Decision made on “guinea pig” groups to present the following week.
Week of February 26th
Guinea pig groups present and are publicly critiqued. Rest of class has remainder of week to finalize their presentations. Names picked out of hat to determine presentation schedule.
* If you use a quote, immediately follow it with putting it in your own words.
* Every real-life example, claim, counter claim, and discussion of linking questions MUST have a story/example connected to it. See the second half of The Best Digital Storytelling Resources to learn about how to tell stories and their importance. Your stories should be a mix of personal ones and ones you’ve learned from texts, movies, history, etc. IMPORTANT: When you tell the stories, be sure to connect them back to the knowledge issue!
* Don’t only expand on TOK textbook ideas and concepts — also provide explicit connections to what you have learned from textbook and class.
* Minimize sharing your opinion until the conclusion.
First presentations will begin next Tuesday. Everyone’s presentations will begin two days later than scheduled.
When you lay-out your different claims, you must describe how each claim is justified – which Ways of Knowing are used by the people making the claims to justify them.
Make sure the first slide lists the name of your topic.
Make sure the last slide lists your sources.
Your PowerPoint presentation should be emailed to me at least one day prior to your presentation.
On the day of your presentation, please be sure to give me your final outline, and your completed IB form.
On Friday, each group should make their presentation to at least two other groups. You should use the rubric to evaluate yourselves and the other group.
* Be sure to include short examples or stories for each key point you make.
* When you lay-out the different claims, please make sure you explain which Ways of Knowing are are being used to justify the claims.
* Make sure you have six minutes devoted to each knowledge issue — Don’t go over!
* Have a short way to engage the class afterwards — remember the qualities of a good lesson.
* Have notes on index cards, but don’t read word for word. Don’t look at slides and read off them.
* Be dressed professionally on the day of your oral presentation.
* Use images and text on slides. Do not have too much text on any one slide.
* Do not just repeat the text on your slides.
* Use slides to “show” concepts, explanations and not just to “tell” them.
* Make sure the images help in the understanding of the knowledge issue, and are not just there to look pretty.
* Show contrasting claims on one slide.
* Be sure to practice with your partner (s) at least three times prior to making your presentation. Make sure that one of those times is very shortly prior to your presentation.
Once students identify their overall topic for the Oral Presentation, it’s sometimes a challenge to develop the Knowledge issues to explore in the presentation.
The trick is to create broader knowledge issues — questions that relate more to the “Big Picture.” Then, use the idea of your topic to illustrate your Knowledge issues.
As you decide on both your topic and the knowledge issues, please remember that a key criteria for them is this: It must be something you are genuinely interested in learning about!Life is too short to pick something that you just think IB and your teacher will like, or one that you think will be easy.
Now, getting back to topics and knowledge issues…
Wendy and Yovanna, two students in our TOK class, have graciously agreed to let me publish their original knowledge issues — which were narrow — and then how they changed them to more “Big Picture” ones. Their overall topic is human cloning, and they will be able to incorporate that topic in their exploration of the broader Knowledge Issues they ultimately developed.
First, you’ll read their original Knowledge Issues followed by the new versions:
WAY OF KNOWING QUESTIONS [ORIGINAL]
How can human cloning cause a double standard morally? [REASON & ETHICS]
-Human clones are like having a slave
-Human clones are like having a robot
How does human cloning change what we may perceive as life and humanity? [PERCEPTION]
-Human cloning is awesome because we are progressing scientifically and we can change the population easily and change the clone so that it is smarter, stronger, and more capable
-Human cloning is bad because humans aren’t naturally created in a petri dish and flaws are what make humans human. To tamper with how people have sex to create babies is to ruin the definition of humans.
How can human cloning affect the clone? [EMOTIONS]
-Human clones have no emotions
-Humans have emotions
WAY OF KNOWING QUESTIONS [FINAL]
How does reason and ethics intertwine with morality?
-Reason and ethics can cause us to more thoroughly understand a situation, thus making a better decision morally in the end.
-Reason and ethics can cause us to over think a situation, thus making a decision not on your own morals but other alternatives/morals that may have came to mind.
How can culture/religion determine what we perceive as life and humanity?
-Culture/religion can dictate what we may perceive as life and humanity.
-Our personal beliefs may differ from what our culture/religion commonly perceives as life and humanity.
How can emotions affect what we believe to be morally wrong?
-Emotions can overtake our judgment on morality.
-Emotions may play a role in what we believe to be morally wrong, but ethics play a more vital role in what we believe to be morally wrong.
Here is a model for what your Oral Presentation should look like. Note that, though I list three Knowledge Issues in the introduction, for the purpose of this model example I only use one of them in the body of the presentation. Feel free to have different opinions on my topic — I’m just using this to show that in your presentation YOU must demonstrate your opinions on your topic.
In addition
MODEL OUTLINE FOR ORAL PRESENTATON
INTRODUCTION:
Introduce Yourselves & Your Topic
My name is Mr. Ferlazzo, and the topic of our presentation is “war on terrorism.”
Why You picked your topic
I picked my topic because everyday for over six years I have read and seen images of people dying in Iraq.
List your knowledge issues (Make sure your knowledge issues are “big picture.”)
How is language used in war to encourage hatred of another country or guerrilla group?
How can reason be used by combatant groups in country to rationalize destructive acts of war?
How are emotions manipulated by wartime leaders to encourage nationalism or fanaticism?
BODY:
Take each Knowledge issue one at a time
How is language used in war to encourage hatred of another country or guerrilla group?
For each one, share the real life example that got you thinking about it.
In reading about the controversy behind wanting to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York, I was struck by the hateful language used against Islam by some people.
List various claims and how they connect to knowledge issue.
When President George Bush began the war on terrorism, he was very careful to point out that it was not a war on Islam – he was focusing on a small percentage of Muslims. For example,……………… On the other hand, al Qaeda was very clear in their language to try to portray it as a war on all of Islam. For example, …………..
Things changed, however, with the Ground Zero Mosque controversy. There, the language used by opponents was much more clearly directed against the Islam religion. For example…….. However, they denied it. For example……… Others said the opponents language played right into the hands of the Islamic extremists. For example……… al Qaeda said………
Identify linking question to Area of Knowledge & connect to Knowledge issue.
Historically, how has language been used to encourage hatred? Using language like this is no stranger to wartime. For example, in Roman times………… In modern times, in World War I and World War II……
Research has been done on which language can be most effective in generating strong support for a particular cause. For example………
Religious language has played a role in the use of language in wars as well. For example……
CONCLUSION:
What do you think, and relate it to a knowledge issue.
I believe that language can often be used to manipulate the truth in times of wartime. In the war on terrorism, I believe that many proponents have inappropriately turned the war on terrorism into a war on Islam, and played into the hands of Islamic terrorists because…… Researchers have found the best way to combat this kind of effort is to do…………………………………………
Wed, Jan. 19th: Linking Questions & Areas of Knowledge
Thurs, Jan. 20th: Introduction & Conclusion
Friday, Jan. 21st: Prepare Lesson on Language
Monday, Jan. 24: Practice Lesson on Language
Thursday, Jan. 27th: Give Language Lesson first hour, complete Outline for Oral Presentation. HARD COPY & ELECTRONIC COPY DUE AT END OF CLASS — THIS IS YOUR SEMESTER EXAM — NO EXCEPTIONS.
Friday, Jan. 28th: We will pick names out of the hat to determine dates for oral presentations.
Monday, Jan. 31st: I will meet with each group to discuss outlines
Tuesday, Feb. 1st: Revise outlines
Wednesday, Feb. 2nd: Final outline is due at end of period
Thursday & Friday: Prepare PowerPoints
Monday, Feb. 7th, Tuesday, & Wednesday: Practice presentations
Thursday, February 10th: Oral Presentations Begin — two each day
Friday, February, 11th: Two Oral Presentations
Monday, Feb. 14th, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Feb. 18th — Class discussion of presentations and decisions by any groups if they want to redo it. If your group decides they want to redo it, the second presentation much be made no later than March 4th. There will not be much class time available for revising your presentations.
List your knowledge issues (have them be “broad” and not “narrow”)
BODY:
Take each Knowledge issue one at a time
For each one, share the real life example that got you thinking about it.
List various contrasting claims and how they connect to knowledge issue.
Identify linking question to Area of Knowledge & connect to Knowledge issue.
CONCLUSION:
What do you think, and relate it to a knowledge issue.
NOTES:
Use images and text on slides. Do not have too much text on any one slide.
Do not just repeat the text on your slides.
Use slides to “show” concepts, explanations and not just to “tell” them.
Make sure the images help in the understanding of the knowledge issue, and are not just there to look pretty.
Don’t look at slides and read off them, have notes or copy in front of you.
Show contrasting claims on one slide.
Be sure to practice with your partner (s) at least three times prior to making your presentation. Make sure that one of those times is very shortly prior to your presentation.
Please dress nicely the day of your presentation.
Remember basic presentation skills – posture, projecting voice, no gum-chewing
Give me your outline form and expanded outline prior to giving your presentation
Please use this guide to prepare your Oral Presentation Outline:
TOK ORAL PRESENTATION OUTLINE
This is not meant to be a “script” to be followed. It is a general outline, and can be presented in many different ways that we will discuss.
Length of Presentation:
Two people – twenty minutes (including 8 minutes of class discussion)
Three people – thirty minutes (including 12 minutes of class discussion)
Each person should present for the same period of time
INTRODUCTION (No more than two minutes)
What is your topic?
What is the real-life example that got you think about it?
What are the claims that people make about it and how are they justified?
What are the knowledge issues (the “obstacles” to knowledge; the “Ways Of Knowing”) involved in the claims?
What “Areas of Knowing” will you relate the obstacles to? (Linking Questions)
BODY (Six or seven minutes for each person in total – it doesn’t have to be all in one “chunk”)
What are the claims and how are they justified?
What are the knowledge issues involved, including counter-examples, cross-cultural examples, and personal examples? How is it claimed to be known and how trustworthy are those methods?
What are examples from different Areas of Knowledge? (Linking Questions)
CONCLUSION (One minute)
What did you investigate? What did you learn? What do you think/feel now about it?
CLASS QUESTIONS:
Have “open-ended” questions for the class – What do they think? Why do they think it?
Take notes on ideas that might help you with your Oral Presentation. Tomorrow, you will be making a simple poster sharing the three most important thing you learned and share them with your classmates.
