Spared by Courage

When my mom was teaching high school in Nashville in the 1970s a kid in one of her classes brought a gun to school. He was planning to shoot another student.

A girl in class told her what was going on and my mom, in her fierceness, walked right up to the boy and demanded the gun. He yielded and handed it to her.

Later she said that was the craziest thing she had ever done as teacher. She realized she could have been shot, but in that moment she did not hesitate or doubt what needed to happen.

I wonder where the girl who told, and those two boys are today. What became of them? What of their families?

How fortunate they were to be spared that day some forty years ago.

Presentation Review Form

In 1996 I attended a training course presented by Franklin Quest (Now FranklinCovey) called “Presentation Advantage.” In addition to the course workbook, the handouts included a Presentation Review form that is no longer available. The form was designed to guide the reviewer in rating the presenter’s over all design and delivery in 20 categories.

With FranklinCovey’s permission I have recreated a modified version of the form, attributed the copyright to Franklin Quest, and made it available for download in two formats. While this version of the form is free, if the current course is anything like the one I attended in 96′, I highly recommend attending.

PDF

Word

 

When using this form both the presenter and reviewer must be committed to accepting the brutal facts. A large portion of the form could be used by music reviewers when rating concerts or by musicians unfamiliar with the importance of on stage delivery. Everyone can improve when they are open to outside feedback.

 

However you choose to use this form, I wish you the best in improving your act.  

Why we know less than ever about the world

I watched a brief yet revealing TED talk this morning by Public Radio International CEO, Alisa Miller, titled “Why we know less than ever about the world.” Sadly, American news media spends most of their resources focusing on myopic issues, like personal tragedies in the lives of pop stars, while ignoring the rest of the world. Watch this four minute and twenty nine second clip to see the statistics and hear Alisa Miller in her own words.

Note to news media: Next time you’re tempted to report on something relatively trivial, like an athlete turned actor running from police in his white Ford Bronco, chances are high that something of true importance, like the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, is happening at the same time. If you don’t tell us, how will we know?

“Let’s take a five minute break.”

These six words can invite chaos into the classroom. Whether you’re teaching online or in a more traditional setting, getting adults back to class after a five or ten minute break can be a challenge.

A few years ago I came up with a simple remedy. When it’s time to take a break I start a simple PowerPoint timer I created that counts down from five minutes to zero, accompanied by a song that is just under five minutes. Everyone can see how much time is remaining and when the music stops, people tend to find their seats.

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Here are links to five and ten minute versions:

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Five Minute Timer

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Ten Minute Timer

You’re welcome to use, share, or modify them, just don’t try and sell them. They are free for everyone. To start the timer open the presentation and click on the first slide. It’s that simple. If you want to add more slides for a longer break, remember that only the first slide is set to begin with a click.

Choosing the right song is up to you. I’ve used music by Vince Guaraldi, Henry Mancini, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Big Audio Dynamite. Music is powerful messenger so choose carefully.

Regardless of whether you use music or not, see if these timers (Or others) can make a difference in getting people back in the room and focused on the content.

So you want to be a Parent? Read the Job Discription.

On the role of parents, A. Theodore Tuttle (1921 -1986) gets it right:

This decision to be parents means to put first the obligation to be baby-sitters, trainers, discipliners, supervisors, teachers, assigners, checker-uppers, planners, story-tellers, exemplars, and, in short, to be common, ordinary, garden variety, old-fashioned, on-the-job, full-time parents. It means that this responsibility as parents comes before social climbing, the newest in gadgets, or conspicuous consumption. It supersedes personal selfishness, propriety, pleasure, even a tidy house. It demands solemn and continual allegiance to a cause greater than self.

Fulfillment of this parental duty . . . requires a conscious decision to accept the responsibilities of this sacred obligation – the most sacred and far-reaching obligation assumed by two people.

Tuttle, A. Theodore, “And They Shall Also Teach Their Children,” Relief Society Magazine, July 1963, page 484-485.

Folktales Vs. Fairy tales

Is there a difference between a folktale and fairy tale? In the following paragraphs Arthur Henry King (1910 -2000) reveals the strength of a folktale and the emptiness of fairy tale.

Matters like these should occupy the minds of parents and educators rather than the pleasantries of sedation and distraction that are constantly in view.

We need to acquaint children with folktales, which are the classics of their own tradition. And we need to recognize that there is a great difference between a folktale and a fairy tale. A fairy tale is a make-over of a folktale. A fairy tale tries to make the world more pleasant than the folktale represents it, pleasanter than it really is. Under the impression that the world will be bad enough for children when they come to it. The fairy tale represents life as something restricted and magically protected. The fairy tale does not help children at all.

If you turn to the original Grimm’s folktales, you will find that the folk have profoundly understood over thousands of years that children must face up to nightmares and horror and cruelty. And since children have to face up to those things, the best place for them to do so for the first time is on a parent’s lap, where they have a sense of security. If children are not “terrified” on their parent’s laps, they will be terrified in their dreams when their parents aren’t there. We know enough about children from a very early age to know that they have their nightmares and their horrors and their darkness. If we don’t give them those kinds of experiences, they still have them.

By becoming acquainted with folk literature, children may be educated. By that means, they may grow up facing reality. And if they grow up facing reality, there will be no crisis of confidence between them and society.

Arthur Henry King – Arm the Children, BYU Studies 1998, page 243-244.

Know Your Audience: A short example from Pixar

Pixar’s short film One Man Band is an excellent example of presenters who don’t know their audience. Here is the story from Pixar:  

With one coin to make a wish at the piazza fountain, a peasant girl encounters two competing street performers who’d prefer the coin find its way into their tip jars. The little girl, Tippy, is caught in the middle as a musical duel ensues between the one-man-bands.  

The street performers become so competitive that they lose sight of their role as musicians. Each makes several assumptions that weaken any chance of “winning” the coin:  

1. They have what the audience needs
2. The more they push the better the message
3. They must compete in front of the audience to win
4. Their art/product/message is secondary to winning
5. They have more skill than the audience

Unfortunately these assumptions are not limited to cartoons. Trainers who assume they know the subject matter better than the audience and disparage the competition are far too common. Another problem is when the services being provided are viewed as secondary.  A presenter who wants to stop on the edge of what is wanted, at the expense of the audience, misses the point of being a messenger.

Fortunately, Pixar didn’t stop on the edge and delivers an excellent story. They could have stopped producing short films years ago but they’ve chosen to deliver greatness in small packages even when the audience has already paid.  

The opposite of One Man Band is my favorite Pixar short, Boundin’. Buy all four minutes and forty-three seconds of Boundin’ on iTunes and watch a master teacher embodied in a jackalope.

Omit Needless Words – The Elements of Style

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short, or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

– William Strunk Jr. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition, p. 23.

  

A great quote from a book that should be studied by every English reader.

The original 1918 edition is online for free.   

Don’t shoot: Stop Bullet Point Overkill

 

Bullets points are not the answer. What value do they add to a presentation when the text is already in a 28 point font and is the only text on the screen?

If you must use bullet points, use them sparingly and use them well.  Here is one slide example (Click once to advance the slide).* 

PowerPoint presentations can shine without bullet points.

Think before you shoot.

*The animation is better in PowerPoint, NOT PowerPoint Viewer.

Thanksgiving Day and National Fasting

 

What if Thanksgiving was proceeded by a day of national fasting? The whole nation volunteering to go without food or drink for 24 hours and everyone donating the money they would have spent on food to the charity of their choice. The fast would end on Thanksgiving Day so everyone would still eat.

What would be the impact on American attitudes towards health, humanity, self control, and sacrifice? I look forward to that day.

In the mean time, enjoy this fall photo and be good to your family.