Teach Better - Work Less - Achieve More: Thin Slides and Thick Slides EduProtocols

Presenting information to an authentic audience is a skill that all students will most likely need to master at some point in their lives. Fortunately, there are EduProtocols that can help students grow that skill: Thin Slides and Thick Slides. Think of "Thin Slides" as a presentation in which the speaker tells the story: one word, one image, one slide. In contrast, think of "Thick Slides" as a report in which the slide tells the story: some pictures with captions, some facts, a quote, and/or perhaps a table to compare and contrast information. 

Thin Slides  (Presentation: Speaker Tells the Story)	Thick Slides (Report: Slide Tells the Story)
One word or phrase Eye-catching image or graphic	2-3 pictures with captions Table to compare 3-4 facts 1st person quote 3rd person quote

Thin Slides is meant to be a fast activity (use a timer to enforce the time) and a simple activity (the slides don't have to be perfect--the power is in each student sharing something with the whole class). Topics for Thin Slides are endless in terms of both content and creative expression with visuals.

Academic Goals

• To achieve quick academic concept development (imagine thirty-five slides about a single vocab word or concept made in five minutes and presented in another six to seven minutes)
• To create less work for the teacher and way more contact time with the content for students
• To focus on creativity and visual communication
• To support students' collaboration and critical thinking
• To address the CCSS ELA literacy standards for speaking and listening, writing, and language

Teacher Big Ideas

• Limit the need for direct instruction.

• Use Thin Slides as a pre- or post-instruction activity.

• Why so fast? We want 100 percent participation. Limiting the time allows more students to be engaged.

• Build student skills and speed to prepare them for using other protocols (Iron Chef, BookaKucha, and CyberSandwich) with a bare minimum of prep.

Thick Slides are meant for students to share information in a deconstructed paragraph, including a title, subtitle, five to six facts, two to three pictures, and a couple of citations. They are a great way to scaffold report writing, but not necessarily a great way to present information as students would most likely just read their slides to the class.

Check out the slide deck below for detailed instructions and feel free to make a copy of the template as it includes both Thin Slides as well as Thick Slides. You would want to assign Thin Slides activity via Google Classroom so that students can edit the shared slide deck (be sure that students practice good digital citizenship and only work on the slide that is assigned to them). Once the time for the creation task runs out, students can present from their seat as the teacher displays the presentation. Getting input from the entire class is the main goal of Thin Slides. The template also includes an example of a "Thick Slide" which teachers can modify before they assign it to students. In the case of Thick Slides, it may be best to make a copy of the template for each student so they have a space to build their slide without interference.