“The Art of an Engaging PowerPoint”

Author: Holly Jean Newman

AP, ADV, General Government TeacherBRVGS Senior Internship Coordinator, Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s

School Greene County Public SchoolsWilliam Monroe High School

254 Monroe Dr.Stanardsville, VA 22973

John Marshall Foundation Teacher of the Year Award Winner, 2009Teaching American History Grant Fellow, 2006-2009

Annenberg Teaching Fellow, 2004-2005

Dear teachers (and consultants, professors, even businessmen/women)-

Your PowerPoints are terrible.

I am tired of seeing them in your classrooms.

I am even more tired of seeing them on in-service days by education consultants.

And more importantly, your students are tired of seeing them.

Worse, they are emulating them in “the real world.”

The horror.

I was inspired to share how I use Powerpoint in the classroom--what’s involved in giving an effective powerpoint—after I read Megan McArdle’s piece in the Atlantic called “The Fine Art of a Proper Powerpoint.” In it, she points out that while it is possible in the business-world to give a great Powerpoint presentation, she rarely sees it. She sees lecture notes that are too small being read by presenters who are READING THE SCREEN, not making eye-contact with the audience. Can you think of anything less engaging? I can’t. Neither could my students, Megan McArdle or my friend Sallie Hill, who inspired my Powerpoint revolution about a year ago. So I’m hoping a few more people agree with me.

First up, I know EXACTLY where these ineffective, boring business Powerpoint presentations came from.

The CLASSROOM.

Your teachers taught you. And they modeled it all wrong.

First, they used an overhead to print out pages of notes, which you dutifully copied. They used a broken-off car antenna to point to which line you should copy.

And then, when Powerpoint went viral, they transferred those notes onto Powerpoints with nifty backgrounds….sometimes added a photo. If they were tech savvy, they used a laser-pointer to point to which line you should copy instead of the car antenna.

And the kids copy.

And copy.

And copy.

You kill 45 minutes per class per day.

And they RETAIN NOTHING.

You KNOW they are not listening to you while they copy. You know unless they go home and review the information themselves, read the chapter on their own, or you do an activity with the information, they will not retain what they copied.

So, what do you do? You’ve got to present the material…provide direct instruction once a week so that the kids that the requisite knowledge to do your great, engaging activities.

Well, I’ll tell you what I did. I changed it up. In all my classes. Yep, in AP, Advanced, and General diploma American Government and Politics classes.

I went back through all my weekly Powerpoints and I deleted 90% of the words.

1 and 2. 1 word, 1 great photoI use a MAX of 12 words per slide on top of an engaging photo related directly to my content. Most of the time, I just use one or two words per slide. I give 6-8 slides per day in each 45 minute class once a week.Gasp. That’s it folks. The General students are responsible for writing a one-sentence summary of each slide that they devise from LISTENING to my words. Yep. They have to listen. And process. And make sense of the information. And then write their own summary down. At the end of class, they can compare notes in a brief 2-3 minute Think-Pair-Share activity or I have students share aloud. Their notes get checked and they earn class participation points for getting the notes. My AP and Advanced students are encouraged to take notes, but I do not check them…their note-taking and motivation levels are typically higher, so note-taking is not a skill that requires practice (for them). Direct instruction is still part of the once-a-week routine and Powerpoints are given in the same format.

I confess, I had to sell the General kids at first. They were used to copying notes verbatim, not thinking and processing in class, so I had some complaints initially. But “This is HAAAAARRRD” is music to my ears. They are stretching and growing right before my eyes. I sold them on the idea that they would have to do less work since they only have to write 6-8 sentences.

As a whole, all my classes are more engaged. The students are free to actually verbally participate in the lectures because they aren’t busy copying, copying. They are listening. To me. To each other.

As a whole, all my classes retain more information because they have already processed the material before beginning to work with it in my activities throughout the week.

I know, I know, you can’t POSSIBLY shorten all those notes into 6 or 7 slides with one word on them. But the truth is, you can. But you’ve got to know your content. You’ve got to be engaging as a speaker (or at least, try). You’ve got to be willing to move away from your notes and tell us the stuff that’s in your head in a clear, concise manner. Move around the room. Change it up.

Last week, I gave my “How to Give an Engaging Presentation” lecture to my students, who were preparing to give their own formal presentations. I start out by TELLING them their past teachers probably gave bad presentations. They aren’t bad people or bad teachers, but their presentations are terrible. The kids love that. And then I show them what I’ve been modeling all year. I go through the types of photos that are most engaging…great photographs are best…just one per slide, stretched to take up the entire slide.

Don’t use moving graphics or cartoons. Real photos.

Don’t use the Powerpoint features with the text zooming in and making noise and all that jazz. It’s just distracting and unnecessary.

Put your text over the photo in a color and size where you can easily read it…where it doesn’t cover the image, but perhaps a corner that isn’t important to visualizing the photo itself.

And look excited about what you’re teaching.

This week, my General and Advanced students did formal presentations where they defended their pick for “the Most Iconic Photo of 2011” in lieu of a traditional current events report. They created just two slides for their 5 minute presentation…their title slide with their photo and a works cited slide (for me to check that they can cite their sources). They had to fill their presentation with THEIR WORDS. Their analysis. Their opinions. The facts they researched. They had to dress in an academic and professional manner.

I saw some kids read straight off their notes because they did not know their material. I saw some kids overuse the clicker/pointer…with the little red dot circling and circling…I saw some kids get nervous.

But that’s ok. They all gave a far more effective presentation than they’ve ever done before and as a result, they know what they need to work on for the future. And they all know how to prepare an effective Powerpoint that won’t bore you to tears.

Works Referenced

Megan McArdle, “The Fine Art of a Proper Powerpoint,” The Atlantic (November 18, 2011): http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/the-fine-art-of-a-proper-powerpoint/248720/#