else had that problem?

Regarding my Pecha Kucha on the Kennedy Administration, I like that I was able to create a presentation on the domestic/cultural aspects of Kennedy's presidency that only lasts a little over six minutes. A major reason for this is because I do not have that much actual class time to devote to an area that is fascinating, but not essential in many ways. This demonstrated to me the value of creating a Pecha Kucha.

Session 3

I really enjoyed all of the tasks this week. A main reason for this is that I really feel like I can bring the technology, tools, and skills that I am learning into my classroom. For example, my students will be doing a project on popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s. When we were assigned the task of created a 30 second film on Animoto, I decided to focus on 1950s popular culture. Then at school yesterday, I came up with the first way that I plan to integrate Animoto into my classroom with this project. Basically, what I plan to do is once students have their assigned topic, they will look for 12 pictures that best represent their popular culture topic. Then, the will create their 30 second Animoto short and share with the class as a preview of what they will be doing (kind of like they do for movies to raise the interest level). Yesterday, I showed my students my Animoto that I created for this class to introduce them to the project. The students really got excited, not only about the project, but especially about creating their own Animoto.

Also, I really enjoyed the chapter from Presentation Zen and the accompanied video that we watched this week. The ideas presented really forced me to reevaluate the presentations that I am currently giving and how the whole idea of “less is more” is a great method to follow. I really like the way that I was able to revise my previous presentation and create an accompanied handout. Being someone who usually loves to give a lot of details, I felt that the handout still allowed me to be specific, but less wordy on during my actual presentation. Now the hard part, I have to go back and revise my other presentations to allow them to be effective as well.

Session 2

I really enjoyed the second session and the activities that we were asked to do. In particular, I found the chapters in Presentation Zen to be very useful because they got me really thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of my presentations. Overall, I feel that my presentations really do have most of the elements that make it "stick" for the audience. The one area that I really want to work on improving are making the presentation more unexpected and/or add a few more elements of surprise that will raise the interest level such as music or video clips. Besides that, I also want to try and simplify my slides so that there is less information on each slide, which will allow the most important details to "stick."

Regarding the VoiceThread program, I have already begun to think about how I could really incorporate this program into my classroom. For example, next quarter, my students are creating PowerPoint presentations on popular culture from the 1950s and 1960s and then presenting them to the class. I am considering using the VoiceThread program with my students where they would use laptops and upload their PowerPoints and then record their voice, creating a much more unique way to present what they have learned. Students would then play these in class to everyone else to teach the rest of the class about their topic, again in a different way. This, of course, hinges on whether or not this is feasible given the resources at my school. So, my next step is to talk with the instructional technology teacher to find out if this is possible....I will keep you posted.

Overall, I thought that the first lesson really got me thinking, especially about my skills as a presenter. Thinking about things, I do think that I am a bit "above average" if that is the right word, in the way that I present material to my students. I think I am able to teach the content, but also bring in a little be of humor and stories that they can relate to, making my presentations overall successful. As I said in a post on the class site, I do hope to learn more ways to ensure that all of my presentations include "just enough" information and never "too much." In addition, I am really excited to learn the various other presentation techniques that there are and also how to include more media in my current presentations.

The one assignment that I thought would be a challenge, the picture of a day, has actually been the most fun for me. While I am known by friends for loving to take pictures, I thought that it would be a challenge to remember to take and post a picture every day, but so far it has been fun.