Wednesday, February 20, 2008

PowerPointlessness, or How to do it better

I had to pass along this blog post from Joyce Valenza on teaching and encouraging students (and teachers) to create better presentations. At her school, they are trying to help their students create better and more effective presentations for classes and this blog gives you the first chapter on what they tried and how it worked. I recommended it to all of the teachers at my school to help our students prepare classwork and even for themselves (I can say that because I need this too!). It's worth your time to read it if you haven't seen it before.

Joyce Valenza writes on January 20, 2008:
"PowerPoint Reform: a first chapter"

"After 10 years, it was time.

We could not sit through another bullet-ridden, brain-numbing student presentation.

We interviewed the kids.

For them it was just as bad.

They dreaded each others' PowerPoints.

Though we've been using other tools for communication, sometimes the slideshow really seems the best choice. We knew that presentation styles had changed. At conferences and on websites we'd seen so many effective examples. But we knew that breaking 10 years of bad habits was going to be a process. And with PowerPoint so ingrained in our culture, we also expected a fight."

To read the rest, go to: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/130020413.html

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