So, it's presentation time tomorrow! How exciting. Now I'm sure that some of you are panicking at home, thinking "How can I remember the whole story, it's far too long? How can I make a PowerPoint in only 2 days!" and so on. You don't have to do that. This presentation is not focussed on visuals, it's focussed on story-telling. I want you to be able to tell a story from your country without reading it. The pictures, if you want to use them, are only there to help you remember the details.
I don't want you to try to talk for 15 minutes because you won't remember everything and so you'll mumble and stumble and we'll get bored. Just summarise the most important details and if you can answer any of the questions, that's a bonus. You can use Wikipedia (click here) to search for the name of a character from your story and that should give you a synopsis or short summary. Don't forget to try the Simple English version of Wikipedia if the other one is too complicated.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
How to do your homework
I thought I'd take this opportunity to make a quick point about homework, research and the best way to do it.
If you have to do some writing (like the planet presentation)
Look in books or the internet. See if you can find anything which well give you the information you need. Read the information. If you don't understand it, don't use it. If you do understand it, keep it. Carry on looking to see if there is anything better or anything extra. When you have found all that you need, read it, choose the bits that you want and REWRITE it in your own words. DO NOT copy everything from a book or website.
If you are finding a small amount of data or some very brief facts
In this case, where only a few words are needed (like the weather homework), it is ok to copy straight from a book or website because there is only one correct answer. You do not need to use your words because you are only using two or three words anyway.
I know that this will take time to learn and it is a hard thing to do, but too many people are copying things directly from books or websites and they just don't understand what they've written. Understanding is the most important part of learning, and without it all you can do is repeat things you have been told like a parrot.
If you have a little bit of information that you really understand, that is much better than 10 pages of printing that you cannot read or explain properly.
So Mums and Dads, thank you for all the support you are giving your children with their research. They have found a lot of interesting and useful stuff but you must make sure that they are doing the work and that they understand what they have found.
If you have to do some writing (like the planet presentation)
Look in books or the internet. See if you can find anything which well give you the information you need. Read the information. If you don't understand it, don't use it. If you do understand it, keep it. Carry on looking to see if there is anything better or anything extra. When you have found all that you need, read it, choose the bits that you want and REWRITE it in your own words. DO NOT copy everything from a book or website.
If you are finding a small amount of data or some very brief facts
In this case, where only a few words are needed (like the weather homework), it is ok to copy straight from a book or website because there is only one correct answer. You do not need to use your words because you are only using two or three words anyway.
I know that this will take time to learn and it is a hard thing to do, but too many people are copying things directly from books or websites and they just don't understand what they've written. Understanding is the most important part of learning, and without it all you can do is repeat things you have been told like a parrot.
If you have a little bit of information that you really understand, that is much better than 10 pages of printing that you cannot read or explain properly.
So Mums and Dads, thank you for all the support you are giving your children with their research. They have found a lot of interesting and useful stuff but you must make sure that they are doing the work and that they understand what they have found.
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