Since I have already forewarned you that I would probably post another blog (Is a "blog" the post or is it all the posts together? I don't know. I told you I was new to all of this! Yikes!) This may be my last post on more than likely my only blog. That must be a relief to you! =D
So, my presentation yesterday . . . holy smokes! I was a nervous wreck all the way leading up to it. I decided to the PowerPoint at the last minute thinking that it would be a good skill to finally learn. I'm pretty low tech when it comes to things like that -- PowerPoint, LCD projectors, ELMOs . . . I didn't even use an overhead projector as a teacher. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am so uncomfortable presenting. I usually do handouts so that the "audience" looks at the handout instead of me and I usually try to do some hands-on or interactive activity so that I don't have to talk too much. I can teach a class of high school students; I cannot do "public speaking". Anyways, all the features within the PowerPoint program is so distracting that I wanted to play with them to see what they all do rather than put my presentation together. So, the good thing is that I was able to familiarize myself with the program . . . finally!
Another good thing about doing the presentation last night (besides getting it over with so I can breathe again and doing it before everyone else so I didn't have to follow someone with a great presentation) was that the preparation allowed me to organize my thoughts for my paper. I was thinking I had to finish my paper before putting together the presentation and realized on Wednesday that that was not going to happen. I couldn't see how I could present something that wasn't complete . . . but, I think doing the presentation first allowed me to sort of map out my findings . . . like an outline. I also think the questions and comments following my presentation (and the other presentations) helped to remind me about what I need to make sure I include in my paper. So, I am definitely glad I did it last night. Whether the presentation covered what it was supposed to cover is another question . . .
I was so nervous that I decided to write a script of what I was going to say. Of course, when I found out I was first up, I was more nervous and rambled through the whole thing. I don't even think I read a single word of my script. If I did, I would have given the background on my interviewees. In my "script", I had written --
"I interviewed two teachers -- one who taught elementary school and has worked as a new teacher mentor and one who taught at the middle-school and high-school levels -- and two vice-principals -- one veteran vice-principal at a middle school with high school and middle school teaching experience and one fairly new to administration who served as a VP as an elementary and a middle school and taught at the middle school."
I was supposed to say that after I mentioned my research questions. I'm sure I missed a lot of what I was "supposed to" say, which is a good lesson for me to learn -- practice and be better prepared and don't let my nerves control the presentation.
Anyways, I wanted to say that I really do appreciate the comments and questions I received last night. They do help and, hopefully, my paper will be a little better because of them. I do like how everything we've done for class leads into the paper -- the proposal, the researcher identity activity, the blogs, the memos, forcing me to do interviews (Did I say I don't enjoy transcribing? I do think it helps with the processing of information, though. I think I would gain more out of transcribing the interviews myself than having someone -- or something -- else do it for me. I can rehear the conversation and make note of the tone and the "behaviors" of the interviewee. I think those play a big role in understanding what is being said and may be missed if someone -- or something -- else transcribes for you. Plus, transcribing makes you pay closer attention to what is being said. For my last interview -- I know, this is turning out to be a really long parenthetical comment, the vice-principal I interviewed was a little nervous and asked to see the questions first so she could "prepare", so I gave her a couple of minutes to go over them and she jotted notes and so forth. I think that helped with the actual interview. Because she knew the questions ahead of time, she sort of just rambled through her answers and said a lot more than I had experienced in my earlier interviews. Of course, I asked additional questions, but she was more relaxed by that time and we were at a point where we were just "talking"; the formality was no longer an issue.), and the presentation. These activities all contribute to the actual paper and makes putting together the paper less daunting. Of course, I may change my mind on the paper being "less daunting" as I work to finish it up . . .
Have a good Friday and a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment