Lesson 2

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “How to Give a Killer Presentation,” Chris Anderson, Harvard Business Publishing

Materials

Tools

• What does it mean to live a life well-lived?: Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist

• Organizing Evidence Tool

• Summarizing Text Tool

Reference Guides

• Organization Reference Guide

Question Sets

• What Does It Mean to Live a Life Well-Lived?: Section 3 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• What does it mean to live a life well-lived?: Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist

• Organizing Evidence Tool

• What Does It Mean to Live a Life Well-Lived?: Section 3 Question Set

• Summarizing Text Tool

Activity 1: Discuss

We will narrow down our options for presentation formats.

Step 1

Your seminar team will narrow down your presentation format options for the Section 3 Diagnostic.

A presentation involves two components: 1) the materials that anchor the presentation, and 2) the speakers’ delivery of the presentation through various communication strategies.

Your presentation might use one of the following strategies from the Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist to highlight and communicate your discoveries about living a life well-lived:

• a multimedia presentation that highlights stories, ideas, and imagery from the texts you have examined and the discoveries you have made personally and collectively

• a photo essay or short film related to stories, ideas, and imagery from the texts you have examined and the discoveries you have made personally and collectively

• A series of linked personal stories that illustrate discoveries you have made personally and collectively

• a TED Talk-style presentation in which your group discusses one or more potential life compasses you have identified and engages the audience with a mix of spoken word and visual aids

• a Google site that organizes your discoveries into multiple pages, including a mixture of storytelling, textual interpretations, and visual representations

• a mind map that illustrates connections among the various texts, ideas, human qualities, and experiences that you have identified as potential life compasses

• another student-designed and teacher-approved product

Step 2

Discuss your responses to the homework questions from the previous lesson as well as the questions below:

1. What information and ideas would you like to present in your presentation? How can the claims and supporting claims your team wrote on your Organizing Evidence Tool help you determine what and how you would like to present?

2. Are there other presentation formats you should consider that are not included on the list? If so, describe them and explain the benefits given your task, audience, and purpose.

3. Of the options listed and any discussed in Question 1, are there any that most appeal to the group members? Which ones and why?

Come to a consensus on the top 1-3 choices for product format. Be sure to consider everyone’s rationale for which project format would be best when considering the task, audience, and purpose. Remember that a consensus does not mean complete agreement, but rather that all ideas have been considered and the majority of the team agrees on the choice.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will determine which product format we will use for our presentation.

Step 1

Based on your narrowed-down list of product formats, find an example of each kind of format online. Use keywords in your searches. For example, if you choose to create a photo essay, search "photo essay examples," or if you are considering a mind map, search "mind map examples."

Answer the following questions about each format you explore from your narrowed-down list:

1. Will the format present your information in an interesting, meaningful, and evocative way?

2. What do you like most about the format?

3. What would you do differently with your own version of the format?

Step 2

Work with your team members to create a checklist of features you want to include in your presentation, based on what you liked in the product formats you explored. For example, do you want to include a visual display like a poster or a slide deck?

Step 3

Thinking about your narrowed-down list, consider what skills or abilities your team members have that would enable your team to create an effective presentation. For example, if you are considering using a slide deck, does one of the team members have strong abilities in creating appealing, well-organized slides? Do you have team members who have a powerful command of language that could create talking points for each slide? Do any of your team members have skills in creating graphics? Are there team members willing to learn new skills to make the project format more effective for your group? You want to be able to capitalize on the skills and abilities of your group while ensuring that each person serves a role, whether as presenter or supporting. Make a list of what each team member believes they can contribute to the presentation.

Step 4

Come to a consensus about the final product format. Justify your decision by discussing how the format will help with the task, audience, and purpose of the presentation.

Activity 3: Discuss

We will learn what considerations we should pay attention to as we begin drafting our products.

Step 1

Now that your seminar team has decided on the presentation format and you have an outline of your presentation content (Organizing Evidence Tool), you need to begin drafting the presentation. In order to create a draft, you must first determine what should be included in the presentation. Consider revisiting the Organizing Reference Guide, in particular, the section titled "Drafting a Work Using Your Organization."

Discuss the following questions to think about the body of work you have created and collected during the research process.

1. What are your inquiry questions?

2. What are your conclusions or findings?

3. What are your sources?

4. What specific, cited evidence supports your conclusions or findings?

5. What completed tools and analysis about sources can you use to create your final product?

6. What questions do you still have about your topic?

7. What key points about your pathway topic do you want your audience to know based on your research?

Step 2

Based on the volume of information you discussed with your team, and given the presentation is 5-7 minutes long, you need to consider which information from the product should be put into the presentation and which information does not need to be included.

To decide what to include in your presentation, you need to revisit the ideas of task, purpose, and audience. Discuss the following questions with your team:

1. What is the intent of the presentation?

2. How will the audience benefit from the information you share?

3. Thinking about the audience, what information do they already know? What would be new information?

4. What can you do to help the presentation be interesting, evocative, and meaningful for the long term, truly influencing your audience?

Use your discussion to make a plan. You will use this plan in the following lessons.

Activity 4: Write – Discuss

We will reflect on our work to determine our progress toward the presentation. For homework, we will read an article on how to plan and deliver effective presentations.

Step 1

Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

1. How did you, specifically, contribute to your group?

2. On a scale from one to four, how well do you understand the topic, your research, the texts you read, and the presentation plan?

Step 2

For homework, read "How to Give a Killer Presentation" by Chris Anderson. You also might view any of the several TED Talks embedded in the article. As you read and view the presentations, take notes using the following guiding questions:

1. What pieces of advice were new, most helpful, or surprising to you?

2. Which of Anderson’s techniques or approaches to presenting publicly might your team use for its presentation?