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Improvement on Teaching and Learning
It is a basic tenet of best practices in the teaching of reading and writing that student assignments
engage students and provide for publication. Classroom presentation using PowerPoint is a method of
publication. The use of role playing in this module employs students' enjoyment of dramatic techniques
in the classroom and also incorporates speaking across the curriculum. Furthermore, while an instructor
will not expect all students to become published authors, this activity does teach students the basic
elements of writing a book proposal, thus providing an intellectual stake in the book-publishing industry
and the creation of knowledge and literature.
Nontechnology Comparison
A PowerPoint presentation of this information offers students the resources to create a professional
quality presentation. It also encourages students to employ a number of intelligences: linguistic, artistic,
musical, argumentative, and technological. While such a presentation could indeed be created without the use
of technology, by using PowerPoint, the students are also gaining experience with and knowledge of a
real-life technological skill, useful for the students both in high school and college and as future
professionals.
Pertinent Issues
- Appropriateness of language and graphics in the classroom setting
- Issues of appropriate and respectful response and evaluation from peers
How to Use in the Classroom
Directions to Students
For this assignment, you will be reading one young adult novel (to be approved by me),
then assuming the role of the author and "pitching" the book to an editor as well as an attendant
focus group of young adult readers, parents, and teachers. For this, you will create a three- to
five-minute PowerPoint presentation. Your job is to present the novel in the most interesting and
compelling manner possible, convincing all members of your audience (the class will assume the roles
of one editor as well as teachers, parents, and young adult readers) that this book ought to be
published and read. Roles will be randomly assigned by students choosing and wearing a Post-It® note
indicating, by color, the wearer's role.
Specifics
The PowerPoint presentation should consist of at least ten slides. Each slide should include
graphics and text. Sound is optional. Slides should address the following:
- Identification of the genre of this young adult novel (e.g., problem novel, mystery,
historical fiction)
- Brief summary of the novel's plot
- Description of the setting and its relationship to the plot
- Brief character analysis
- Identification of central theme and conflicts
- Unique qualities of the novel
- Comparison to other similar novels
- Identification of the novel's audience
- Book cover design
- Author bio (either researched or creatively supplemented by the student/author)
These elements should be presented creatively and persuasively. Remember, the stakes are high: J. K. Rowling grossed more than the Queen of England last year.
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