#hatepresentations

Hi friends! This week we had to do a presentation on what we plan to do for our project in front of the class! Fun, right? ...not really.

So I may be exaggerating a bit on the whole “in front of the class” thing, but not that much. We sat/stood in the school auditorium at little stations around the room with our computers, using our powerpoints to present to people one at a time. Of course, this means that we ended up having to present four or five times each! And if you know anything about me, you know that I don’t like presenting. At all. I get super nervous if I just THINK about a presentation, much less practice it or actually do it. 

I tried to practice it- I really did, but I’ve been really stressed lately because next week I have a huge biology project due, the week after that I have the school musical, and at some point in the near future I’m going to be in the school talent show, and on top of ALL OF THAT I had this fun little presentation to deal with! That combined with the fact that I get stressed when just thinking about a presentation, I ended up hardly practicing at all. Which means that of the 5 times I presented, each were basically completely different! 

I was told I presented well by almost everyone who I actually presented to, even though I was A NERVOUS WRECK the entire time. I’m not exaggerating on this one; I’m still super stressed about it even though it was a full 24 hours ago. I did get quite a bit of good feedback, such as to actually make eyecontact with people when presenting, (I low-key struggle with eyecontact) and to have some more specific goals on what I plan to do for my project.

Specific goals are difficult right now though, because a) I have no clue how many music videos I’m going to have time to do, but I plan for at least 5 and b) I’m probably going to continue this project through the summer and into next year. This is something I really wanted to do, but this has actually given me an excuse to get off my butt and actually do it, so I’m going to probably continue it. 

So, overall, even if I HATE presentations, these ones were better because they were so short (only 1-2 minutes each) and far less formal and not in front of the entire class. I didn’t like how many times we had to present, but I’d rather do more presentations like these ones instead of the more traditional type in the future. 

This down below is my timeline for when everything in the project is going to be done.

February 6 Deliverables

Blog post #1  (continue weekly, 150 words or so)

February 20 Deliverables

Blogpost #3 on research into your topic.  Preliminary findings, feasibility, etc.--Complete project template

March 16 Deliverables

Project Pitch--see handout:  Autonomy,  Mastery, Purpose (AMP)

Search for a Mentor

If project is approved, complete the full 20 Time Proposal document. (see the “About” section of our Classroom page)  For March 28

March 21 Deliverables

Project underway, Research is underway; or revision of project; Blog post #5.  Mentor search is going on now.

April 4 Deliverables

Video Blog pitch (AMP handout)  

April 18 Deliverables

Blog #6--progress, research, images of progress

May 2 Deliverables

Blog #8

May 16 Deliverables

Blog #10

May 30 Deliverables

Projects due...or next week.