Big6 Skill 5-Synthesis
Teacher:
All right
students, we are nearing the end of the research process. I see that many of
you have a significant stack of notecards or notepapers in front of you. That is great, I’m happy to see that you
were so productive with your time in the library. Now, you will need to organize your information for
presentation. Remember for this
assignment you will need to present your persona’s perspective to the
class. Then once everyone has heard all
the points of view you will work in small groups to come to a solution.
Paul:
Can we choose
how we want to present our information?
Teacher:
Yes, for this
assignment you can choose the format.
What are some ways that you could present this information?
Paul:
We could do a
speech.
Elana:
Or a video.
Paul:
Could we do a
creative presentation, like a skit?
Teacher:
Yes definitely.
Elana:
Does the
presentation have to be given orally?
Teacher:
No, at all. You could write a paper if you wanted to.
Ronald:
How boring, I
don’t want to read everyone’s research papers.
Teacher:
Ronald brings up
an excellent point. When you organize
your information for presentation you should consider your audience. Remember, if your audience doesn’t understand
what you are saying, or as Ronald mentioned is bored, then you have not
successfully presented the information.
Paul:
Well, how could
a research paper be interesting?
Elana:
If your topic is
interesting, then your paper should be interesting.
Paul:
Yeah, well,
maybe. It won’t be like reading a
story.
Teacher:
Well, for this
assignment you could write a short story in your person’s point of view, but it
needs to include all the factual information.
Elana:
Or maybe a
journal entry.
Paul:
Or a letter.
Teacher:
Excellent, these
are good ideas. Besides thinking about
your audience when you organize your information, you also need to think about
your information. What format would be the
best format to present the information you have gathered.
Elana:
Well, for me I
think video would be the best.
Paul:
My presentation
should include the timeline I’ve been working on.
Ronald:
I want to
include maps in mine.
Teacher:
Very good. Now let’s think again about your
audience. If you are giving an oral presentation
with visuals, they need to be clearly seen.
For example, Ronald if you held up a map anyone past the first row
wouldn’t be able to see it and no one would be able to make out any of the
words.
Ronald:
So I can’t use
maps?
Teacher:
Of course you
can use maps, but it is needs to be clear.
Remember earlier this year when you had to create short PowerPoint
presentations? That is an excellent
tool to use to when adding visuals to a presentation.
Ronald:
But my map is
out of an atlas.
Paul:
That’s not a
problem; you can use the scanner.
Teacher:
Yes, and you can
use PowerPoint animation to highlight places and things you want the audience
to focus on. Let me show you
(POWERPOINT SCREEN). Once your map is in you want to crop it so that only the part
that is important to your presentation is viewed. Then you can enlarge it.
Again, a visual is only helpful if everyone in your audience can see it
clearly. I’m sure that many of you have seen PowerPoint presentations that are
difficult to see.
Ronald:
They are the
worst!
Librarian:
Yes, it is very
frustrating for your audience. It is
important to use contrasting colors for your background and text so that they
are clear. Aesthetics, or how it looks
and sounds, is extremely important to consider when creating a visual or oral
presentation.
Teacher:
Good point, Mrs.
L. But above all else, the content is
important so use the technology to emphasize your content. You can circle the important city names and
draw arrows to represent migration. You
can even use color to highlight different occupied regions.
Ronald:
Cool!
Paul:
Can I use
PowerPoint to show my timeline?
Teacher:
Definitely. One way to do that is you can have each
event be a slide that includes the date, event and significance.
Paul:
Oh yeah!
Teacher:
Now remember
that the words on the PowerPoint slides should be almost just an outline. Never have paragraphs of text and only have
sentences if you are highlighting an important quote or idea. PowerPoint should be used to help your
audience focus on what you are saying.
If they are reading your presentation while you are saying it then it
gets too overwhelming and you’ll lo8se them.
Here are some examples (SHOW PowerPoint EXAMPLE OF TOO MANY WORDS)
Elana:
Yuck that looks
too crowded.
Librarian:
It does, doesn’t
it, but here is the same information in a bulleted list. The presenter will fill in the details.
I get it!
Elana:
Can’t you add
video and music to your PowerPoint presentations?
Teacher:
Yes, the
software allows you to do that. But
always remember your content. Music
should add to your content. In other
words, pick music that has similar themes to your topic.
Librarian:
We can’t stress
enough that during this step of the Big6 process, you really think about what information
you want to convey to your audience and focus your all aspects of your
presentation on those goals. Now I know you’re anxious to get started on your
presentations, but I want to talk with you a little bit about citing your
sources.
Teacher:
This is very
important so listen up. I won’t accept
any project unless your sources are cited properly.
Librarian:
I’ve been
watching you research and I’ve noticed that most of you have been writing down
your citation information and keeping it with your notes. That is great! That will save you a lot of time. Now that you are getting organized for your presentation you’ll
want to double check that citation information and I imagine that many of you
might start looking for some pictures on the internet to add as a visual to a
presentation.
Teacher:
Let me say that
I don’t want you to just add in pictures that don’t add to your content. If it doesn’t help you make a point;
pictures can be very distracting.
Remember that as you organize your presentation.
Librarian:
Exactly, but on
the other hand, a well placed, well-chosen visual can really add to a
presentation. Here are some examples
(SHOW ON POWERPOINT). And now with the Internet it can be easy to find good
visuals. However, you have to cite
those as well.
Ronald:
You’re
kidding. You mean if I cut and paste a
picture or map from the Internet, even if it is clip art, I have to cite it?
Librarian:
Yes,
exactly. There are some places on the
Internet that includes a statement about how the images are free and okay to
reproduce. These sites are rare and
regardless of what they say, you still need to cite them. Your audience should be able to find all of
your information on their own based on your bibliography.
Paul:
I can never find
those pictures.
Librarian:
Let me show
you. There are some great picture sites
on the Internet, but I like to use gallery.yahoo.com.
Teacher:
And don’t forget
that even if you are doing an oral presentation, you will need to turn in a
written bibliography to me.
Ronald:
Oh brother, what
is the big deal?
Elana:
I can answer
that. I have worked with groups and
partners before and done the work and had other people take all the credit for
it. That really made me mad. If they had just given me credit, I wouldn’t
have felt so cheated.
Librarian:
Elana has made a
good point. Citing sources accurately
is about giving credit to the creator.
By not citing your sources accurately you are robbing someone of credit
due to them and in a sense trying to take that credit yourself.
Teacher:
I require that
you do this to practice for when you are doing research for your future
job. Then, if you don’t give credit for
using someone else’s work or ideas you could get yourself and your employer in
serious trouble with the law. Please
refer to the style sheet that Mrs. L gave you with the examples of the format
for properly citing a variety of sources.
Any questions? Okay, go ahead
and get started organizing your presentations.
They will be due in a week.