Today we returned to school after a long weekend in celebration of "Dia de la Raza" (Columbus Day). )I celebrated the arrival of Columbus and the subsequent Spanish colonial conquest of the area by visiting nearby Mayan ruins. ) A handful of 7th graders had their PowerPoints on an endangered species to present. Of the 5 presentations today, 4 turned their back to the audience and struggled to read (for what seemed like the first time) the mostly cut and pasted text - often in a dark font on a dark background.
They had a rubric explaining that they were being graded on: eye contact with audience, making a good intro/middle/conclusion to their presentation, having readable font colors, showing enthusiasm and awareness of their audience, ... . I had modelled what I would be looking for. A student did a practice presentation and the class graded that student on the model. Then performance day comes and it's 45 minute class period of tedium. You would think a 7th grader would not want to seem so unprepared in front of peers, but perhaps it is less ego threatening to not try and fail than the risk of trying and failing. Or perhaps it is as simple as they just didn't care and couldn't be bothered to take the time to read and organize their presentation.
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