assignments ENGL344 Young Adult Literature PECHA KUCHA Theory-to-Practice
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com |
Spring 2020 Office Hours:
I am officially on sabbatical for the Spring 2020 semester. I am not available for face-to-face meetings. On line office hours are available to exclusively to students in my ENGL 344-W01. If you need immediate help, please contact the English Department @ 508.531.1258 ONLINE office hours for ENGL 344-W01: Monday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Wednesday 7:00-8:30 PM Sunday 11:00 to Noon (when major assignments are due ONLY) |
THE RATIONAL
I know, you want to know what that means. Pecha Kucha is an import from Japan, an idea for presentation created by two architects that were frustrated by years of bad PowerPoint presentations. I think we can all appreciate that. It uses the visual aid that PowerPoint helps us with, uses parts of the software that are relatively underused, and crafts an argument or narrative that efficiently and effectively deliver content.
As I was thinking about how to create assignments for our online course, I immediately thought of trying Pecha Kucha. Such an assignment requires the reading and writing skills you’d expect from any sort of English class on this sort, but it makes possible the sharing of learning among colleagues that I’m discovering can be hard in an online setting.
I've modeled the process in a few Monday Updates--both successfully and unsuccessfully. But, as I said both times, I wasn't really doing an official Pecha Kucha because I wasn't following the rules. I'm asking you to follow the rules.
THE FORMAT
For a general introduction to Pecha Kucha and a sample presentation, click here .
To watch my Pecha Kucha on Wolfgang Iser click here.
THE CONTENT
HOW I WILL EVALUATE YOUR PECHA KUCHA
Well, for starters, this is a new thing for all of you, so I’m going to cut you loads of slack. The Pecha Kucha project is worth 15% of your grade.
To earn a “B” grade, you must
In order to earn an “A” grade
In order to earn a "C" grade
If you can't meet the "C" grade requirements, you will fail the 15% you could earn for this assignment.
Good luck and don’t stress.
I know, you want to know what that means. Pecha Kucha is an import from Japan, an idea for presentation created by two architects that were frustrated by years of bad PowerPoint presentations. I think we can all appreciate that. It uses the visual aid that PowerPoint helps us with, uses parts of the software that are relatively underused, and crafts an argument or narrative that efficiently and effectively deliver content.
As I was thinking about how to create assignments for our online course, I immediately thought of trying Pecha Kucha. Such an assignment requires the reading and writing skills you’d expect from any sort of English class on this sort, but it makes possible the sharing of learning among colleagues that I’m discovering can be hard in an online setting.
I've modeled the process in a few Monday Updates--both successfully and unsuccessfully. But, as I said both times, I wasn't really doing an official Pecha Kucha because I wasn't following the rules. I'm asking you to follow the rules.
THE FORMAT
- A Pecha Kucha requires 20 slides at 20 seconds per slide. This is non-negotiable. It is like saying you need to write a 10 page paper, not a 9 page paper and not an 11 page paper, but a 10 page paper.
- You will locate or produce 20 images, one per slide. There is some wiggle room here, as you’ll see in any examples you check out. You might repeat images. You might add to an image for a second 20 seconds on the same image.
- Using the “RECORD SLIDE SHOW” feature in PowerPoint, which is located on the “SLIDE SHOW” tab, you will actually record your twenty, 20 second scripts for each of your slides.
- If you are wondering, this means you are recording a 6 minute, 20 second presentation.
- You have the option to work ALONE or in pairs to complete this project. You don’t need to meet to do it. You could do this largely online. YOU CAN’T USE THE GOOGLE DOCS VERSION OF POWERPOINT TO DO THIS ASSIGNMENT. It won’t work because you can’t record in the google.doc version.
- To use the template I made for your Pecha Kucha and for a copy of the instructions on how to record your Pecha Kucha script, click here.
For a general introduction to Pecha Kucha and a sample presentation, click here .
To watch my Pecha Kucha on Wolfgang Iser click here.
THE CONTENT
- I will post to this page, the syllabus, and, with any luck, your individual book club google.docs, five articles about reading theory. In your book club groups, you will each select one article on reading YA Lit/reading theory/teaching reading. There should be no duplicates. You can decide among yourselves who reads which article, or, if your group prefers I will randomly assign each student in your group an essay to read and construct a Pecha Kucha with.
- You need to (obviously) read and identify the significant ideas in your article.
- Then, using any FICTION text we’ve read or will read in class, make a connection between how teaching this text in a particular way demonstrates some of the significant ideas in your article.
- Render your ideas in, as explained above, twenty slides, with twenty seconds of explanation for each.
- Save your presentation as a file to our class dropbox file. I will give you instructions on how to access that cloud file the week the Pecha Kucha is due.
- This means you’ll need to talk a little bit about WHAT you would do with the fiction in a classroom, based on the article you’ve read. It also means you’ll need to talk about WHY your article indicates to you that this text and/or the way you’d teach it demonstrates big ideas in your article.
- You could, by contrast talk about why a particular text might not be a best choice and/or ways that would not be a great way to teach the text based on the big ideas of your article (what I do with Gossip Girl in my explanation of my sample Pecha Kucha on Iser.
- I encourage you to watch my pecha-kucha as an example (again), and to take advantage of my online office hours as you prepare your materials.
- Also, as always, I’ll set up a discussion board space for questions about the project. If you have a question, everyone will have a question.
HOW I WILL EVALUATE YOUR PECHA KUCHA
Well, for starters, this is a new thing for all of you, so I’m going to cut you loads of slack. The Pecha Kucha project is worth 15% of your grade.
To earn a “B” grade, you must
- Read your article
- Follow the 20 slide, 20 second per slide format
- Save it to the class dropboxby the due date on the syllabus.
- Reflect on the project when prompted to by me.
In order to earn an “A” grade
- You must do all of the requirements for the “B” grade and:
- Do a half-way decent job of explaining the theory/article you read in relationship to the YA lit text you chose as an example.
In order to earn a "C" grade
- You must come close to following the 20 slide, 20 second per slide format
If you can't meet the "C" grade requirements, you will fail the 15% you could earn for this assignment.
Good luck and don’t stress.