Week Four-PowerPoint

The assignment to produce a PowerPoint presentation for the Educational Technology class at the University of the Cumberlands could not have come at a more opportune time. I am currently guest teaching to keep my pedagogical skills finely honed at Lyon County High School. I have been asked to lead a sophomore English II Honors section in their reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Of course, the first thing I wanted to do at the outset of the novel is introduce thematic, background, and other informational elements to the students to whom I will be teaching the book. For the purpose of introduction of material and brief discussion, the Microsoft PowerPoint works quite elegantly. The first part of the presentation introduces the author. I then go on to introduce the gothic novel and romanticism. Finally, I use the slides to explain the writing assignment I will be assigning to the students.

The element I am most proud of is the way I seamlessly tied in the assignment at the end of the PowerPoint presentation. I have done this many times in the past as a full-time teacher. I am asking the students to write a 1-3 page “scary” story of their own. We will then break into small groups to conduct a “playoff” to see just who is the scariest storyteller in the class. One of the best features of integrating the lesson and assignment into the presentation comes into play when you might like to reteach or revisit the assignment at a later date. When you might like to reteach the lesson, all one needs to do is open a single file and teach from there! Also, in the event that a student missed the class when the assignment and explanation was given, one can just open the file and print a copy of the entire presentation to give to the student. If the parent or student contacts the instructor to inquire what was missed on a given day, the entire presentation may be sent via email as well!

The next time I introduce the novel using the Microsoft PowerPoint file I have created, I will likely present the introduction at a bit slower pace, as several students asked me to skip back a slide or two to review the information. I have a tendency to gloss over material a little too quickly. Pace is something I need to work toward improving in the future.