ILS 2180 Group Presentation & Class Group Activity
Each student in the class this term is required to complete a group presentation regarding one of the films that we will watch as a class.
The presentation should be a minimum of 10 minutes and no more than 12 minutes and make use of visuals. This can be Power Point, Prezy, Google Slides, or another program of your choice. Just make your presentation interesting and informative as well as engaging.
This is a researched presentation and requires LIBRARY RESEARCH. Make use of the library's databases. You may also use film websites such as IMDB.com, etc.
Your presentation must include a Works Cited Slide at the end. You must also cite information on each slide. Without it, your presentation will be considered plagiarized.
Note that going over or under your time will significantly affect your grade. You must practice your presentation at least five times before your present and make sure that you time yourself to make certain you will remain in the required time frame.
You will be graded on both the content of your message as well as its delivery (eye contact, tone of voice, enthusiasm, body language, etc.)
Purpose and Content
This presentation should educate your audience, your fellow class members, about each of the following:
Who was the director of this film? Provide some of their professional background. What are some of their other works? What is their artistic approach to film making and why did they begin making films? What was the director trying to achieve with the film you are examining? You may find the answers to some of these questions in an interview with the director or an article about the film).
When was the film released? How was it received by film critics as well as audiences when it first appeared? What were some of their likes and dislikes? In what ways has the film endured since its initial release? Is it considered an important film? Why or why not?
How is the film a reflection of what the culture of the time valued and/or the cultural anxieties of that particular historical moment?
What do you see as some of the film's important themes? Which do you see as the most important theme in the work? Which scene in the film best demonstrates the importance of this theme to the work?
Class Group Activity
After the presentation, you are required to design a group activity for the class that somehow involves an examination of the scene that your group believes best demonstrates the important theme of the film. This can take any form that you wish; however, it should take no longer than 20-25 minutes to complete.
Here are a couple of ideas:
You can show a clip of this scene to the class. Limit it to a scene of no more than 5 minutes.
1) After watching the clip, you can pose a question to the class about the director's specific use of film element (sound, costume design, set design, lighting, camera shots, special effects, editing, etc.) and ask them to free write about it on their blogs for a 5-7 minutes and then share what they wrote in groups. After sharing, you can ask one person from each group to share their group's ideas to facilitate a class discussion.
2) You could organize students into groups of three or four (no more than that) and present them with a problem to solve or an interpretative question to ponder about the clip. Each group would have ten minutes to complete the task. They would elect a note take and speaker for their group. The note taker would record the group's ideas, and the speaker would report back to the class. As groups report back, you could have a class discussion.
Feel free to also come up with a group activity of your own. Just be sure if involves critical thought and requires students to form an argument about the film clip that you showed them.
Grading Rubric
Content: 5 points
Speaker’s Main Topic or Thesis was clearly presented and was content of the speech appropriate for the audience?. Speaker’s Knowledge of the Topic: (Did the speaker appear knowledgeable? Why or why not? Were there specific things that the speaker did or said to build ethos (credibility) for themselves?
Organization (Did the speaker have an effective intro with an attention-getter and preview main points? Did the speaker use a clear organizational method? Was the conclusion effective? Was there a logical sequence to the speaker's main points?)
Delivery 3 points
The speaker’s body and voice in delivery (maintained eye contact, showed enthusiasm, made use of gestures, avoided fillers, spoke with appropriate speed and tone)
Group Activity 2 points
Did the group activity challenge other students to think critically about the film and provide an opportunity to think critically about the movie and practice the skill of forming an academic argument? Did it facilitate an interesting and rich class discussion?
Grading Scale
9-10 A
8 B
7 C
6 D
0-5 F
