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How to give a presentation
how to give a presentation
Do you remember your first formal presentation? I distinctly remember competing in a fashion show for a pair of pajamas I made. I “stood” there, stood only in the loosest sense because I spent my entire time talking attempting to do the splits, and then standing back up. I had points taken off because they thought I was “nervous.”
In reality, I hadn’t been taught the finer points of how to give a presentation. I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to my kids, so I’ve added how to give a presentation lessons to my homeschooling plans, and it’s now part of my Homeschool How to Series, because I want my kids knowing how to give a presentation.
(there are affiliate links in here)
Where this all started, our first presentation: Life in Colonial America
A couple of weeks ago we finished up our study of “Life in Colonial America,” and now we’ve moved on to the American Revolution…….
Princess and Youngest E talked about the clothes people wore. Princess did pretty well overall because she knew what she was talking about and could mostly name all the different layers of clothes……….
The boys talked about colonial punishments. They did a great job for their first presentation (and I’ll spare you the 5-minute video of it). They remembered most of their topic and were able to explain what the different punishments were for.
The most hilarious point came when Superman was asked how long someone could be in the stocks. Batman said “100 hours!” and then Superman said, “Until you die!” The reality of it being only for a few hours was a little disappointing, but they did make sure to point out that you got to throw food at the people in the stocks.
Teaching how to give a presentation
After the presentation, we figured out a few things we should have prepared the kids for, and actually taught them rather than assume they knew how to give a presentation.
Since first writing this in 2011, we’ve done a few more presentations, and I’ve learned some things my kids need to work on still. I’ve included a quick printable with a tips sheet (this and many more are on my subscriber page) and a quick generic rubric to use for presentations.
Parents/Teachers as you prepare the presentation
- Assign topics. The first time we did this we let the kids pick, and had a lot of overlap between topics.
- Have checkpoints for kids, so they aren’t preparing it all overnight.
- Give them what you are grading on ahead of time. I’ve included a simple rubric on the printable to give them an idea.
Before the presentation
- Write out what they’re going to say. They need to figure out if note cards or an outline works better for them.
- Practice, practice, practice. Practice talking and looking at the audience. Practice using your visual aid. Practice when to pause and when to get louder or quieter.
- Double-check your visual aid. Is everything spelled right? Are all of the pieces glued on correctly? If you have an interactive visual aid, do you know how to best use it?
During the presentation
- Stand up straight, shoulders back. How you hold yourself affects how people look at you. Be proud of your work.
- Speak clearly and loudly.
- Make sure your outfit is clean and presentable. Just as how you hold yourself affects opinion, so does your dress. This is not the day to wear pajamas for school.
Any suggestions for better presentation for our kids? This was their first time giving presentations, and overall they did good, but we could see some room for improvement.
Now, head on over to All Things Beautiful for some more history/geography projects.
More in the Homeschool How-To series
- Teach Your Kids How to Edit Papers
- How to teach reading comprehension to kids
- How to study the Bible with your kids
- How to teach science to your kids
- How to take notes
Originally published October 30, 2011 😉 (for my housekeeping purposes)
Comments
4 responses to “How to give a presentation”
What a wonderful experience for them! Did you get the Homeschool in the Woods pack?
This is fairly neat that Princess was presenting too. The art of presenting is a pretty important skill in the modern world. Love the choice of topics for boys 🙂
They were so little! Actually, I appreciate it that in A’s school they let them pick the topics. Last fall, half of the class chose The Plague for Middle Ages, but every group presented it somewhat differently.
I think it might depend on what the goal for the presentations are. If it’s to get them to research a topic they’re more interested in, then letting them choose makes sense. If your goal is to let each person research a topic and educate the rest of the group, having a list of topics to choose from and each person has to present a different topic is helpful.
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