The final presentation for our class has been scheduled. It will be between 7:30 and 9 a.m. on April 21. We will be presenting to a group of area students, at least some of whom will be coming from Yates High School.

I have divided you into three teams to help facilitate our collaborative work on this presentation. The point of these teams is not to free you from having to think about what the other teams are doing, but instead to focus our efforts so as to ensure that we put together a good presentation in the short time we have.

On April 14, by the end of class, we will select the people we want to represent the whole group by speaking to the students on the 21st. I’ll say more about this in class.

For this to work, we need to keep communication between the teams open. Here are two ways to help with that: First, each team should select two representatives who are able to meet briefly with me either in my office hours (Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m.) on April 8 and April 15, or before class on April 7 and April 14 around 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. (Make sure your representatives are available at all of those times, and once I know who they are, I will coordinate with the six representatives to schedule two specific meetings.) These brief, touch-base meetings will allow information to be more easily shared between the teams. Second, all of the work that you do as a team should be recorded in Google Docs or slideshows that are shared with me, so that I can then share them with everyone in the class.

Below each team below, I have listed a series of deadlines for your team to meet.

Position Designers

This team is charged with developing the position that we want to take in our presentation, outlining the points and evidence we want to present, and ultimately preparing a draft script for the presenters. It’s especially your job to make sure that we, as a group, do not forget the rubric on “position taking” as we design our presentation.

• By April 1: Meet as a team to create a Google Doc outlining the points you think we should make to the students, and the evidence and arguments that will help make those points. Share it with to Dr. McDaniel, who will share it with the class.
• By April 7: Prepare a group presentation to the class to be delivered on April 7, focusing on the Outline circulated on April 1, explaining the decisions the team has made, and taking questions.
• By April 12: Individually, make comments on the circulated draft slideshow prepared by the Presentation Designers.
• By April 14: Meet as a team to (a) expand the outline from April 7 into “speaking text” or notes that will be shared with the other teams; and (b) make any needed revisions to the outline based on information and feedback received from the Audience Analysts and Presentation Designers. Prepare a brief, ten-to-fifteen-minute group presentation for the class going over your position.
• By April 21: If necessary, select some delegates from the team to meet with the final presenters to finalize presentation to give to the students, using the slides prepared by the Presentation Designers and incorporating feedback from Audience Analysts. (This won’t be necessary if at least one member of your team is selected as a presenter.

Audience Analysts

This team is charged with conducting research in advance about our audience and then providing feedback and commentary to the other teams that focuses on whether our presentation is pitched appropriately. It’s your job to make sure that we keep the rubric on “audience awareness” in mind and don’t assume too much or too little about what our audience knows; you can also perform a valuable service for the Position Designers by thinking about the possible counterarguments or questions that might occur to our particular audience, which relates to position-taking.

• By April 1: Meet as a team to prepare a list of questions you want to ask our teacher contact, and also the facts you want to find out about the school our guests are coming from. Get the questions to the teacher approved by Dr. McDaniel and then email them to the teacher. Divide up any other research tasks that need to be done by the team.
• By April 7: Individually or as a group, report your findings in a Google Doc shared with Dr. McDaniel, who will share it with the other teams. Also, you’ll be expected to give audience-awareness feedback to the Position Designers in class based on what you have learned.
• By April 14: Meet as a team to prepare a brief, ten-to-fifteen-minute group presentation for the class reminding them of what we know about our audience and how it should shape our presentation. Each member of the team should speak. Individually, provide audience-awareness feedback in class to the other two teams, who will also be presenting.
• By April 21: If necessary, select some delegates from the team to meet with the final presenters to finalize presentation to give to the students. (This won’t be necessary if at least one member of your team is selected as a presenter.

Presentation Designers

This team is charged with designing a slideshow for our presentation and giving careful thought to how we can best communicate the positions designed by the Position Design time. It’s your job to make sure that we keep the rubric on “effective communication” in mind, both in designing your slides (where principles outlined on the rubric still apply) and in giving feedback to other team members in class.

• By April 7: Meet as a group to plan a draft Google slideshow based on the doc, which you should then share with Dr. McDaniel, who will share it with the other teams. Also, you’ll be expected to give effective-communication feedback to the Position Designers in class based on what you have learned.
• By April 14: Meet as a team to prepare a brief, ten-to-fifteen-minute group presentation for the class explaining the decisions you’ve made about how to structure the presentation. Each member of the team should speak. Individually, provide feedback in class to the other two teams, who will also be presenting.
• By April 21: If necessary, select some delegates from the team to meet with the final presenters to finalize presentation to give to the students. (This won’t be necessary if at least one member of your team is selected as a presenter.

We will talk more in class about each of these steps, but refer back to this post for the timeline.