Classical Conversations Folks: ? about presentations.....

[Another Lynn]

This is our 2nd year in CC. My oldest ds (9yo, 4th grade) is the only one in our family participating this year (my dh takes him). I'd love to know how other people are handling presentations. It is the thorn in my side! I feel like asking my ds to create a 2 - 2.5 min. presentation is akin to asking him to write a paper every week -which is an unreasonable expectation. Yet, he is too old for simple "show and tell." So my questions...

 

What do you expect of this age for presentation preparation?

 

How do you guide them in it?

 

Are you doing part of it for them? If so, do you have a plan for how to teach them to do more of it?

 

Any ideas or personal experience welcome!

 

Thanks!

[curtisandsheri]

My daughter is in her 2nd year of CC and is also 9. She picks a topic that interests her (she's done polar animals, butterflies, and our trip to D.C. this year). She makes a list of facts on a large index card, finds or makes a visual aid, and practices her list a few times with me the night before. It has been a gentle transition from simply doing show-and-tell because she's still choosing a personal topic she knows a lot about. The only difference is actually thinking through, writing down, and practicing what she wants to say.

I limit my involvement to helping her locate a resource if we think she needs some additional facts and listening to the presentation until she's comfortable doing it. She's finding that she enjoys presentations much more this year because she knows what she's going to say before she begins.

[Heather in VA]

My daughter is 9 as well. This is our first year. Our students are required to do topics related to the memory work. She choses the topic and then we talk through ideas. Then it's pretty much up to her. I help her if she needs to find a resource or if she needs materials for any project she wants to do with it - last week she built a Trojan horse. I would prefer they allow them to just pick any topic of interest but those are the rules on this campus. I am a 4-5 year old tutor and I let them bring whatever they want (shhhhh... don't tell)

 

Heather

[Woodland_Mom]

I have two children in CC. My oldest will be 9 in a few months. This is our second year participating and my second year as a tutor for the masters level class (5th and 6th grade).

 

The main purpose of the presentations is to get your child comfortable speaking in front of a group. Skills that we hope the kids will learn/become more comfortable with are: eye contact, using appropriate hand gestures, integrating visual aids, credibility, etc.

 

The presentations are certainly NOT intended to be something that puts stress or pressure on the anyone in the family. Our group has a list of about 5 presentation topic choices each week. Students then select a topic that interests him/her. If, for any reason, the student and/or parent would like to do a presentation on something other than what was on the list, that is absolutely fine. The whole point is to provide an opportunity for the child to speak in front of a group on a regular basis.

 

You may want to talk to the director of the program to find out what her expectations are. I usually help my own children prepare for presentations by asking them to pick a topic. We spend a few minutes talking about it and they write down a few key words that will help them remember what they'd like to say. They practice a time or two, and that's it. We never pick topics that require research. If my kids choose a more academic topic, then it is always something they've learned about recently. This saves us SO much time and it makes presentations easier for all of us. My kids have choses topics such as: My favorite place to visit, a history card we've studied, Our family's Christmas Traditions, "All about Me", A State, Explained how to do something, etc.

 

Good luck!

[Heather in VA]

We never pick topics that require research.

 

Interesting... this is the exact opposite of what our director is encouraging. They talk alot about the eye contact, comfort in front of people etc but several times she has voice displeasure at the fact that not all kids are researching their topics. Next week we are dissecting a heart and she made a pronouncement that all presentations should be on the heart so that students will research and be prepared to understand the dissection. I just couldn't bring myself to require that of my class. I tutor 4 and 5 year olds so that's just asking a parent to do report. I didn't even require it of my 9 year old because she's highly sensitive to the idea of a dissection so she won't be participating anyway.

 

I'm glad to hear you interpret presentations this way. I had gotten the impression from our training that it was more about actually DOING the presentation than the content but was confused by the tone our director is taking about them. Hopefully my director doesn't show up to my group during presentations and find out I'm not assigning topics.

 

Heather

[Ginger]

Our group, as a whole, is pretty laid back. I have three children in this year. My 10 dd's class: her tutor has assigned topics this semester (they basically correlate with Communicators for Christ, since we are doing that together). For example, this past week was 'impromptu" another week was doing an expository, some weeks the kids will pick from a list of states to report on. When they do that, I've printed out a list of 'fun facts' for the states, and my dd picks what she wants to say. My daughter pretty much puts together her own presentation.

My son is 8, and I have to do most of his work for him. If it is a timeline card they are presenting on, I write down the facts on note cards for him to read.

My 4 year old daughter, well, let's just say she hasn't said two words yet during presentation time. Oh well.

 

I haven't had to do any deep 'research' so far this year--it's all pretty much been basic information.

[NCMom]

Interesting... this is the exact opposite of what our director is encouraging. They talk alot about the eye contact, comfort in front of people etc but several times she has voice displeasure at the fact that not all kids are researching their topics. Next week we are dissecting a heart and she made a pronouncement that all presentations should be on the heart so that students will research and be prepared to understand the dissection. I just couldn't bring myself to require that of my class. I tutor 4 and 5 year olds so that's just asking a parent to do report. I didn't even require it of my 9 year old because she's highly sensitive to the idea of a dissection so she won't be participating anyway.

 

Heather

 

She can be as displeased as she likes, lol but the bottom line is that the PARENT is the final authority and no way would I be forcing 4 & 5 year olds to do lots of "research".

 

My Master's Class of 5th and 6th graders are doing research. For the ones moving to Challenge A next year presentations and the IEW part of Essentials (imho) will be the most helpful parts. For my kid they are absolutely required because she must learn to do this. And all of the parents in my class are glad to have to do them. (They like the results anyway.)

 

We have topics assigned each week but if someone can't do it then that is perfectly fine. Gee, what is the tutor or the director going to do? Our group is a do what you can and do your best but don't stress kinda group...:chillpill: And 99% of everything gets done each week!

 

The littles are different. They are focusing on focusing if you know what I mean...;) They have easy topics and the very littlest mostly do show and tell. They definitely are not stressing the research aspect.

 

For a 9 year old I would say that if you do not have assigned topics then you should use something else you are already studying or an interest that the child has to make it easier, 'cause yeah it is like writing a paper every week. But he can dictate to you to streamline the process. I so wish I had done this w/mine at that age.

 

On another note, interesting about the dissections...do many people do them for Cycle Three? I see them listed only in Cycle 1 only but it is a cool idea.

 

hth,

Georgia

[Heather in VA]

She can be as displeased as she likes, lol but the bottom line is that the PARENT is the final authority and no way would I be forcing 4 & 5 year olds to do lots of "research".

 

My Master's Class of 5th and 6th graders are doing research. For the ones moving to Challenge A next year presentations and the IEW part of Essentials (imho) will be the most helpful parts. For my kid they are absolutely required because she must learn to do this. And all of the parents in my class are glad to have to do them. (They like the results anyway.)

 

We have topics assigned each week but if someone can't do it then that is perfectly fine. Gee, what is the tutor or the director going to do? Our group is a do what you can and do your best but don't stress kinda group...:chillpill: And 99% of everything gets done each week!

 

The littles are different. They are focusing on focusing if you know what I mean...;) They have easy topics and the very littlest mostly do show and tell. They definitely are not stressing the research aspect.

 

For a 9 year old I would say that if you do not have assigned topics then you should use something else you are already studying or an interest that the child has to make it easier, 'cause yeah it is like writing a paper every week. But he can dictate to you to streamline the process. I so wish I had done this w/mine at that age.

 

On another note, interesting about the dissections...do many people do them for Cycle Three? I see them listed only in Cycle 1 only but it is a cool idea.

 

hth,

Georgia

 

You are a woman after my own heart LOL. I've told my parents flat out that I am being encouraged to require these things but that I am not willing to require them. If they want to - more power to you but for the most part my kids come with what excites them. As a result I have 100% participation in the presentations every week. They are all thrilled to get up there and share about things that interest them. Our director said that it's boring if you just let them do what they want but I find it facinating. Sometimes it's school related. Sometimes not. The other day one boy brough in these penguins he had drawn. He's in love with 3-2-1 Penguins. He drew these fantastic pictures that he cut out and put around paper towel holders. Then he acted out a story in great narration fashion. It was fantastic. I'm lucky that I have :chillpill: moms who are more than wiling to say 'heck no' when something doesn't make sense. My 9 year old researchs for her presentation but she's more than able to do it herself. She usually has a strongly "recommended" topic but I've told her as long as it's related to the CC studies, I'm fine with it. She's come up with great ideas. She did one on Kadinsky when they did the abstract art.

 

As far as the dissections, the cow heart will be our second this year. We did a cow eye a few weeks ago. It was really fun - but then again I like that kind of thing. My 9 year old is very sensitive to this kind of thing so I had her to the eye with me when I was practicing. They gave the tutors a practice eye. She participated but cried the whole time so I excused her for the group one. We aren't getting a practice heart so I won't make her do it this time. They aren't scheduled in the Foundations guide. It was just something the director chose to add.

 

My oldest is looking forward to more of Challenge next year. She's only doing two classes with Challenge 1 this year due to a misunderstanding in sign up but she's looking forward to Challenge II next year.

 

Heather

[SonshineLearner]

What Cycle are you doing?? Hearts.....hmmm

 

Carrie:-)

[angela in ohio]

Everyone is on Cycle 3 this year. That's the way it works. Dissections are not included in this cycle. I'll leave it at that.

 

The presentations are not supposed to be a high pressure thing. It is my tutors who are pushing for more recommended topics and more of a "research paper" feel, but CC does not push it at all. The suggestions I received were that the youngest have maybe one or two suggested topics per 12-weeks, gradually increasing to half the topics for the oldest class.

 

HTH!

[G5052]

This is our third year, and I always do a show-and-tell, demonstration, read/recite a poem, talk with an 8.5 x 11" visual aid (no notes), talk with a single notecard, explain a history card, or an impromptu with topics I pick or objects from a bag. This year I have a class of all 6th grade boys, and they're doing great.

 

It really is not supposed to be a huge assignment. I've had parents who stay up until 2am preparing their children's talks (while the children are asleep BTW), and that's totally wrong. It's supposed to encourage informal preparation with the parent and/or a little preparation on the child's part of they're able to make notes. That's all.

[SonshineLearner]

I believe that we have a happy medium at our CC. We are doing suggested topics. Some of the tutors have it so that they actually assign a topic. It's up to the tutor. On the other hand, this last week one of the students had missed a week and gave a presentation on one of the other weeks. The most important part for us is that the children learn how to speak in front of others, with few "ums" if any and make eye contact. Since we are doing IEW, some of them also use the Key Word Outline.

I have decided that with CC, I'm most concerned that in Essentials, I use it as one way to teach my daughter self-discipline in organizing her time. If she doesn't choose to get her work done, she'll have to work to earn the money to pay for the lesson, because it's not my responsibility to nag her to work on her assignments. I want her to learn to keep on task and turn in work. I really love IEW and hope that we can attend a live IEW seminar and student workshop.

[SonshineLearner]

Oops.

Edited October 25, 2008 by NayfiesMama
It posted twice.