December Exhibition
With a coming new year, it marks an important day in my PLP learning journey. The December exhibition is an annual tradition that continues to stretch my limits and bring my learning to another level. This year’s December exhibition task was different from what I have come to know to accept as exhibition material. In previous years I have shared my work in a traditional exhibition manner with tables and my own space. This year I shared what I learned in presentation style. Our challenge this year was to present a final answer to our driving question that we had been studying for close to 2 months. All of the class would present in a Pecha Kucha format, a revolutionary fast-paced presentation style.
Pecha Kucha?
Pecha Kucha is a presentation style that is fast paced and has 20, 20-second images. The presentation is 6 minutes and 50 seconds long with all 20 images. Each and every kid in our entire class was to present their own Pecha Kucha presentations on exhibition night. We were also tasked with creating a room that was both inviting and functional as a viewing area.
The Exhibition
For many people, the pressure of sharing your work can simply be too large of a burden to handle. During the years of PLP, it has become more and more clear to me that facing that pressure is essential to my journey as a learner. The PLP exhibition year in and year out is an example of space where I can share some of greatest work in a comfortable setting. As much as I can hate sharing my work in this fashion at times I know in my heart that it is all for the better. What I have found interesting during my reflection is my lack of memory of my presentation itself. Looking back at the exhibition I have found 2 moments that have stuck in my head.
The first memory was one of looking over our room decoration just prior to the opening of the Cray Cray Cafe. I think this memory is particularly noticeable because I was proud of what our class did when we worked together. I felt we had worked better than we had ever before to create an atmosphere that was as good as any exhibition room I have ever seen. As I looked over our creation I began to think about how this atmosphere would improve our presentations. This memory is an example of how a great atmosphere can lead to an emotional connection with the audience that isn’t possible speaking alone.
As I watched a number of different presentations I began to take in the surroundings more. Daniel Wickstone‘s presentation is when I took in how the audience we were reaching. In the coming days of the exhibition, I thought a lot about how our presentations would have weak audiences that won’t gain much from what we had to say. I was quite wrong and from the first speaker, I began to realize that we were going to reach a number of different people from all over the community. I remember Daniel’s presentation the most because I saw an abundance of different cultures at his presentation. It really spoke to how we can reach a wide audience without going outside of our school. Made me wonder how many people I could reach if I decided to go out of my way to find people.
Skipping ahead to after my presentation I feel it is time to look back at what I did during my presentation. Ss I stated above I don’t remember my presentation but I watched the recording and I was able to look at my successes and failures. Below are some qualities that I felt I succeeded at in my presentation
Great introduction
Good presenter voice
Head up and engaging
As I will state below I learned a lot of these lessons in the earlier assignments and I think those building blocks were key to my successes.
I put a major focus when practicing to have enough confidence in my points that I could look up and really engage the audience. I think the much more important piece of reflection is recognizing what could have been done better. What I believe my largest areas of improvement are below.
Losing my points
Out of rythm
The dreaded umm
Looking ahead to my next presentation I will look back at this presentation if I want to succeed. Next presentation I will be sure to find the right balance of preparation to be able to fluently change script and adjust to the audience while also remaining on topic at all times. The dreaded umm is something I know everyone struggles with but I know that with practice I can only get better. I decided to go in depth in the lessons that I learned from each assignment through the unit and connect them to how I was able to present. I have stated this many times and I believe it is very true and that is that journey is much more valuable than any final product.
Journey
Two months ago I was set on the journey in which I would gain a deeper respect for the most successful people in the world. I would begin to uncover the most essential reasons behind the success of these people’s success.
To start the unit we participated in a brainstorm activity that shed light on the definition of crazy in the way that we were using it. As can be seen to the right, when we talk about craziness we mean more of a focus on a different and innovative individual. You may be wondering how this connected to our unit as many of my peers including myself were. That is where our first challenge/assignment came into focus.
Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?
Our challenge was to study and ultimately present information about a world-changing individual. The individual that I chose was Frank Sinatra and if you are interested more information is available on my Sinatra Story post.
What made Frank Sinatra crazy and how did that help him change the world?
I feel there was 1 critical lesson and that was that I needed to focus my presentation on the points I wanted to get across rather than writing and memorizing a script. I think I will continue to perfect that skill for eternity but the first trail run allowed me to test and perfect my skills. During my preparation for my presentation, I thought back to what I had learned earlier made sure to use that experience to my advantage.
Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?
The second challenge/assignment was to write an essay, the first opportunity of many to answer our driving question. Like in the Pecha Kucha introduction assignment above I felt the essay was key to the development of my research of driving question.
The biggest lesson I learned was the ability to dig below the surface and understand the reasons behind the decisions of peoples to comprehend the drivers for their decisions. With that ability, I was able to understand the people that I was researching in a different light. This greater understanding served me during my presentation because I was more familiar with my topic and my examples.
Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?
Our third and final preparation assignment/challenge was a video tied to our Seattle field study. On the fast-paced Seattle trip, we would collect footage, information, and interviews from the various location we visited. For more information and a more in-depth look at the trip please visit my Seattle post
One experience has been stuck in my head; thinking on your feet and adjusting to changing circumstances. This quality is something I continuously work on but Seattle reminded me how important flexibility is and I made sure to use that reminder in my presentation.
As I have stated before in this post the entire unit prepared me for my big day. The research allowed me to succeed but I think the lessons I learned throughout the unit that really was able to drive my success. My focus on those key lessons may leave you wondering about my research but I believe that the lessons I have learned served me most in the exhibition but also in my life. Looking back on this marathon of a unit and how it relates to the presentation I think my biggest area for improvement could be achieved with a correct level of practice. I hope to bring both what worked and what didn’t next presentation and I am excited to see what I can do next time.
