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These kids need to suck it up. I had to give countless in class presentations during high school and college.
This answer is far too simplistic. Students who have true anxiety disorders should absolutely be given an alternative assignment. For other students it's a bit more complex. What's the point of forcing someone who wants to become an electrician or a mechanic to speak in front of the class? It's not like they will be giving presentations in the boardroom in the future.
I'll say yes, the kid who can put on a very interesting and put-together presentation with a lackluster written component should get the same grade as someone who can write a very put-together and interesting piece but delivers an uninteresting/lackluster performance.
Interesting, myself I'd prefer the professionals I deal with in life know their subject matter over being able to give a nice presentation. I don't care if my doctor is good at public speaking, as long as he's good at diagnosing whatever ailments I come up with. But then I've always preferred function over form.
My best friend has an anxiety disorder. I was so proud of her because she decided she was going to overcome this. She signed up for a presentation competition. She didn't win, but she practiced so much and did so much study on how to make a good presentation that she did very well.
When I was a kid, my parents forced us to perform in public at a young age. I was performing in dance and piano recitals at the age of four. We sang, played musical instruments, twirled baton, you name it. After all that, just speaking seemed relatively easy lol.
My high school senior had to do a presentation in class recently. He said, "Mom, most of these kids are horrible. They are HS seniors and are going out into the world without even knowing how to make their voice project across a room." I do think Speech/Debate should be a required class. It's MUCH more useful in the real world than calculus.
I'll say yes, the kid who can put on a very interesting and put-together presentation with a lackluster written component should get the same grade as someone who can write a very put-together and interesting piece but delivers an uninteresting/lackluster performance.
If you can dazzle them with brilliance...baffle them with bulls**t.
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Originally Posted by DubbleT
Interesting, myself I'd prefer the professionals I deal with in life know their subject matter over being able to give a nice presentation. I don't care if my doctor is good at public speaking, as long as he's good at diagnosing whatever ailments I come up with. But then I've always preferred function over form.
In the case of the medical doctor, you probably wouldn't care if he couldn't put together a well-written essay, either.
Ignoring the "anxiety" side of it, most classroom presentations I saw in grade school and even college were a huge waste of time that accomplished little.
20 kids giving a 10 minute presentation each is almost 3.5 hours of wasted class time. Watching someone else (who is typically not particularly well versed in the topic or in presenting) is both boring and uninformative. And after a couple, even someone originally interested is going to be barely paying attention.
I do think there is value in actually teaching public speaking/presentation skills. But in most classrooms, that's not really what's being done with most presentations.
The worst classroom presentations I sat through were in graduate school. Over half of my classes were Chinese who had come straight from China. I remember one girl started her presentation with, "Please excuse, this is first time I speak before American students."
I do see your point about presentations being a waste of time. Try being the one who has to grade them. But much of the same can be said about the required writing assignments that must be done in all high school classes including physical education.
You make an excellent point that actually teaching public speaking/presentation skills is not really what's being done with most presentations. I found I was able to put out a few things when I had classes present, like the boy who presented with his back to the class as he read what was on the smartboard.
I believe oral and written communications should be taught as separate classes with opportunities for practice in other classes. This experience helps students more than what they actually learn in the class.
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Originally Posted by villageidiot1
The worst classroom presentations I sat through were in graduate school. Over half of my classes were Chinese who had come straight from China. I remember one girl started her presentation with, "Please excuse, this is first time I speak before American students."
I do see your point about presentations being a waste of time. Try being the one who has to grade them. But much of the same can be said about the required writing assignments that must be done in all high school classes including physical education.
You make an excellent point that actually teaching public speaking/presentation skills is not really what's being done with most presentations. I found I was able to put out a few things when I had classes present, like the boy who presented with his back to the class as he read what was on the smartboard.
I believe oral and written communications should be taught as separate classes with opportunities for practice in other classes. This experience helps students more than what they actually learn in the class.
They are taught in separate classes.
English and Creative Writing for the written component, speech and debate for the presentation component.
To some extent, I view this as a result of dis-industrialization and the replacement of mass-production at low cost with a variety of products focused more on form than substance, and sold to an increasingly diverse market. Those who recognize and adapt to this are going to get somewhat further in most workplaces, and in most cases.
But the point can't be overlooked that to sell, you have to lie, or at least slant and "embellish" a sometimes-inconvenient truth in many cases. Not all of us are comfortable with this, and the consequences can sometimes be unpleasant -- both if the truth reveals itself outright -- or the "pop wisdom" simply falls out of favor.
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Originally Posted by ClaraC
Did you accidentally post in the wrong thread?
Nope: my point is that the values of an earlier era didn't place as much emphasis on the manipulative skills that characterize much of the present-day economy and society. And admittedly, I'm a semi-eccentric case who holds the "quality" of extroversion in lower esteem than most people.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 09-14-2018 at 12:07 PM..
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"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 7 days ago)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2nd trick op
To some extent, I view this as a result of dis-industrialization and the replacement of mass-production at low cost with a variety of products focused more on form than substance, and sold to an increasingly diverse market. Those who recognize and adapt to this are going to get somewhat further in most workplaces, and in most cases.
But the point can't be overlooked that to sell, you have to lie, or at least slant and "embellish" a sometimes-inconvenient truth in many cases. Not all of us are comfortable with this, and the consequences can sometimes be unpleasant -- both if the truth reveals itself outright -- or the "pop wisdom" simply falls out of favor.
The anxiety mainly comes from an lack of knowledge in how to prepare the content for presentation. Tackling that problem takes away 90 percent of the anxiety; since people speak out of their own confidence level.
Not necessarily. In my marketing position, I'm responsible for helping to develop client presentations. I create the slides, handouts, etc. and help the engineers rehearse. I have a number of guys who are subject matter experts. They've literally written the book on their service areas. They know the material backwards and forwards. If they're sitting with someone one-on-one, they could talk for hours. But put them in front of a room of strangers with all eyes on them, presenting something they've rehearsed with the team a dozen times. and they seem to forget everything they know.
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