Response to " Explore: Ch. 4 Read and View"

EXPLORE: Ch. 4 Read and View:

The video mentions the importance of having students speaking and presenting in front of the classroom. I think public speaking should be something with emphasize more in the classroom. It isn't just significant because public speaking skills are important and underdeveloped in adolescents. It's also significant because of the development of a project before hand. 

 

 The biggest mistake made when it comes to Power Point (the controversy over which is mentioned in the chapter) is people just recite the information on the slides. But Power Points really should only say some key things not all of them, and you as a presenter should have additional things to say related to and beyond what is being shown up on the slide.

 

I think we need to teach students to develop, organize and argue their thoughts and opinions about a topic in a way that is not only functional but also compelling. This is particularly important as it relates to my subject area. History is about sifting through a lot of information, figuring out what is important, determining whether there are biases or shortcomings, and then finally making arguments about all of it. 

 

The video points to the incorporation of multimedia features into presentation to improve upon them. This is definitely a start to improving presentations such as Power Points and encouraging students to take a serious interest in crafting and presenting them. But I don't think it's just enough to have some cool images or video or what have you in the presentation. Students also need to be taught the importance of preparation as well.