|  Teacher
Preparation
Background Information:
This project is designed for high school students studying
literature. Through video conference technology, students
are able to meet other students while learning about
literature.
Prior to the video conference
each classroom will create three presentations with
clues about their three pieces of literature.
The other classrooms, using print resources, will try
to discover the mystery
literature presented
by each participating classrooms.
COST: This project is FREE to Berrien and Cass county schools. Other
participating schools will dial into our bridge, incurring
any applicable line costs if connecting via ISDN.
Your Classroom Presentation:
Each
classroom should plan three short presentations, each
presentation about one piece of literature. The presentation
may include photos, graphics, video clips, etc. The
media used for your presentation will often depend on
the equipment available for your video conference. Talk
to your distance learning coordinator or technology
coordinator to find the best options for presentations
at your location.
- You
may use printouts on a document camera that includes
photographs.
-
Or if there is a computer connected to your video
conferencing system you may choose to design a HyperStudio
stack, PowerPoint presentation or even a web page!
However, remember that long PowerPoints can be boring.
The students want to see each other too. Use balance
and judgment in your decision.
-
If you have a VCR attached you may even want to video
tape the clues to share with others.
-
No matter what you decide to do be sure to use a large
text size so the words can be seen by other participants.
-
Please avoid taped presentations. One of the curriculum
goals for this project is to give students practice
in oral speaking in a live connection. In addition,
taped presentations are difficult to understand and
hear when sent over compressed video. It also is easier
for students to answer questions about their presentation
if their research is fresh in their mind.
More
tips for visuals for your presentation:
- Change
the visual or the focus often.
-
Don't leave the audience looking at the document camera
or PowerPoint for too long. Show the students or presenter
again. People can feel distanced if they are just
looking at visuals and not people.
-
Practice the presentation with the visuals.
-
Have a backup plan if you are using a computer presentation
(such as print copies of the presentation).
-
Use horizontal or landscape paper using the 4x5 ratio
for TV.
- For
computer presentations use a dark background with
light colored thick./bold font (yellow text on blue
background is great). (Hint: assign your students
to watch the news one evening and take notes on the
colors used for text and text background. Are they
readable? These are generally good colors to use!)
-
Use large fonts such as 24 pt or higher. Leave a 1.5
or more border/margin around the edge of the document.
Preparation for the Event
Divide your students into teams based on the number
of classes participating and/or pieces of literature
presented. Each team will be responsible for discovering
one mystery piece of literature presented by the other
classrooms. The students will have ten minutes after
the completion of presentations to match the classrooms
with their corresponding mystery piece of literature,
using classroom text book books and other literature
resources excluding the internet. (This would make the
guessing too simple.)
Go
over the agenda with students so that they understand
the process for the day. If possible, take along a poster
of the agenda to post in your distance learning room
to help students keep on track during the day.
To clearly communicate
clues, we
highly recommend visual cues of the clues. This
could be a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the
clues; using the document camera to present the text
of the clues; or using large signs that students hold
up while presenting. Check
out the examples from a geography MysteryQuest to see
how this could be done. Visual cues assist in getting
the spelling correct, understanding when students mispronounce
location names, and help those taking notes get accurate
information. When using visual clues, be sure to leave
them on the screen long enough to allow copying.
When working on your presentation,
you may wish to divide the questions
among the students in your classroom so that all students
participate in the research and presentation preparation.
Have
students practice their presentations. Time the presentation
to make sure it is 7 minutes or less. Emphasize speaking
slowly, loudly and clearly. The biggest issue with this
project is audio. Remind students that everyone else
is listening carefully to their presentation to take
notes. The goal is to have the other students clearly
hear the clues and be able to record the information.
Communicating the clues understandably is crucial! If
students are reading clues, have them read from note
cards instead of paper. Rustling paper during a video
conference can make it impossible to hear the clue.
Make
sure students understand the process for asking one
question of each classroom. After the half hour is up
each team will be allowed to ask each classroom one
question. Each school should come up with a question
for all the other classrooms. The questions should be
'eliminating' questions. In other words if the students
believe the town or city is this or that, they pose
a question that eliminates one. The questions should
be "yes or no" questions only! In addition,
do not ask, "Is your piece of literature The Fall
of the House of Usher?" as this type of question
gives it away for the rest of the schools.
Revealing
the Answer
Prepare a visual to reveal the answer to your presentations.
If possible write down the name of the piece of literature
to show on the document camera or with a big poster
so that other schools can easily tell whether or not
they got it correct. Be creative here if you want!
Materials
to Bring
-
Bring all materials needed for your presentation.
Bring research notes in case another school has specific
questions about your piece of literature.
-
Copy the note taking form for each student in the
class.
-
Bring any print materials for students to use in their
research such as:
-
Textbooks (i.e. Elements of Literature: Literature
of the United States)
-
Reference books from the library
Helpful Resources from Other
Projects
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