Monday, November 7, 2022

Teach Better - Work Less - Achieve More: Worst Preso Ever Smart Start

Delivering a presentation in front of the classroom two times a year is simply not enough reps for students to develop their presentation and speaking abilities. It takes many opportunities over the course of multiple years for students to become comfortable and deliver quality presentations in front of their peers. Making time for dozens of students to present can be a challenge, but build success by starting off with The Worst Preso Ever!


Here's how it works:

Prepare for the Activity
  1. Plan for 1:1 devices.
  2. Find on YouTube and bookmark the video "Life after Death by PowerPoint--Clean Edition" by Don McMillan or one of the many similar options.
  3. Make the basic template in the platform of your choice (i.e. Google Slides).
  4. Show students how to start building their slide deck.
Instructions
  1. Remembering to preview and make sure the video content is appropriate for your students, show one of the following videos:
  2. As you show the video, pause after each "no-no" and allow students time to take notes on what they should not do. The video covers such tips as too many bullet points, too much data on a slide and animation vs. effectiveness.
  3. Each student builds one slide per rule broken and labels each error.
  4. Fun twist at the end: Students present a peer's slide deck, not their own. This really makes it fun and impersonal, allowing the kids to be emotionally detached from the slides.
Culture Goals
  • Learn that time given for an activity will be limited.
  • Learn to finish on time.
  • Practice giving full attention to the task at hand.
Academic Goals
  • Students learn basic presentation-building skills.
  • Students practice the "soft skill" of speaking in front of the class.
  • Students practice presenting.
Teacher Big Ideas
  • Focus on finishing within the time limit.
  • Students present someone else's presentation.
Summary of the Build Process
 

Choose a Topic

Break One Rule Per Slide

Five Per Deck

Connect

Students choose a topic that they like or dislike--pets, sports, food, bands, etc.

The goal is to highlight the errors; too many broken rules on a slide creates a jumbled mess!

Break a total of five rules per student deck.

List the rule being broken on the slide.


Presenting the Slides

Presentation

Student Feedback

Secret Plot Twist

Each student presents a classmate's slide to the whole class in a timed two- to three-minute block. Expect kids to get in front of the room and to have a fun time.

Choose three to five students to sit in front of the room to give feedback to the presenters using an electronic format or paper and pencil (think "American Idol"). The goal is to make it fun but also to move the voice to the students. The teacher moves about the room as the moderator, supporting the presenter, correcting errors, explaining process.

Don't tell students ahead of time, but they will be presenting someone else's slide deck. This exchange adds a layer of fun to the activity, but in the moment of chaos, the students begin to understand and embrace the wrongness so that they can appreciate the rightness.


See the slide deck below for detailed instructions and feel free to make a copy of the template.

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