Presentation jitters
- Giovanna C. Theme
- Sep 17, 2018
- 6 min read
During my first week of observing Ms. L's classes, she at one point suggested that I give a presentation and actually teach a class during my second week of this internship. At this point, I had had the chance to observe at least one class with each grade (6-12), so I had a rough idea of what to expect. I chose to prepare a presentation for the grade 9 students, since they had just begun a new project, which involved poster design. Therefore, given my background in graphic design and publishing, I thought I had enough knowledge on the subject to give an introduction to layout principles in graphic design (I have included the presentation below):
NOTE: I tried my best to give credit to the designers/organisations whose work is included in this presentation. If any readers happen to know more information on the images that don't have credits, please contact me so I can include this information in an updated presentation!
I did not have a means of checking how long it was taking me to get through the presentation, but by its end, I checked the clock behind me and estimated I had been speaking for roughly 15-20 minutes, which Ms. L advised me would be the ideal duration of presentations since younger students tend to start losing focus the longer they have to simply sit still and listen to a teacher. After the presentation was finished, I could feel my face was quite warm, so I worried about how red I must have looked, but brushed it off since there was very little I could do about it. I had also been worried about how quickly I spoke throughout the presentation, but Ms. L assured me that she thought it all went very well! And regardless of my face possibly being red or my fear that I spoke too quickly, the students seemed to really appreciate the content I was presenting to them. While they are a very respectful and dedicated class already, they would nod along in agreement with ideas I shared and were willing to participate whenever I asked questions. I think I was particularly nervous, because I have not given a presentation to a new group of people in quite some time, and I was particularly worried about not explaining things clearly enough for their age group. However, Ms. L had sat down with me the week before to discuss the progress of my presentation, and I had asked her if she thought the visual examples I had picked were easy to understand and interpret, and she agreed that they were beautiful examples. She also said that, while they were of a higher standard of graphic design than can be expected from the class, she felt they are ready to be introduced to those concepts.
Throughout the presentation, I tried my hardest to maintain as much eye contact as possible and to make good use of any images I included in my slides. I had carefully selected the imagery used and so, each example had a purpose and related back to the three principles I structured my presentation around: grid systems, the rule of thirds, and spacing. Within those three key areas, I had a few other essential concepts that were addressed through at least two examples. For instance, within the area of spacing, I spoke about white space, negative space, balance, scaling/cropping, and contrast. I had also made the decision to include a slide at the end that had a singular image for each of these 3 areas, so as to serve as a recap of the entire presentation and attempt to keep most concepts fresh in their minds. One aspect I found slightly challenging, was to do with how students are unfamiliar with Adobe InDesign, so their only experience with building grid systems is through Adobe Photoshop. I had never built a grid in Photoshop, so speaking about this and giving examples of it was a bit daunting, but the students seemed to grasp it quite easily. Perhaps this is due to them having experience with it already, so it was more of a recap than an introduction.
After the presentation was finished, I noticed how the students were much more comfortable coming to speak to me about any progress they had made with their poster designs. They also started conversations with me that were completely unrelated to their art class. I put this change in behaviour down to how, before beginning my presentation, I gave a short introduction about myself. I spoke about my background in graphics, but also mentioned how I attended and graduated from their school three years ago. That similar educational background could have prompted them to relate to me a bit more, since they asked me about sport teams from my time here, which teams were most successful, and they also asked about other students they knew from my graduating class.
I had also brought three books from home that I thought might help them develop their ideas. The books were about colour combinations, type experiments, and strong typographic posters. I was happy to see that students showed interest in all three books!
Given that Ms. L thought the presentation was effective, she asked me if I would like to do the same presentation for grade 10 students the next day. We discussed if the presentation needed to be adapted for grade 10, but concluded the content can just stay as is. The second time giving this presentation, I felt a bit more confident, since I had already given the presentation once before. So, while my anxiety was partially due to presenting to a new group of people, I think my nervousness was mainly due to it being the first time I put the presentation to the test. While I thought it looked appealing, and was clearly organised, in practise, it would have been very plausible that the delivery of the presentation could have been ineffective or confusing to the students.
The grade 10s reacted very similarly to the grade 9 students, so there isn't much else to add in terms of their reaction. They also showed interest in the books I brought, but to a lesser extent than the previous group did. I am unsure as to why that is, perhaps they felt shy in examining the books, or they didn't think they would be useful to them. Either way, they were made available to them, should they wish to browse through them.
After my presentation, a couple of students wanted to begin working digitally on Adobe Illustrator, but they had no experience with it. Therefore, Ms. L and I sat down with each of them to help with any issues of questions they might have. I sat with these students for most of the class's duration, making sure they were getting the most out of the software, and answering any questions they have about typography. I found it to be very rewarding to sit and work directly with the students, guiding them on how to use new software, and discussing their ideas.
Some of the main challenges I noticed with teaching both the grade 9 and 10 students, is that it can be difficult to discuss ideas with them, without giving them an idea to develop. I found myself having to think about how to prompt them to develop their ideas through questions, as opposed to simply speaking to them and giving my opinion on what they could do next. I also struggled with how to feel when I don't have the answer to their questions. Being in that situation when trying to guide students within Illustrator made me feel anxious because, I am began to think to myself: Do they think less of me because I don't know everything? Will they not come to me for help anymore because I didn't have the answer to something? While I know these questions are counterproductive and illogical, they crossed my mind nonetheless, and I spoke to Ms. L about it. She told me she has been in similar situations before, but that students are never disappointed or think any less of you as a teacher just because you won't know the answer to things immediately. That made perfect sense to me, I think I simply needed some reassurance. It reminded me of the time my past art teachers were unsure of what advice to give to me, and I respected that. I would much rather give a student the correct information at a later time, than take an educated guess that is incorrect and hinders their student's progress.
This second week is flying by! I hope to post a reflection of the whole two-week internship experience soon…
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