Teaching Practice A Great Beginning with PowerPoint (TM): Exploring Lemony Snicket's Books THE LESSON
Setting the Stage
This lesson is the culmination of a literature unit for my gifted students. We read the novel, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning. The purpose of the lesson shown is to teach students how to create a story map and present it to the class using a PowerPoint™ presentation.
Instead of learning this skill in isolation, the students will be transferring knowledge and information they have learned while reading the novel into a presentation for the class. My classroom is in one of the larger "portables" in the school and the students sit at tables which allows for cooperative group activities.
Goals and Objectives
Goal: After reading the novel, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket, fourth grade students will learn how to design and present a PowerPoint™ presentation of the story elements.
Objectives:
The students will recall story elements of the novel: characters, problem, solution, and events.
The students will pre-plan their slides of each of the story elements, writing the events as a summary.
The students will learn how to use Microsoft PowerPoint™, including a title slide, character slide(s), problem slide(s), solution slide(s), and a summary slide.
The students will learn how to copy and paste a picture from the Internet into their slides.
The students will learn how to type text into each slide.
The students will learn how to animate text, pictures and transitions between slides.
The students will learn how to save their presentations to 3˝-inch floppy discs for future editing and use.
The students will present their presentations to the class using a Proxima™ projector connected to the computer.
Prerequisite Skills
Students should be familiar with the computer—how to use the keyboard, how to search the Internet safely, and how to print documents.
Students will recognize and identify the story elements of character, problem, solution, and events.
Students will know how to write a simple summary of events.
Time Frame
Approximately three hours if a computer lab is available for all students to work on their projects at the same time. Allow more time if there are a limited number of computer stations for students to work at.
Reviewing the Story with the Class
This lesson is a culminating activity after reading the novel, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning. The students are now ready to show their understanding of the novel that was read.
I held a discussion and review of the novel after our class finished reading it. We named the characters and the important things they did in the novel. We talked about the major problems facing the characters and the solutions they came up with to resolve their problems. I also had the students summarize the main events of the story.
Because my students have been identified as gifted, I know they generally remember and understand the characters and plot of a novel. In this lesson, I wanted them to be able to use their abilities to present the characters and problems to each other in an organized and in-depth format.
Introducing the Project
After our discussion, I explained to my students that they would be creating a special Power Point™ presentation about the different story elements to show to the class. I showed them a model of a presentation so that they would have an idea of what to expect.
Next I explained the requirements of the project:
A title slide—title and author of book, their name, and at least one picture copied from the Lemony Snicket web site.
A character slide listing the main characters and some important facts about each one, and at least one picture.
A problem slide describing the major problem(s) faced by the characters, and at least one picture.
A solution slide describing the solution(s) to the problem, and at least one picture.
A summary slide giving a summary of the story, and at least one picture.
Planning the Slides
After the requirements for the presentation were explained, the students planned a rough draft of how their slides would look. I asked them to write the text and tentatively decide the placement of the pictures.
Once everyone had planned their slides and edited them for spelling errors, we moved to the computer lab.
I demonstrated to the students how to begin designing their presentation using the Microsoft PowerPoint™ software. The computer screen I was using was projected so that all the students could see what I was doing. I also showed them how to insert and format slides as they needed to add more. I then allowed them to use their plans and begin, while I walked around the room to help troubleshoot any problems.
Creating the Slides
I demonstrated how to copy and paste an image from the Lemony Snicket Web site to the slide. They practiced this skill by pasting at least one picture to each slide.
I also demonstrated how to save their work to a floppy disc and reminded them to save their work regularly.
Once the students finished designing their presentations, they were shown how to view the slide shows and present them to the class via the computer and projector.
Author: Joyce
Rosales, NBCT School: Miami Dade County Public Schools, Miami FL Credits: The Third and Fourth Grade Gifted Students (my students) for their imagination and creativity.
Laura Jones for bringing this project to publication
Marcia Pennington, Principal
Apple Computer for their generous gift of time, support, and equipment
AT&T Foundation for their generous financial support
For comments or questions, please contact:
Laura Jones Teacher in Residence National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
