AP World History Chapter Presentation

Chapter 31 Part II Presentation



 

Assignment/Activity Title— AP World History Presentation (Ch. 32 part II)

Year— Junior

Skill— Media, research, group dynamics

Portfolio Category— Media & Communications

            For this project, we had to present chapters of the AP World History book in groups of four. There were some requirements, such as an external document and a formative activity, but for the most part it was a fairly straightforward assignment. Amalia, Susanna, Olivia and I split up our chapter – the second part of 32 – into four parts. I ended up doing the 'essential questions,' which was basically a summary of the entire presentation and emphasis on important components. I was also in charge of creating a formative activity.

This project is under media and communications because of the PowerPoint we created for our presentation. The media aspect is obvious – we all had to work together in order to create a smooth, fluid presentation even though every slide was made by a different person. The communications part, on the other hand, is a little more complex. Because we were presenting a chapter of the textbook that we were going to be tested on, we had to make sure everyone fully understood the content. But we also had to make sure they paid attention, and keep it under a certain time limit. We also had no time to practice our presentation together before we gave it, which meant that we didn't know what the other group members were going to be saying or how long they were going to take. And, as the designated 'essential questions' person, I went last – so I had to be prepared to either extend our presentation or keep it brief, while still conveying the important parts of the chapter. Essentially, the communications aspect of this project comes from our obligation to fit an entire textbook chapter into a roughly 20 minute time frame while still keeping the presentation engaging and fluid.

While this assignment hasn't changed my academic personality – or normal personality – it's important to include because it exemplifies my strengths. Although I don't necessarily seek control, I'm better at being the big-picture, managing group member than the one who focuses in on details. It's a trait that's evident in every aspect of my life – I'm a managing editor on Silver Chips Online rather than a section editor, I'm the captain of my soccer team, and I'm a founder of a Youth Leadership Team that deals with big soda marketing. Whatever I'm doing, I like to have some influence over the direction of the activity (whether that's a good thing or not is debatable). That being said, my role in this group project allowed me to determine what the class came away remembering or focusing on. By presenting the overarching essential questions, I had the ability to concisely summarize and influence the presentation in a way that the other group members didn't necessarily have. I was also in charge of making a formative activity for the class. By deciding that each group would need to create a political cartoon about WWII, I was able to ensure that they stayed engaged while also cementing their knowledge on the subjective via a creative medium.

Because we hadn't timed ourselves as a group, we maxed out our time limit. I had to keep my ending slides concise and quick in order to save time for the political cartoon activity. However, I managed to get the main points of the chapter across while still eliciting some laughs from the class – I had a couple jokes on my slides – and keeping it concise. This assignment exemplified my management strengths while also helping me hone my communication and media skills more than almost any other we've done this year.