Showing posts with label Teens Setting Personal and Financial Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teens Setting Personal and Financial Goals. Show all posts

Monday, September 16, 2013

Wonderful Life Presentations


Wonderful Life Presentations - Setting Personal and Financial Goals!


If you and your students have been working on my "Wonderful Life" assignment right about now you are probably putting the finishing touches on the assignment.

A few things I like to do before presentations include...

I ask my students to edit and practice their presentations so they go smoothly.

I give them the option of self-editing or editing with a friend.

Right before presentations I talk about how hard it can be to get up in front of a class and present - just because we don't do it a lot.

I remind them to support each other, and we talk about how they can do that.

I ask students to print 2 copies of presentation handouts - 4 slides on a page.
As each student goes before the class to present they give me a copy of their handouts and keep a copy for themselves.  I use my copy for grading purposes, and they use their handouts as they give their presentation.

I also mention how important it is to speak loudly and clearly so everyone can hear their presentation, and how eye contact helps to hold the audience's attention.

I ask a student from my class, usually the day before presentations, to run the computer that is hooked up to the presentation hardware and software.

I usually project the presentation on the wall behind the student that is presenting. They use their handout notes to set the pace, and the student running the presentation on the computer follows their lead.

Presentations for a class of 32 usually take about three or four days. The first day is usually the slowest, and then the kids pick up speed.

That's about it. Hope you have a great week!



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Wonderful Life Assignment

 

A Lesson Designed to get Students Thinking about
Personal and Financial Goals!


I like to start the first week of school with a lesson I designed to get students thinking about their personal and financial goals “Wonderful Life”.  
This fun, interactive project gives students a chance to get to know each other while creating a presentation that reveals their goals regarding career, wages, and lifestyle.  It also sharpens their communication and presentation skills. As a culminating activity, each student presents their project to the class. It is a great first lesson.

Over 2000 teachers have download this lesson from
Teachers Pay Teachers.  If you have not already grabbed it, here is the link... “Wonderful Life”.


Teaching “Wonderful Life
Now that so many teachers are using this lesson, I thought I would offer a few tips on how I teach “Wonderful Life.”
I like starting the class off with this assignment because it eases the students (and the teacher) into the class, and it is a fun way for everyone to get to know each other.  It gives the teacher a chance to spend some one-on-one time with students.  It also sets the stage for the rest of the course.

Teacher tips

When I begin this lesson I always show students a completed presentation.  My thinking is that students will create something as good or better than the sample I show them.
I review the features of the presentation software students will be using - if needed. 
I stress that students should give plenty of details on each of the topics included the presentation.
Topic: Describe your dream home
Example: My dream home is a log cabin located on a beautiful, blue lake high in the mountains.  Secretly it would be very a high-tech house---but have a rustic look.     
I also spend some time talking about page layout – organizing and designing easy to read headings, subheadings, and text, as well as graphics that drive your point home.  I talk about trapped white space and how to avoid it. I usually steer students away from using clip art - pictures just seem more sophisticated.
I tell students that they will be presenting their project and that it would be to their advantage not to use animations like flash or crawl.  These types of animations are really distracting.  “Crawl” loses the class because it takes too long and “flash” just confuses everyone including the teacher who is attempting to grade the presentation.

Timing

It takes about a week for students to complete this assignment and an additional three days for student presentations. This is my experience with a class of about 32 students.
Every class is different, as is every student. Some will take a little more time to complete the lesson and others will take less time. I ask students who finish early to spend time editing their presentation and adding sound and animation. This gives the rest of the class time to finish up.
Next Week...more on presentation setup for “Wonderful Life”.

Thanks for stopping by!