We have all been to talks where we are enthralled by a presenter who has that rare gift of the gab. They display an ability to tell stories and sometimes speak freely without the need for a presentation and visual prompts. This is the same case for students where the odd students can confidently ad lib, but the remainder of students fall back on a presentation to both help them remember their story, but also to provide supporting information.
Schools do usually do a good job at preparing students with the self-confidence to present their ideas and talk to an audience. However they usually leave students to their own devices to create another death by bullet point stack of slides courtesy of PowerPoint. Over the past four years I have done sessions with our Grade 11 students looking at visual presentation skills and focused a lot on the importance of finding images to help convey meaning.
This week I stumbled across some other excellent template resource that I will share with students. The website Slides Carnival producers a series of slick and aesthetically pleasing templates that you can copy and adapt via Google Slides.
Whilst they might look similar to other template websites, the selection of slides within each template are a tremendous resource to help you think about structuring your information for maximum effect. The sample slides provide food for thought on how you could layout your ideas, and some alternative approaches. Easy slide is super easy to adapt and you can even use a set of sample icons available from the on the last slide.
My sample presentation is included below, but the website Slides Carnival it is one things to store away for the next time you ask your students to make a presentation. It is worth the time to help students plan their visual narrative and avoid the dreaded MS Office template from the last 90’s.
Digging a Little Deeper 