Part 1: Original Response

Presenting (Implicitly) on Presentation Strategies (RA #6)

What are the most common flaws, or complaints, about presentations? That they:
Undermine clarity by being too abstract; they are not about anything in particular and thus
are not useful; they do not tell a coherent or meaningful story
Lack concrete examples or specific evidence that can help people see and understand what
you are saying
Need (but rarely ever have) a compelling lead that establishes the speakers own credibility
and engages the audience
Organize information without a specific end in mind using the best organizational patterns by
which to achieve that end
Overwhelm the audience by trying to say too much; it would be better to spend more time
focusing on fewer ideas and examining these in depth. (Burke 247)

I love this passage, because even though Burke is discussing how to teach students effective
presentation strategies, I think what he says applies equally to us as teacherswe are presenting
materials and information to our students on a daily basis. If our presentations frequently omit
the above elements, then I believe we are doing our students a disservice and need to reevaluate
our practices.
How horrible would learning be if we didnt follow these elements? Imagine a classroom in
which a teacher just begins class with Turn to page 394 or, as in the case of some of my past
teachers, just gives you the theme of a story without giving you examples on where to find that
theme. Or, even worse, a classroom in which students are just doing busywork for the sake of
doing something, rather than engaging with material that is meaningful and relevant.
This last bullet point in particular really impacts me. In my recent lessons, I have really struggled
with pacingI tend to underestimate the amount of time discussions and activities will take, and
I thus end up going over my allotted time period. To try to compensate, I often gloss over ideas
or try to move through them as quickly as possiblein spite of the fact that my CT has told me
numerous times not to cut learning short for the sake of time. Slowly (very slowly), Im learning
that, even when I have a lot to say, I need to spend more time focusing on the ideas at stake
and on letting the students learn.
This list really helps me think about and reflect on my own teaching practices, and it gives me a
list of things to work toward so that my lessons are more effective and engaging. And, after all,
isnt it only right to model for our students what exactly it is that we want them to do?

Part 2: Responses to Two Peers

Response #1
Judah, I really like your thoughts here. Having had little experience with timed writing (even in
school), this is an interesting topic for me to consider.
I mean, yeah, Ive had final exams that had short (according to the professor) answer or essay
questions. But the standardized tests I took while homeschooled didnt have writing on them, and
I took the ACT without the writing portion. Honestly, that makes me freak out a bit when I think
about the ELAR, but I guess Ill just have to get over it.
Moving away from my personal experiences, Im not even sure how Ill teach timed writing. I
mean, Burke has some great suggestionsI really like his The Basics: Writing a Timed Essay
handout (314) because it is very detailed and moves kids through the writing process. Actually,
now that Im thinking about it, maybe thats the key. Maybe we just need to focus on the writing
process, showing the kids how to condense it for timed tests, but then we can also show them
how to extend their thinking (like you say) for larger writing projects. Maybe its all in
developing clear procedures and strategies that the kids can use time and time againas long as
we give them the opportunities to actually use them.

Response #2
Hey Genny,
I dont know that I can answer any of your questions, but I can at least share my thoughts (I tried
going back to the text to see if Burke said anything else, but the utter lack of specificity in his
tiny bullet point is infuriating).
1 and 3) Id have to say, from previous discussions Ive heard, that teachers are probably more
likely to give good grades to the kids they like and who work hard and to give bad grades to the
ones they dont like and who goof off all the time. I know that sounds horrible to say, but I have
heard stories of teachers grading in relation to their biases rather than the work itself.
2) Id assume that yes, its for teachers who are grading alone or possibly even in a group with
other teachers. For instance, my dad used to teach at the Air Force Academy, and all of the
teachers of a particular course would give students the same test. Then all of the professors
would grade a particular problem on the test (regardless of who gave the test) rather than just

grading their own tests. Even if the names remained on the papers (Im not sure what they did in
this regard), this process allowed for consistency in the gradingsince problem #3 was graded
by one person, it couldnt be a case of one professor marking it higher than another or some such
thing. Of course, this was math, so it was probably a little different than what well be facing.
But, I do like the idea of doing something like this (for tests, not papers) if I have a course-level
team when I teach. Not only will each short answer question (or whatever) be graded
consistently, but I guess it helps eliminate some bias, too, if none of the teachers know who
theyre grading or even if they do know who theyre grading but theyre limited to unfairly
grading only a single problem.
Overall: Yes, grading is difficult (Id assume Ive never really had a chance to practice) and
quite subjectiveeven when we try to make it as objective as possible. Its especially hard
when, like you say, we want to take into account the improvement of the kids. How do we justify
raising one kids grade who improved a lot when we might leave other grades the way they are
because theyre already As (or maybe we just feel like other kids didnt improve as much)? I
dont know. Burke discusses this on p. 326. I love reading his wordsIn the event, however,
that the student shows tremendous growth the second half of the semester, it is fair and humane,
so long as one is judicious and could explain the process whereby the grade was arrived at, to
give such a student the B- I the grade was 79 percent at semesters endand pretending like its
all straightforward and clear-cut and easy to do. But I guess thats just something well have to
figure out as we go along.