Title: Dealing with Racism Workshop
Term: Fall, 2012
Term: Fall, 2012
Description:
I created and conducted a powerpoint presentation for the Student Leadership Institute's "Dealing with Racism" workshop which took place on Tuesday October 16, 2012.
Learning Outcomes: Never having the experience of being a conductor, the following three learning outcomes were created to help me present the material to the best of my ability. In addition, they helped me learn from the first workshop in order to do better in future workshop opportunities:
Evidence: Even though there are only eight slides to my time frame of an hour and thirty minutes, the students were engaged in my discussion questions. Sometimes students went off topic to make their statements stronger but being flexible to change helped me get back to the flow of the powerpoint presentation. In addition, whenever students asked me a question, I would answer with my point of view but would question their thoughts to challenge them with critical thinking. For my first learning outcome, I give myself a "4-advanced" because I was able to fulfill all the requirements.
My second learning outcome is a "4-advanced" too because I gave examples to every bullet point to make sure that the students understood the information. To make sure that the students were comprehending, I asked the students for their interpretation of the information and/or to provide their own example. By doing this, I was able to indirectly know if the material was foreign to them. All students were asked to participate and all students were able to give an answer.
The third learning outcome was given a "3-competent" because I did not reflect on my strengths, weaknesses, and performance until a couple of days after the workshop. By then, it was difficult to remember how well I did and I could not recall everything the students verbally told me regarding my presentation. Nonetheless, I used my emotions to base my performance. For instance, I was not nervous which made me a better public speaker than usual. Through reflecting on my performance, I was able to discover some of my public speaking strengths and weaknesses, as well as what I need to do to better prepare for potential future workshop opportunities.
Reflection: I was very happy with the outcome of my first workshop. I was a little scared of how my opening would affect the students. I initiated the discussion by saying my name and asking the students to guess my race. Then, I told the students to say their name and guess the race of the person sitting to the right of them. Discussions were in a group but when a student asked me a question, another student would speak up to give the student an answer. Even though I was cut off from my response, I was glad that students were willing to participate.
Giving personal examples caught the students' attention because they were able to connect my examples to their experiences. The connection we had made them want to share their thoughts. It was a great experience because the purpose of having eight slides was to have a workshop that was geared towards the students' participation rather than a lecture format. Students understood the material and did not hesitate to ask questions if they were confused. In addition, one student challenged me and asked "why?" whenever I gave my point of view on a certain topic. The conversations and engagement were rich and thoughtful. Seeing the eagerness of the students made me feel like I made a difference in how they originally thought of the topic.
Although the third learning outcome is my lowest grade, I am happy that I had the chance to reflect on my experience. I enjoyed being a conductor and having the opportunity to discuss an issue that is important to me. Even though there were only four students including the sit in, the experience helped me overcome my fears of public speaking and it helped students see other people's point of views on racism.
Learning Outcomes: Never having the experience of being a conductor, the following three learning outcomes were created to help me present the material to the best of my ability. In addition, they helped me learn from the first workshop in order to do better in future workshop opportunities:
- SWiBAT Educate students about the sensitive topic of racism to the best of my knowledge, initiate discussions, and be flexible if the powerpoint presentation is not presented in order due to the flow of students' discussions.
- SWiBAT Follow up on students' understanding of the material by asking questions, giving examples, and giving students chances to give their input.
- SWiBAT Through the experience, reflect on my strengths and weaknesses based upon the feedback received from my audience and how well the workshop went.
Evidence: Even though there are only eight slides to my time frame of an hour and thirty minutes, the students were engaged in my discussion questions. Sometimes students went off topic to make their statements stronger but being flexible to change helped me get back to the flow of the powerpoint presentation. In addition, whenever students asked me a question, I would answer with my point of view but would question their thoughts to challenge them with critical thinking. For my first learning outcome, I give myself a "4-advanced" because I was able to fulfill all the requirements.
My second learning outcome is a "4-advanced" too because I gave examples to every bullet point to make sure that the students understood the information. To make sure that the students were comprehending, I asked the students for their interpretation of the information and/or to provide their own example. By doing this, I was able to indirectly know if the material was foreign to them. All students were asked to participate and all students were able to give an answer.
The third learning outcome was given a "3-competent" because I did not reflect on my strengths, weaknesses, and performance until a couple of days after the workshop. By then, it was difficult to remember how well I did and I could not recall everything the students verbally told me regarding my presentation. Nonetheless, I used my emotions to base my performance. For instance, I was not nervous which made me a better public speaker than usual. Through reflecting on my performance, I was able to discover some of my public speaking strengths and weaknesses, as well as what I need to do to better prepare for potential future workshop opportunities.
Reflection: I was very happy with the outcome of my first workshop. I was a little scared of how my opening would affect the students. I initiated the discussion by saying my name and asking the students to guess my race. Then, I told the students to say their name and guess the race of the person sitting to the right of them. Discussions were in a group but when a student asked me a question, another student would speak up to give the student an answer. Even though I was cut off from my response, I was glad that students were willing to participate.
Giving personal examples caught the students' attention because they were able to connect my examples to their experiences. The connection we had made them want to share their thoughts. It was a great experience because the purpose of having eight slides was to have a workshop that was geared towards the students' participation rather than a lecture format. Students understood the material and did not hesitate to ask questions if they were confused. In addition, one student challenged me and asked "why?" whenever I gave my point of view on a certain topic. The conversations and engagement were rich and thoughtful. Seeing the eagerness of the students made me feel like I made a difference in how they originally thought of the topic.
Although the third learning outcome is my lowest grade, I am happy that I had the chance to reflect on my experience. I enjoyed being a conductor and having the opportunity to discuss an issue that is important to me. Even though there were only four students including the sit in, the experience helped me overcome my fears of public speaking and it helped students see other people's point of views on racism.
