Natalia Fernandez's Portfolio Page

Navigation links: ETAP 623 Fall 2023 | How to Prepare and Be Prepared for In-class Presentations

About Me

I am Natalia Fernández from Argentina. I am currently in the first semester of the MS in General Education Studies at SUNY Albany. I graduated with a BA in Sworn Translation of English in 2006 from the “Universidad del Salvador” (University of the Savior). I also hold a Licentiate degree in Psychology from the same university. In 2007-2008, I had the opportunity to work as a Spanish teaching assistant at Castleton State University in Vermont. I worked mostly as an English teacher in several private language academies, some primary schools, in companies, and I also opened my own language academy in 2019. At the moment, I am working as a lead Spanish teacher at a middle school in Albany. I am interested in the psychological and linguistic aspects of bilingualism, first and second language acquisition, and language teaching.

How to Prepare and Be Prepared for In-class Presentations

This is a mini-course designed for high-school teachers who need to teach their students how to prepare and be prepared for in-class presentations. While presenting a topic and explaining it clearly is a common task given at school, college or university, students are not usually trained on how to do it. Likewise, students may not be ready to perform in front of a large audience. The aim of this course is to give teachers tools to guide their students through the presentation process, covering the different elements that should be in any effective presentation and useful techniques for presenting in class.

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

This mini-course will provide high-school teachers with tools to help their students learn or improve the cognitive and affective skills necessary to give in-class presentations. By teaching the concepts and techniques learnt during the course, teachers will be able to help students explain a topic in a clear and organized way, as well as manage the affective component of public speaking by increasing their self-confidence and engaging the audience during their presentation. This mini-course consists of four units which can be finished in approximately eight to ten hours.

Needs Assessment

• Both an educational problem as well as an opportunity

In-class presentations are often seen as an essential part of the curriculum, especially, in middle and high schools across the country. The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards Initiative (2010) for K-12 students was designed to promote better verbal and interpersonal communication skills. When these standards are implemented, students are assessed on their ability to effectively present their knowledge and on their performance, that is, their ability to engage with the audience. A recent survey carried out by the Association of American Colleges and Universities states that oral communication is one of the most sought-after skills in the workplace, with over 90 percent of hiring managers saying it is important.

When students are taught public presentation skills, they learn how to creatively produce memorable presentations. They are helped to achieve smooth transitions, the right tone of voice and speed, to manage the length of the presentation, as well as to show the right body language. When public presentations are emphasized in school, even the youngest students acquire improved communication skills, increased self-esteem, planning and preparation experience, and the power of persuasion.

In-class presentations can sometimes be an added source of stress and pressure, especially for students with high levels of anxiety, or those with disabilities. It is worth mentioning that many students have been requesting to make in-class presentations optional, since they argue that presentations can be discriminatory towards students with social phobia or students with disabilities. However, with the right techniques, proper practice, and the necessary accommodations, all students can benefit from giving presentations .

• The learners

This mini-course is aimed at high school teachers serving grade range 9 to 12. They will most likely be certified in their subject matter, and hold higher education degrees such as BA's or MA's.

• Analysis of the educational gap

The fact that in the past few years, many students started to request to make in-class presentations optional and to see them as discriminatory, mainly for students with anxiety, shows that students do not feel properly prepared for this assignment. However, in-class presentations are still a requirement with which some students struggle. Hence, high-school teachers need to provide their students with the tools to become more confident public speakers and to acquire the necessary cognitive and affective skills for in-class presentations.

• Existing efforts to address this gap

Some educators also credit in-class presentations with building essential leadership skills and increasing students’ confidence and understanding of material . Thus, they include in-class presentations at least once a year within the curriculum. The way and the frequency that educators devote to prepare students for presenting in front of the class depends on each teacher.  

• Intent statement

This mini-course will provide high-school teachers with concepts and techniques to help their students learn or improve the cognitive and affective skills necessary to give in-class presentations.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

This mini-course has been designed for high school teachers serving grades 9 to 12, and whose students need guidance on how to prepare their in-class presentations and/or struggle with public speaking. Although these learners will have their own experience giving presentations in front of large audiences, they will value the benefit of reviewing such practice in more detail. The course will be delivered online. The participants will be able to access it at home or from work. The only resources needed are wi-fi access and a computer.

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will:

• Be aware of the organization and main elements that must be present in each part of a presentation.
• Manage techniques to get the audience’s attention and to reduce nervousness while presenting.
• Present the topic and the structure of the presentation in an organized way.
• Guide an audience through the main part of a presentation by clearly sequencing the content.
• End a presentation by including a clearly organized conclusion.
• Follow strategies to present conclusions effectively.
• Be ready to anticipate the audience’s questions during and after the presentation, and to deal with questions following different strategies.

Task and Content Analysis

Mini-course prerequisites:

Learners must:

• Be knowledgeable in how to access online material and courses.
• Understand that the structure of presentations and presentation skills must be taught to students before they can do it on their own.
• Have identified the need to teach presentation structure and skills to their students.

Mini-course contents:

UNIT 1: PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

In this unit the learner will:

1. learn about the importance of in-class presentations today.
2. be introduced to the structure of a presentation: introduction, main part, and conclusion.
3. apply techniques to engage the audience.
4. apply techniques to deal with nervousness.

Activities:

• Learners will answer some self-reflection questions about their own strategies to engage the audience and deal with nervousness.
• Learners will read an article about different techniques to engage the audience and watch a video about appropriate body language during a presentation.
• Learners will read an article about different techniques to deal with nervousness while presenting.
• Learners will watch a video about a person giving a presentation and will identify mistakes based on the previous material.

UNIT 2: INTRODUCTION

In this unit the learner will:

1. be able to present the topic and the structure of the presentation in an organized way.
2. be familiar with the checklist acronym “WISE OWL”

Activities:

• Learners will read about how to start a presentation in an organized way and learn a mnemonic device for this purpose.
• Learners will practice attention getters by applying them to introduce a given hypothetical presentation topic.
• Learners will identify the correct sequence for the elements of the introduction.

UNIT 3: MAIN PART

In this unit the learner will:

1. be able to properly guide an audience through a presentation with signposting cues.
2. learn how to create better visuals.
3. be familiar with the checklist acronym “BEST SHOT”

Activities:

• Learners will learn a mnemonic device to help them develop the main part of a presentation.
• Learners will read about verbal and visual signposting strategies.
• Learners will read about strategies to make visuals more effective.
• Learners will practice by analyzing a concrete example of a visual.
• Learners will take a quiz about visual presentations.

UNIT 4: CONCLUSION

In this unit the learner will:

1. end a presentation according to formal standards.
2. apply strategies to present the main points of the conclusion effectively.
3. anticipate the audience’s questions and deal with them during and after the presentation.
4. consider the need to reform questions.

Activities:

• Learners will read about the best way to end a presentation and how to manage questions.
• Learners will reflect about their own prior experience at presenting conclusions.
• Learners will answer multiple-choice questions based on a video.

Curriculum Map