Okay. Now that this sickness has passed, I can get this blog up.
Before I begin to talk about anything regarding my presentation, I'd like comment on this project in general. The concept behind it was just great - directed towards encouraging intrinsic motivation, bringing out student individuality, and teaching about the value of dedication in mastery. And then of course, like every other enrichment project, it ended with a presentation. I know that we've had a lot of freedom with our gifted projects in the past, but this one really trumped the rest, and I think that, for the most part, it turned out pretty well.
The fact that we had to demonstrate our progress through blogging was both quite lenient and interesting. For me, reading up on jazz and practicing the saxophone really didn't seem like schoolwork at all - I was sincerely interested and enjoying myself. However, while blogging is far from tedious work, I think that getting up these blogs was the (for lack of a better term) "hardest" part of this project, since the time I had for this project I just wanted to spend doing the other things . But all in all, this was the coolest project I have pursued to date.
Now to the presentation:
Visual Component:
Maybe using Prezi or including animations would have given a neater and more professional look, but for the most part, I think that this was effective enough. At times I felt that it was a little minimalist, and maybe I could have added a bit more supplement by including more material. But I think that for the most part, my powerpoint got the job done. I tried to use some comedy here, and I think it worked out. I'm pretty sure that I was driving the presentation, not the visual.
Content:
I have always been passionate about the music that I make with my saxophone, and hopefully that was evident in my presentation. As for the product, I wasn't trying to show that I could play the saxophone - that was something that was established a long time ago. Like I said, this project was about developing a sense for jazz stylistically, and I tried to show that development with my product. My process was probably lacking a bit, and I originally had more in my script discussing the process. I had to cut out the extra paragraph or two regarding more in depth process, since that was least important to the overall message and impact of my presentation. Hopefully, the overall message that I was trying to get at with my purpose passed through to the audience pretty well. It was simple, but very true, and I think that it integrated into my individual project well. Overall, I think that the content was a little lacking, but it got the job done.
Organization:
I think that starting out by discussing classical music, which wasn't my project, instead of jazz, may have been decent as a hook. Hopefully, the "Forever Alone" picture got everyone's attention. I think that my presentation followed a relatively logical order; I followed the "Guess what", "Here's what", and "So what" approach. For transitions... well, I don't really know if I was actively focused on transitions when I was writing my script, but I guess everything was pretty fluid. My conclusion wasn't anything too fancy, but I think it got the job done by ending with a positive and strong impression.
Delivery:
I was certainly enthusiastic with this project and this topic, and I think that that enthusiasm showed in my delivery. I probably could have and should have rehearsed a little more before presenting, and I feel like I was a little too dependent on my notecards. I don't remember exactly, but I think I also may have stuttered a bit here and there. Overall, I feel that the delivery of the presentation was solid, but could have be further refined.
So here's my final breakdown, into points:
Visual Component: 4.5/5 (Could have been more refined and a bit more supplemental)
Content: 14/15 (More process? Hopefully the purpose/final message passed through)
Organization: 4.5/5 (Got the job done, but could have used refinement)
Delivery: 4.5/5 (Like organization, I got the job done, but I could have rehearsed more)
Overall: 27.5/30 ≈ 92%
Once again, creds to Mr. Perlman and Mr. McDaniels for thinking up of this project. I don't think I would have had the opportunity to work on a project like this in any other class.
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