My IOP was about dogs in the novel Disgrace. "The dogs in Disgrace represent the state to which South Africa and its people have been reduced to." Was my thesis. I started off by acting out the metamorphosis of a human into a dog while All I Need by Radiohead played the background. I used a power point presentation to guide both me and the audience through the presentation as smoothly as possible.
All forms of public speaking are healthy for students in high school because it has high importance in most high-end jobs. Preparing and watching all the Individual Oral Presentations really opened my eyes to how easy it is to seem boring in front of a crowd of students. I, personally, have a hard time speaking well in public about things Im not passionate about. I like that the IB has diversified its assessment methods because it gives fair chance for those that might not do so well in written tests, to get some grades as well. Im sure that most of my colleagues feel the same way about the IOP itself, what worries me however is the way we approached this project. Between the IOP proposal, IOP assigned dates, IOP assigned questions, evaluating answers, watching the presentation, righting comments, and self assessment the actual presentation is lost. Instead of this project being a chance to discuss different topics/takes on the novels it became a long check-list of different evaluation combinations. The presentations became robotic and empty like dictation. This however is not completely because it really shows you all the mistakes you might have done. I learned many things about public speaking and preparing for important presentations especially since I had to go through the process twice. It feels great on the other hand to be over and done with them.
3 comments:
David, several pionts i would like to talk about concerning your IOP and its refelction. First of all, your IOP was really entertaning to watch and had numourous intersting facts,also, with the help of your impressive talent in acting, you were able to add a great hook to your presentation.
Now, moving to ypu thoughts about IOP in general...i do agree with you public speaking tends to very hard for many studnets (although i dont find any difficulty stress or problem with it)...as far as i remember you were good in terms of the speaking but the hard part for you was perhaps because you had not clerly organized your thoughts which might have made it harder for you to say them out loud.
I agree with everything you said however i do disagree with one piont. You said that we had many additional submissions to do that theactual presentation went out of focus but i think that the actual process to do the presention and the reflection to it are what helps a studnet learn the most. It is only the ability to carry out a thourogh and organized reaserch that a good presentation will be viewed. Second,after watching your own presentation it is the abilty to notice errors/mistakes and realizing how they could have been avoided is the best way to improve!
Your thesis statement is very similar to mine. I introduced the topic of white guilt and its impact on Lucy and how the lack of demand for her rights after she got raped reduced her to the state of dogs. I thought your hook (acting scene) was really caught the audience's attention causing them to wonder what you were trying to do at first.
I don't see, however, how "the presentation is lost" when it is the core of the IOP assessment. All the other factors that you mentioned enhance it if anything, especially the reflection that each individual did about their presentation which gave the student a chance to reflect on their work, looking back and improving for next time. This step is not present in the Lebanese Program, which points out the uniqueness of the IB system. I really enjoyed your presentation especially the topic because of its appeal to me.
Thank you, Nour and Tracy. I appreciate your comments and Im glad you liked my little act at the start of the presentation.
Tracy, I expected you to react this way to my opinion. We all know you like organization, structure, due/fixed dates etc... But it is important to consider that some students (including myself) do not find solace in strict rules and inflexible dates. Yes, I believe that self reflection is important. So is asking questions after the presentation. Every presenter got asked one question by each of the two assigned students. Maybe, had the question-asking not been mandatory, 3 students would have asked questions. Me replying to your comment is uncommon in most other blogs is a perfect example for starting dialogue/discussion.
Nour, this IB uniqueness that you mention is exactly what im talking about. The IB is all for discussion and motivated self-learners.
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