Presentation standards p.2

Paraphrasing: put things into your own words. This is the best way to know that you understand something; it’s a way to prove to yourself that you can do more than just repeat and merely memorize.

Teach 3 Main Ideas: try to start your lesson with a brief hook (i.e., something provocative, or interesting, or mysterious, a story, etc.) that will draw your audience in. Then dedicate the rest of your lesson to three main ideas. Ensure that everything that you have to say is in the service of understanding these three main ideas. Here is a video on how to do this; here is a link on understanding concept-ideas and proposition-ideas; here is an older link on analytic ideas.

Use Sufficient Examples: make sure to use examples for each idea so that people can relate to the ideas in order to understand them.

Reading Vs. Using an Outline: don’t pull out a script or your text and read directly from it. Instead, make an outline or concept diagram that you can use to teach from but not “read” from. This will show that you know your material, and it will make the presentation more interesting for your audience.

Practice: try to run through your presentation at least once in order to see if you’re ready and to get better at your presentation – finding someone to listen to you while you give your presentation can be very helpful.

Flesh Out: Dig Deep & Spread Out: in your lesson and in your search for ideas in the text, emphasize the difficult, the strange, and the provocative. If what you are teaching isn’t difficult or interesting, then maybe avoid teaching it. Once you find these (3) ideas, flesh them out; really dig into their substance and try to make them as clear and relevant as possible.  “What does this idea really mean?  How can I explain it really well?  Which aspects of social life does it allow me to understand?” This might require spreading out by using supplemental texts, consulting the teacher, and/or Google.  For example, if you were trying to teach a lesson on socialization, then you could make an entire lesson on only Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self. But the book has less than one page on this concept. Therefore, you would have to consult alternative resources such as Wikipedia, library books, other textbooks, the instructor, etc.

Domesticate Common Sense: DO NOT teach merely from your common sense knowledge or opinion. Science is useful and relevant because common sense is not enough for understanding the events of life. Your texts are filled with ideas that many people put a lot of effort into developing – ideas which are often contrary to common sense or popular opinion. Common sense can help facilitate the lesson discussion, but it should be the point of departure not the point of arrival, not the destination.

Teach Don’t Preach: conversations on ethics and political strategies are practically unavoidable. What I’m asking of you is to dedicate, at least, the first 10 minutes to understanding the text, as opposed to preaching ethical or political strategies. I am not saying avoid them altogether; rather, I’m asking you to understand the sociological theory first, so that you can more meaningfully converse about ethics and politics – if you are inclined to do so.  When considering ethics and politics, after you have fleshed out the idea at hand, ask “If this is true, or if this is how things actually work, then what does this imply about how we should act in the world, about how we should treat each other (or how we should treat the group of persons mentioned or implied in the idea at hand)?”

First report 2 template prototype for student review and critique

NOTE:  This is just a prototype. I wanted to run it by yall in order to get yall's feedback in terms of its clarity and areas which could use some improvement. Please respond soon.

Lesson 1

Title:

Writer:

[Points from summary:

– Concepts:

– Propositions:

– Sociological Paradigm: ] – this part is for reading, it will not be included in the report

My Summary: 1-3 sentences; capture the main idea(s) and supporting details; use layperson terms

Main idea 1: this is one of the main concepts, propositions, or arguments that you’re trying to help your audience understand really well (e.g., sign-vehicles)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., polite flight attendant and rude passenger)

– Subordinate idea 1: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea (e.g., expressions given)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples

– Subordinate idea 2: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first subordinate idea because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., expressions given off)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., the flight attendant accidentally show signs of anger toward the passenger)

– Subordinate idea 3: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first and second subordinate ideas because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., calculated on intentionality)

– Segue into next Main idea:

Main idea 2: this is one of the main concepts, propositions, or arguments that you’re trying to help your audience understand really well (e.g., sign-vehicles)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., polite flight attendant and rude passenger)

– Subordinate idea 1: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea (e.g., expressions given)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples

– Subordinate idea 2: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first subordinate idea because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., expressions given off)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., the flight attendant accidentally show signs of anger toward the passenger)

– Subordinate idea 3: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first and second subordinate ideas because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., calculated on intentionality)

– Segue into next Main idea:

Main idea 3: this is one of the main concepts, propositions, or arguments that you’re trying to help your audience understand really well (e.g., sign-vehicles)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., polite flight attendant and rude passenger)

– Subordinate idea 1: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea (e.g., expressions given)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples

– Subordinate idea 2: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first subordinate idea because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., expressions given off)

– Example(s) (& metaphor(s)): use both hypothetical examples and historically documented examples (e.g., the flight attendant accidentally show signs of anger toward the passenger)

– Subordinate idea 3: this is one of the secondary concepts, propositions, or arguments that will help your audience further understand this main idea, but which should be included after the first and second subordinate ideas because this order makes comprehension easier (e.g., calculated on intentionality)

– Segue into next Main idea:

Metaphor:  sign-vehicles : clues :: observer in everyday interaction : detective

– Elaboration: 

– Pop Reference (example):  

Possible applications (or related topics): deception, truth, lying, manipulation, control,

References:

In-text citations: If you are not using both books for a single lesson, then just include the page numbers (##) as citations for your reading. If you are using both books for single lesson, then use the format from the last report (ES, ##). If you draw on another resource besides the books, then use the formats from the last report, which can be found on the blog.

Citations in the References section: Use the same format that you used for the last report. The only different should be that if you don’t use both books on a single lesson, then you don’t need to include the (ES) or (Last name) at the end of each citation. Otherwise, if you do use both, then make your reference section citations exactly the same.

Steps in constructing a lesson presentation

Step 1:  read and re-read the text to be presented on

• Find your texts and group, as well as the introduction detailing the general procedure and the schedule for Phase 2.
• Read the text quickly all the way through, and write a 1-2 sentence summary.  See the reading template (specifically, the "Analytical #2" part).  Summaries are fast pace and low depth.
• Read the text slowly all the way through, and outline the details, the concepts, the propositions, the arguments, the main question.  See the reading template (specifically, the "Analytical #3" through "Analytical #7" parts).  Outlines are slow pace and high depth.  Be sure to relate the summary to the outline as well as the text.
• Diagram the relations between ideas.  This can be very helpful in speeding up the comprehension process.
• Address comprehension questions to the teacher.  So, if you can't figure out what the writer means, then I will try to help you figure it out.  Please, address these questions to the facebook group, so that more people than just yourself can benefit from the process.

Step 2:  take notes on your notes and the text in order to formulate a lesson outline

• At this point, you have some notes on the text consisting (hopefully) primarily of paraphrases.  You should start pulling from all of these sources:  summaries, outlines, diagrams, the text itself, concepts, propositions, etc. in order to begin figuring out how you will present you lesson and which ideas you will include in your lesson and which ideas need to be refined for easing the audience's understanding.
• This might be a good place to determine the visual that you will use (e.g., a concept map, a diagram of a situation, etc.).

Step 3:  practice your presentation

• Be sure to follow the 4 basic presentation standards and the presentation standards part 2.
• Whether you talk to yourself, someone else, the teacher, or your tape recorder, you need to practice stringing together a series of sentences in order to present a series of ideas to a presumably ignorant audience.  You need to hear it yourself so that you can test whether it works or fails.  If it fails, then you have some tweaking to do. 
• To help prepare for your presentation, checkout the presentation preparation videos toward the bottom of the page (under the title "...For the speaker?").  These detail things like how to speak, how to move about or posture your body (if you stand), what sorts of things to include in a talk, and how many ideas to include in a talk.
• Time your presentation to see where you stand in terms of the time requirement.

 Step 4:  deliver the presentation to your audience

• Stick to what you've learned from the resources on this blog.  Perhaps the most important thing is pace.  Don't go too fast or you will leave your audience behind, and you might trip over your words.  Use silences to really workout what you are trying to say and to let your audience think about what you've already said.
• The outline and the visual that you've made should function to help you stay on track, esp. if you get lost.  If you do get lost, then maybe take a sip of water or simply ask rhetorically "Where was I?  Ah, yes..."

Step 5:  be a good audience member yourself

• Checkout the suggestions under the title "...For audience" on the presentation preparation page
• Be sure to take notes on the lessons given using the notetaking template 

 

Step 6: send only 1 draft of your compiled lessons (report #2) to me

• Remember, you only get 1 draft submission so make it count.
• Be sure to get this draft in before the submission cutoff date.  See the intro schedule (at the bottom of the linked page). 
• Checkout the first report 2 template prototype 

Step 7: make corrections and polish the draft once it's been returned

• Pay attention to the comments and/or corrections.  These comments aren't visible on most mobile devices.  You may need a desktop with Word or LibreOffice. 
• You've only got 1 shot at a draft, so make it count.
• Be sure to include in the subject line of your email this title "report draft".

Step 8: send your finalized report #2

• For your final report, use the finalized report 2 template.
• Try brainstorming your lesson.
• Use my example lesson as a guide for your lessons.
• Follow the reference format for report 2.
• When writing out the body of a lesson, use the criteria for lesson writing.
• Be sure to include in the subject line of your email this title "final report".
• Be sure to get the report in before or on the due date.  See the intro schedule (at the bottom of the linked page).