Class Presentations Without A Classroom

Student projects have come a long way, both in content and product. Ten years ago, I assigned my students a project presentation on a choice reading book. They had to present their poster board in front of the class. It would take five to seven days to get through all of those presentations. You can imagine the boredom! Kids watching each other present, kids waiting with anxiety for their turn, the supplies needed to create these posters...see how this is all adding up?

I was in the midst of bad teaching all the way around. So, I decided to change things up big time. About four years ago, I made the decision to go paperless in regards to projects in my middle school ELA class. Yup, that's right! My counterpart who was about to retire wanted nothing to do with it! I get it, but I had to do something. I was losing my kids and torturing myself with these projects. So, I made some much needed changes. Here is what I did:

Students were required to create all projects using a digital platform (i.e. Padlet, Slides, Flipgrid, Smore, Prezi). Keep in mind I made this change before students had Chromebooks. I started by utilizing Google Classroom as a means to assign and collect students' work. Once they turned in their work through Google Classroom, I was able to open and project their projects one at a time using my Smartboard. I asked students to have notecards or a print out of their project to practice with and to read from during their presentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPkq5q8nRbM

When my district went 1:1, I started asking students to use their Chromebooks as their reference while presenting instead of using a print out or notecards. Now their projects and notes to present were all paperless.

There was still one more problem, we were losing multiple days of class time, multiple times a year, to allow for students to present. I didn't want to get rid of presenting in front of a "live" audience all together because they still needed to practice this important skill. Each year during the first semester I focused on presenting to a "live" audience, twice for each student. I would reserve 3-4 days each quarter to have about 20 students present. Having all work in Google Classroom was a HUGE timesaver! It can be opened, put in present mode, and projected to the class in seconds!

By the time second semester rolls around the kids are used to the process, so of course I change it up on them. Instead of them presenting to the class, they need to record themselves presenting their project using screencastify.com, screencast-o-matic.com, Google Meet, or any other recording device they feel comfortable using.

I ask students to present their project, make sure their face is visible during the recording, and to pretend they are presenting to the class while recording. They then download their recording to Google Drive. I ask students to turn in their video and their actual project through Google Classroom so I have access to go back and view their final project. Again, this is done twice by each student, once per quarter.

By the end of the year, I found that a majority of students preferred to present in front of the class versus recording themselves which surprised me. I have found this to be the trend year after year. Regardless of the format, the kids are learning some important presentation skills (listening/speaking) while also working with new technology. Win, win!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_AACU4Uj0

After students have completed their recordings, I usually ask them to share their video links on a shared Doc or Slide. I really like using Google Slides to share work. I can assign students their own slide. They can add backgrounds, pictures, GIFs, or anything else that relates to their choice reading book. I also ask that they include the name of their book and the author'. They create an inviting slide and embed their video link on that Slide so they can view one another's work.

I find it important to go over some rules and expectations when students share work and get into a little Digital Citizenship conversation. I then assign students to view a certain amount of presentations each night for homework. I ask that the students leave each other feedback in regards to their project and presentation skills. Students can leave each other feedback by leaving notes underneath a student's Slide, or I can create a Padlet or Jamboard to collect feedback for students.

I find when students have a larger audience, their work drastically improves. Add in their peers for feedback and their work improves even more!

I truly hope you found this post to be helpful and that it gives you the courage to take the plunge into paperless presentations! Take baby steps, push your comfort zone, and try something new! Best of luck!