I'm really finding the material all coming together this week. The section we read in our text has been extremely helpful, and I can begin to envision how my presentations might look from now on. I like Garr's common sense suggestions and the stress on simplifying and streamlining. I can see how my past presentations have fallen victim to the mistakes that many make. I have spent a lot of time filling my slides with words and taking up every space imaginable with clip art so that the slides look busy. I think I will have much more fun creating my presentations from now on.
On the same note, as I attempt to remake my uploaded show, I'm finding that focusing on the central message is not as easy as it sounds, nor is it necessarily obvious. I think I have been guilty of just spitting out information without considering what I want my students to actually know. What knowledge do I want them to gain from my introduction to the Internet? I already know that I need to cut out a lot of my content - actually break it down into separate presentations - but until I can figure out my central message, that will be a challenge. As I re-examine my presentation, I'm also referring greatly to the NETS on Digital Citizenship and trying to incorporate those standards into my discussion. It feels a bit overwhelming. Perhaps it would be helpful to actually create my handout first and work backwards. I'd be interested to know if that's the process others are following. And speaking of the handout, that's another area I'm pondering. Since my presentation is directed at the 3rd graders, I have to question how I want my handout to appear. Is a one-page typed worksheet the best format for 8 and 9 year-olds, or will that be too much for them? Would it be better to list ideas in an outline form so that it appears more organized? I think to answer this, I'll speak to the 3rd Grade teacher. I'm sure she could suggest the best format.
I also am finding the Digitales chapters and especially the 7 steps extremely useful. As I have mentioned, my students do create digital stories and both I and they have found discovering their stories to be difficult. In the past I had them gather photos and then work on their stories, but what typically happens is that they start simply describing what's in the photo instead of using the photos to complement their stories. I guess the obvious solution is to have them create the story FIRST and THEN gather the media later, as the 7 steps worksheet maps out. Clearly, I have placed the cart before the horse in the past.
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I have just started my online classes and have started the process of revision and in the case of this year that means attempting to use information from our studies here so it really is more like creating anew. I have been designing the presentation then creating the worksheets, posting links to the word documents for the students to download. I teach high school so my handouts are usually longer than one page. I have been creating the presentations and then the handouts. I think it is helpful for me to focus on the important target learning goals.
ReplyDeleteKara,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is an interesting challenge to decide what should appear in your handouts. If we were creating business presentations, the task of creating a handout riddled with details and clarifying information might not be so difficult. But we are forced to really tailor our handouts to a young audience. I like your idea of working backwards from the handout, and that is something that we probably try to do in our lessons. I always try to examine the test, and then figure out the best way to get my students to be prepared for the assessment. Hopefully that helps eliminate information that, although may be important, doesn't really enhance the learning goals.
I think your DigiTales example is a trap that we have to be careful to avoid. As we have learned throughout our studies, any technology should enhance the message, not replace it. If we focus on the technology and try to fit our message to the tools we are using, I think we will struggle having a strong message. By having your kids create their stories first, and then enhancing the stories with the pictures, I think your students could produce some really awesome work. :)
Creating handouts to compliment a presentation for younger childrem is definately a challenge considering the amount of learning they do through the written word is limited at this age. I was imagining my 3rd grader coming home with an outline... I wonder if a handout containing the slides and a sentence next to the slide capturing the main idea would be appropriate. That way they would have the visual recall of the slide, and some simple language next to it to help them recall what was said. What did you find out from the 3rd grade teacher?
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