This week I found myself struggling to keep up. What a challenging week of assignments and not to use it as an excuse, but it's difficult not having the weekend to work on projects because of Military commitments. But, I'm still working and things are getting done, just not as quickly as I thought based on the time it should take to complete each project.
This week we learned a great deal about impacting your audience through a more simplistic format. Planning a presentation by going analog - getting away from the computer and back to using simpler forms of creating ideas that focus on what is most important for a presentation. I found this to be most informative as I typically would stare at the computer screen attempting to discover something that I am supposed to present about. Usually this does occur, but after how long of sitting there and re-writing countless times. Simple planning and getting away from technology would be better suited for presentations.
Presentations that lack stickiness are often not well remembered, in which case you have audience members leaving wondering if they will ever get those 20 minutes back. That is not a desired response from your audience. However, proper planning and focus can turn the most boring topic into a fun and exciting time.
I remember teaching a unit that discussed how to count rhythm. This was before we had an Interactive White Board in my classroom, but it used old images of rhythms and I would draw notes and ask students to count it, without really teaching them much of anything. Now, with the help of the Smart Board, the presentation and the lesson are more much enjoyable and educational as the students can write answers, discover what was wrong and what was write.
This week was very difficult and I hope that next week is slightly less intense. But I am really enjoying taking pictures everyday and posting them on Posterous.
Josh, I couldn't agree with you more!! I am struggling to complete my work too, I am in the middle of a move. We (my daughter and I) are looking for our "fresh start" after losing my son in September to traumatic brain injury.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do the same thing you do, I stare at the computer screen and though it seems time consuming to go back to the "drawing board" first, it does makes sense because I found I am sitting there for hours on the computer and get no where. Sometimes more frustrating.
Another thing I find is I lose the main focus when I don't walk away for a while. Great points!
I felt overwhelmed as well this week, and I did not have any military commitments (though raising three kids, working full time, and doing full time graduate work is probably just as busy). I think that 8-10 hours of homework per week is super excessive. I hope that our comments are read about the load and heeded. I am having difficulties with Presentation Zen because it is all talk, but not much demonstration for putting all those ideas into practice.
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteI hate that feeling of writer's/presenter's block...just staring at a blank screen and feeling my eyes go buggy. I am willing to try stepping away from the computer and trying to plan things out on paper. Sometimes my biggest hurdle is the WHAT part, so I am hoping I don't run into that problem. After taking time to think about "sticky" presentations I feel bad for my students because I couldn't think of one "sticky" presentation I did for them. I will be getting a whiteboard soon, so I hope to be able to make better presentations. I'm happy to hear that you are having fun with your board.