Final Presentation Guidelines:
The guidelines below are meant to help you make your presentation something to be proud of as you close your first semester.
1) It is impossible to capture all the thinking you have done in your entire project, so you need to think of one major point you want to make about yourself and/or the texts: focus on the major theme you developed.
2) You then develop your theme by presenting the highlights from each text.
You could talk about how you arrived at the theme; what interested you or attracted you to the theme;
You could outline the major connections you made between the readings and your own life;
You could characterize the major connections in some way: surprising? explicit? affirming? obscure?
You could use the audio component(s) or the visual component(s) to begin or to conclude or to serve as a metaphor for your project;
3) Remember your audience. You will be presenting to students who have already read the pieces and will already know something about the theme you chose. What they won’t know and what will interest them most is how you thought about the theme and how you incorporated your life experience.
Surprise Us! Dazzle us! By the end of the presentation, students in the room should think to themselves: “I know so much more about (student) now. What a cool way to think about the books.”
•Remember: Clarity; Cogency, and Completeness: There must be a beginning, middle and end to the presentation.
•Be prepared. Be relaxed, but not so casual that you wander off in your speech.
•Have notes to help you focus what you are going to say, but do not just read a prepared text.
•Speak directly to the audience. If you use a power point, remember to use it as a reference only. Speak to your audience, not the board.
•Speak clearly and distinctly.
•Be mindful of your time. Everyone in the group needs to present, so you need to limit your remarks to five or six minutes.
Content of Presentation: point and development 50%
Presentation Elements: clarity of speech, eye contact, etc. 50%