With
the new normal relating to coronavirus, we as teachers are doing our very best
to get creative in our communication, assignments, and assessment. Google
Slides is free, easy to use, and a great place to start for your students to
showcase their research, learning, and creativity. Even if you use another
slide presentation application, use these 5 tips to cement your rubric!
1) It’s All About The Content
Just like any work your students do, you are
going to be assessing the content of the presentation. That content is going to
let you know how well the student understands the content of the class. Whether
their content is a ton of words in the presentation, or they give a speech with
little enhancement with the slides, that’s where the bulk of their grade is
going from.
For example, if they are doing a math
presentation, some students may struggle making the presentation look pretty,
but they know the content and what they are talking about in the presentation.
An exception to this rule might be if the presentation is about Google Slide
presentations...That would need both a good content and demonstration of their
knowledge of Google Slides.
2) Give Points For Creativity!
Maybe this student is weak on content and
understanding, but they are amazing in the beautification of a presentation. As
a teacher, you can tell that the student put a lot of effort into building
their Google Slides. They picked a nice theme, they added in effective transitions and sounds, they have pictures and videos that explain the theme of
the presentation. They may not totally understand, but they nailed it with
their Google Slides.
3) Creativity Should Enhance The
Presentation (Not Distract!)
If the
audience can’t read it, or are distracted with silliness, then the content
doesn’t matter. Students don’t always understand that they can’t just choose
the colors of their favorite basketball team, but they need to think about
their audience. You might be able to read black on red, but your audience can’t
read back on red. If the background and the text aren’t TOTALLY CLEAR, then it
doesn’t work.
Let’s
your students know that it’s okay to simply pick a theme and color scheme from
the Google Slide templates. The themes and color schemes exist because they are
readable and not distractions. Then they can get to work on the meat of the
presentation.
This
can be kind of a difficult thing for a younger student to understand, but just
because you got a big laugh with a crazy transition sound, doesn’t mean it’s a
good fit for your presentation on the Holocaust or Climate Change. My personal
opinion is that it’s fine to know how to add sounds to Powerpoint, but more
often than not, sounds in the background or for transitions are super distracting.
Use them sparingly!
4) Connecting Voice To The
Presentation
Maybe you have a very clever student presenter
and all they have on their Google Slides are relevant memes or pictures. Any
good slide presentation is really an enhancement of the presenter’s voice. The
voice of the student and how they use the Google Slides to help and make the
content memorable is super important.
A presentation challenge for the students: have
them do a presentation that is ONLY pictures or memes. This type of Google
Slide presentation is really impressive way to demonstrate their knowledge,
organizational skills, and presenting ability.
5) Be Open To Something Off The
Wall
In
general, less is probably more in a Google Slide presentation, but there are
still so many ways for students to express their creativity in Google Slides to
make a great presentation.
Maybe
you have a student who is usually nervous giving live presentations. Give them
the opportunity to record their presentation instead of be live. They could
even make a slide with a video recording for each section of their
presentation.
Ask
yourself:
Did
they have effective media and pictures in the slides?
Did
they use transitions and animations appropriately?
Did
they embed a video or music to enhance the presentation?
Did
they make a graph or pie chart?
Did
they add boxes or bullet points or shapes for emphasis?
Google
Slides is a simple easy to use tool, and if students have a grasp on the
variety they can create within it, then they’ll be able to transition to other
presentation applications with greater ease.
To
help students understand all the ways to make a presentation presentable, you
can do a presentation on what makes a good (or bad) Google Slide Presentation.
Have fun with it!
How do
you assess presentations in your classroom? Are you mostly looking for content,
or do you also grade the actual slide presentation? Let me know in the comments!
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