|Calendar||Common First Week Assignment||Artifact #1||Artifact #2||Artifact #3||Multimedia Portfolio||Working Bibliography|
For this artifact all students will be assigned to a group and will present on a secondary source related to our primary text and a broader theme (Race and Empire, the New Woman, etcetera). Your instructor will provide access to this source (Canvas -> Files -> Artifact #1 -> Artifact #1 Articles) and you will conduct some general outside research (Dictionary, Encyclopedia) to tie this article to the course themes, your specific theme, and the assigned text. Groups will sit or stand in the front of the class and teach the secondary source and aspects of the day’s assigned reading for at least 30 minutes, but presentations can last the full class time.
Presentations will explain how this source opens up new ideas about history, culture, and literature. Remember: only your group will read this source, so be sure to explain important keywords and concepts in a manner that everyone will understand. However, your presentation may inspire your peers to read the article and cite it in later Artifacts. Your instructor has selected these particular texts because they illuminate larger more thematic ideas, so endeavor to tease these out. Groups do not need to become experts on their secondary sources, but they must be able to speak about these challenging texts in a thoughtful manner for the context of our course.
Presentations must use the course themes and key words to summarize, explain, and contextualize the secondary source for the class. By the end of this presentation your peers should have a clear understanding of this secondary source’s thesis and significance. Don’t feel obligated to include everything in the article. For instance, rather than listing all examples of an idea mentioned in your secondary source, select a few representative examples and explain why the are important to demonstrating the author’s major ideas.
Presenters must generate thought-provoking questions intended to make their assigned reading accessible to peers. It is generally better to integrate questions into the body of the presentation rather than relegating all audience participation to the presentation’s end. Although grades depend on the quality of the presenter’s exposition and handout, an excellent presentation should engage the class through a lively and creative discussion.
Questions and Checklist for Presenters
Within 24 hours of your presentation, please upload your slides & handout to Canvas in the Artifact #1 Assignment field. Only one student per group needs to upload these files.
Presentations must include a digital slide presentation (Google Slides, Power Point, Keynote) that will inspire and guide your audience. Groups must also design a handout that summarizes the assigned secondary source in a concise and clear manner, relates the source to overarching course themes and texts, and lists at least three questions they identify as emerging from the text. Be sure to print enough copies for the class.
Items you may want to include in your presentation
This assignment challenges students in three ways: