Presentation PD

Bonus Resources About Student Presentations

I am thrilled that you came to my PD session. Then on top of that, you are here on my site looking for even more ways that you can help your students’ presentations shine, you made my day!

I made this page to provide you with a handy take away resource to reference later or even to share with your peers or students. I’ll list out some of the references I mentioned in my PD session, embed some helpful YouTube videos, and link to other posts here on my site that I wrote about student presentations. I know you will find something valuable here.

View The Presentation File I Used

Presentation Structure

This was the first time I ever heard of Nancy Duarte, and I was blown away. I felt like I had discovered a cheat code when I watched it. I watch this video every three times a year for the past five years or so, and I still see something new every time.

Hero’s Journey

I first learned about the Hero’s Journey in my high school mythology class, and I have never been able to stop seeing it in the world. Of course, when Nancy Duarte brought it up in this video, I was even more intuned to what she had to say. If you what to learn more about the Hero’s Journey, check out the Wikipedia article.

Resonate

Nancy’s TED talk lead to her writing the book Resonate. I reread this book to prepare to give this PD. You will find tons more insight and capability from her directly rather than have me filter her message. Beware, you can easily get lost down this rabbit hole.

Presentation Visuals

Slide:ology

After watching Nancy’s TED talk, I bought Slide:ology. I also reread this book to prepare to give this PD. I get both Resonate and Slide:ology out when we start every presentation. However, Slide:ology is the book students always pick up first. This one also has a depth to it that I never expect of my students but still has content at levels that are actionable for students.

I share and work out of Nancy Duarte’s books because they provide a real-world context for my senior students. These books show my students what the best people in the world are doing for their presentations. While we only work at a fraction of that level, students work harder when they know someone else (not me) says it is crucial.

Talk Nerdy To Me

I use this short video after my sophomore’s first presentation to help establish my initial presentation expectations. This video helps me get students from their (awful) baseline presentation to the (serviceable) midpoint presentation.

We watch this video together in class, and then I share the 6 x 6 rule and the story-driven brain concept. Afterward, students do their first presentation reflection.