Chapter One Know Your Stuff 4 C h a p t e r o n e K n o w Y o u r S t u f f Have you ever had the chance to present information to your classmates Have you ever sat in class and wished for the opportunity to get up and teach the other students Someday your teacher will probably ask you to give an oral presentation in front of the class That’s your chance An oral presentation is when you speak in front an audience to teach them about a subject Oral presentations are different than other types of presentations that you may have done in the past Many students create posters slideshows and even
5 short movies as ways of presenting information they have learned They might put these presentations up in their classrooms or post them online An oral pre sentation requires you to speak in front of an audience yourself Some oral presentations might be recorded on video but most will be live just you in front of the class In a live presentation there are no do-overs and you can’t go back and edit That is why it is important to prepare practice and provide visuals that help your audience understand your topic The first step is to understand your assignment What does your teacher want you to present about You will probably need to do some research to learn more about your topic As you research make sure you learn the basic facts about your topic such as who what why where when and how Many teachers call those facts the five Ws and one H Look at other facts about your topic that interest you too and consider which ones would be most interesting to your audience Next it is time to sort out your information and decide how you will present it to your class Giving a good presentation is like telling a good story You should start by introducing your topic including the people who are involved in your topic and where any events took place You might introduce Put it All Together by Phyllis Cornwall is a great book to read for more help sorting out all of your information
6 something that was a problem and let your audience know you’ll be explaining how this problem was solved Let’s pretend you are presenting about the Wright brothers and their invention of the first powered air plane You might start by talking about the beach in North Carolina where the brothers tested their plane designs It’s also a good idea to give a little background information on the topic For example you might be presenting mostly about the Wright brothers contribu tions to flight but do your classmates know that they were not the first people to build and test aircraft Next you should tell your audience what your pre sentation is about You want to present the facts that are most important for them to know Again think about presenting like telling a story Make sure that all of your ideas connect to one another instead of just throwing out random facts Think about the questions your audience might have and try to answer those questions before they are even asked A presentation about airplanes might move past the Wright brothers and into World War I 1914 1918 when airplanes were first tested as weapons You would probably then move past that into the days of legendary pilot Amelia Earhart and then on to the use of planes in World War II 1939 1945 You could end your story by talking about commercial flights that people use for business and travel You would want to be sure to note how the aircraft changed along the way C h a p t e r o n e K n o w Y o u r S t u f f
7 Just like ending a story you will need to tie up any loose ends or show how the problem was solved Tell the audience what came next after the events in your presentation For example you might end your air plane presentation by telling how else planes are used today or how today’s planes are built You may want to emphasize the most important three or four facts that you hope your audience will have learned from your presentation WRIGHT BROTHERS COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS AMELIA EARHART WWI WWII make sure that the topics in your presentation connect smoothly to one another
