Justine Smith

Presentation 1 Reflection

Upon reviewing written feedback and watching the recording of my first presentation, I have
received some amazing feedback and recommendations on how to improve my teaching. Many stated
that I followed a transmission style of teaching, which I agree with. With the subject that I chose to
present, I wanted to mirror history lessons that I’ve had over the years. When discussing history, or hard
facts, I find it difficult to have students interact or brainstorm ideas, especially when the subject is brand
new to them. I typically favor presentations that are engaging and interactive, but since I was unable to
fully conduct that in my presentation, I made up for it with enthusiasm for the subject. While watching
my presentation I did enjoy witnessing how enthusiastic I was about the subject. This made it engaging
for myself and many others that had not learned about Star Wars before. Many reviewers said that my
pacing was a bit fast, and since my presentation ended around 7:30 minutes, I did have time to slow
down and thoroughly flesh out my ideas while speaking. This would help me stumble less during my
sentences, as I noticed I did that at various points throughout my presentation. In addition, what stood
out to me the most was how much I moved in front of the classroom. I am naturally a very animated
person and my increasing anxiety throughout life has made me a much more mobile and fidget-y
person. This is something that I was aware of prior to the presentation, but it really stood out when
watching. Moving so much during a presentation can have the appearance of not being very
professional or confident. This is something that I would like to improve on as time progresses. In
general, I am very pleased with my performance for the presentation, but there is much that I would like
to address for the next presentation.

A summary list for myself to address in future presentations:

What I would like to improve on
 Less text on slides – zoom in on smaller
sections of slide when highlighting key
points
 Reinforce objectives of the presentation
at the end
 Allow for more audience interactions
 Slow down pace, think out sentences
prior to speaking
 Less fidgeting – do not move around as
much, no leg swinging…
What I liked
 Design and flow of presentation
 Opening with questions to begin
engaging audience
 Enthusiasm evenly spread throughout
presentation
 Good volume and projection throughout