Students created lesson plans for their demo slam on a planner (here). The requirements were to welcome and introduce themselves, present and answer their essential question, share their authentic piece, conduct a hands-on activity, and close out the session. As educators, we know the value of having solid, well-thought out plans. As student presenters, I wanted them to go through the same process. Students collaborated with their peers when they developed their plans, then met with me for a one-on-one session. Some of the plans were approved quickly, while others needed some refinement. Here’s a peek at some of their lesson plans.
The structure of the demo slams was that three students would be presenting at the same time. The rest of the class were participants. Presenters set up their stations with project boards, computers, art supplies, reflection sheets, swag, and more. Because each student had control of their session, we got to be surprised each time. As presenters were setting up their lessons, the class and I would wait outside. Once presenters were ready, the class would come back in and choose which session to attend. We had a 10 minute timer to start the sessions. Oooh, we also had students taking pictures and filming on our GoPro. (We’re working on setting up a YouTube channel.) During the sessions, presenters engaged their audience both inside the classroom and out. Some of the demos involved Adobe Spark videos, creating art, playing the piano, soccer drills, scavenger hunts, a Kahoot, Quilzet Live, and even how to show a pig.
- Demo slam week was pretty cool and fun. I liked the presentations of many students. They were all very scholarly and some were great but others needed a little more work. For my presentation, I need to have more confidence in myself and talk louder. I also need to practice more since I didn’t have note cards. I was also very nervous and I need to make sure to answer my essential question more thoroughly. This experience has shown me my strengths and weaknesses and how I can improve and become better at what I love to do. I can tell I was not the only nervous one though many people were. For my presentation I have decided that I will have the kids do a little drawing and than have put stickers of animals on the paper. The drawing they will be doing is about their perfect earth. -SD
- The day before the demo slam I was very nervous. I felt that I wasn’t prepared but yet really was. I had everything ready and was practicing how long every little thing was going to be. For example, if I had something too long then I had to start from the beginning and find a way to make it shorter. On the day of the demo slam I was still very nervous but I still got very good scores. The way that I had set up my presentation was by starting of by introducing myself. Then I said my EQ and answer it. So I answer my essential question with the 4 different benefits and then explained. Once I was done explaining I took the group of kids outside and was explaining at the same time. We came inside and I had told them to to write in their reflection sheet. -ZM
As the student above said, demo slam week was so much fun! Honestly, it could have been our public display. But, we still need to share with our parents and the other GATE classes on campus. Next week . . . Student-Led EdCamp.
#MuchLove
Marilyn