Assignments: Historicization Presentation

Deliverables

• A copy of the PowerPoint .PPTX file, submitted in Canvas.
• An in-class group presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint slides as visual aides.
• Following the presentation, impromptu responses to instructor’s and classmates’ questions.

Due Date

• Submit your group’s .PPTX files in Canvas by Sunday, March 20 at 11:59 p.m.
• Groups should be adequately prepared to present on Monday, March 21. Each day’s presenters will be randomly determined during each class meeting that week.

The purpose of this assignment is to

• Practice effective library and web research skills.
• Practice oral and visual communication skills.
• Develop a critical literacy of a software application, specifically, Microsoft PowerPoint, a staple application of the business and academic workplaces.
• Practice placing literature and film representations into their historical context. This is a fundamental skill of the English discipline.
• Develop a collective body of knowledge within a small-group of collaborators.

Assessment Notification Timing and Criteria

Within two weeks of your presentation, I will record the grade it has earned according to the rubric linked here. The group’s presentation will earn a single grade, based on the following criteria:

• Completion, Length (presentation): three minutes per group member (e.g. a three-person group’s presentation will be nine minutes long). Presentations over a minute over or under the target length will earn less points.
• Completion, Length (.PPTX file): the presentation must include at least two slides per group member (e.g. a three-person group’s presentation will be at least 6 slides long)
• Completion, Bibliography Slide: the presentation includes a final slide listing the primary work and at least two other sources in Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition Bibliography format.
• Demonstration of Functional Literacy: how effectively the presentation uses PowerPoint’s affordances to communicate its message.
• Reporting: how well the presentation provides accurate historical information about the assigned term that is relevant to the term’s appearance in works studied thus far.
• Sources: how well the presentation uses appropriate and reliable sources.
• Analysis: how well the presentation relates the reported material to one of the works studied in class.
• Cohesion: the presentation should demonstrate that it is the result of conversations, collaboration, and consensus. This is represented in the visual design of the slides and the overall argument.
• Delivery: group’s overall comportment and ability to confidently present information and respond to questions in the moment.

Special Notes

• Speaking time need not be equally divided, however, each group member should speak on their own for at least a minute.
• Avoid the temptation to subdivide too finely the intellectual components of this assignment. For example, the group should come to consensus on how its research findings affect how it understands the work. No one person should be left to “come up with” such a product.

Instructions

These instructions work like bumpers in a bowling alley: they do not guarantee success, but they limit the chances of things going wrong. Particularly if you are very comfortable with this type of project, you can follow your own path towards meeting the assignment’s criteria. But do skim these in any case, as they may include important technical formatting information.

1. I will present your group with a number of cards with terms written on the back of them. Select one at random.
2. Select a work we have studied in class that either prominently features that term, or whose meaning to you might be changed by your work researching this term.
   • At this point, such works would include: Bond Girl, The Big Short, Severance, the Superstore Episode "Essential,” or How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia.
3. Research the term (we will discuss techniques and good/bad sources in class). Focus your attention on its aspects that are most obviously relevant to the work you’ve chosen.
4. Determine how your improved understanding of the term affects the meaning you take from the work or a scene within the work.
   • Here you can build on your or other classmates work in the Close Reading Compilation, and on Course Journal Entries. Be sure to give appropriate credit to the classmates’ whose work you are building on.
5. Outline your presentation.
6. Design your slides.
7. Rehearse together at least twice. Time yourselves to make sure you meet the assignment’s timing requirements.
8. Each group member must submit a copy of the .PPTX file to Canvas.
9. Present when called upon.