Throw Away Your PPTs
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Do you like spending hours on your lecture slides?
You spend hours on them, only to have students ask you if you’ll share them, or they take a picture of the slides, only to not look at them again until (maybe) right before test time.
Photo by ztephen
ASK YOURSELF WHAT YOU REALLY WANT IN CLASS
- Repeating what they read
- Soft skills building
- Time to process info
- Room to critically think & question
The repeat in a different format - STOP. Students aren’t lazy, they have internalized the need for more efficiency from capitalism, and there’s nothing efficient about going over the text again. That’s why they don’t read before coming to class. Why should they if you’re going to read it to them?
There used to be this argument that this was helpful for people with different learning styles, but it turns out that those learning styles aren’t nearly as prescriptive as we once thought.
IF YOU WANT
Soft skills building —> assign group work, discussions
Time to process info —> give them chances to apply it; student-centered activities and practice; Socratic questions
Room to question —> great, assign QFT or other questioning-based activities
There used to be this argument that this was helpful for people with different learning styles, but it turns out that those learning styles aren’t nearly as prescriptive as we once thought.
IF YOU WANT
Soft skills building —> assign group work, discussions
Time to process info —> give them chances to apply it; student-centered activities and practice; Socratic questions
Room to question —> great, assign QFT or other questioning-based activities
Photo by Billy Huynh
HAIKU DECK
FREEMIUM MODEL
There are other apps, I just happen to use haiku deck because I like it.
Even PPT can kinda do some of this now, but it’s way too easy to get caught up in them giving you too many tempting choices.
The price is more about unlimited numbers of decks.
Even PPT can kinda do some of this now, but it’s way too easy to get caught up in them giving you too many tempting choices.
The price is more about unlimited numbers of decks.
Photo by raquel raclette
MORE UNIVERSAL DESIGN
EMOTIONAL LEARNING & REAL WORLD TRANSFER
Visual learners
Learning disabilities
Less words, more pictures
Learning disabilities
Less words, more pictures
Photo by krakenimages
HOW TO
- Main topic
- A big, beautiful question
- The handful of main points
- Optional: some vocab
- Optional: “punctuation”
I tend to go for more like 3 main points in a 50-minute class, more like 5 for a 75-minute class.
If you have a three-hour class, I actually recommend having two completely separate lectures, but that might just be how my discipline is set up/number of big topics we have.
The big, beautiful umbrella question is technically optional, but it really is a cool thing…. If you can craft one. This is something of a skill. Warren Berger’s “A More Beautiful Question” is good.
If you have a three-hour class, I actually recommend having two completely separate lectures, but that might just be how my discipline is set up/number of big topics we have.
The big, beautiful umbrella question is technically optional, but it really is a cool thing…. If you can craft one. This is something of a skill. Warren Berger’s “A More Beautiful Question” is good.
Photo by Will Clayton
FORCES US INTO BEGINNER’S MIND
STICK TO ONLY 3-5 MAIN POINTS
If you’re wondering whether vocab needs to be added as a minor point? Do they absolutely need to know this AND is it something that they struggle to understand?
If they will generally be able to understand it from the text, you don’t necessarily need to spend class time on it.
If you think they need a nudge to understand that *this* is an important item, you can always focus an activity, or writing focused on it.
If they will generally be able to understand it from the text, you don’t necessarily need to spend class time on it.
If you think they need a nudge to understand that *this* is an important item, you can always focus an activity, or writing focused on it.
Photo by Uday Mittal
DECIDING WHETHER TO INCLUDE VOCAB?
PICK ONLY THE MOST IMPORTANT - NEED & STRUGGLE
If you’re wondering whether vocab needs to be added as a minor point? Do they absolutely need to know this AND is it something that they struggle to understand?
If they will generally be able to understand it from the text, you don’t necessarily need to spend class time on it.
If you think they need a nudge to understand that *this* is an important item, you can always focus an activity, or writing focused on it.
If they will generally be able to understand it from the text, you don’t necessarily need to spend class time on it.
If you think they need a nudge to understand that *this* is an important item, you can always focus an activity, or writing focused on it.
Photo by Neil Melville-Kenney
SHOULD YOU USE THE HEADINGS FROM YOUR TEXTBOOK?
EHH…. GIVE THEM MORE “MEAT,” NOT THE “HOOK”
Think strong topic sentences, not the teasers that most textbooks use for headings.
Photo by Veronique Debord
A FEW RESOURCES
- Rothstein & Santana - Make Just One Change
- Berger - A More Beautiful Question
- Hamilton - Hacking Questions
Photo by deshaunicus
ONE FINAL WARNING - DOWNLOAD TO PPT
Photo by Benson Kua
