CCRA.SL.5: Strategic Use of Digital Media and Data Displays

Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-60 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Listen without writing anything down. A class counted butterflies on eight Saturdays and got 6, 9, 15, 22, 38, 51, 27 and 11. Now answer from memory: Which Saturday had the most? Did the counts rise steadily, fall steadily, or do something else? How sure are you?"

   Read the numbers once, at an ordinary pace. Many students remember the largest number but not where it came, and few can describe the shape of the season. Then show Diagram 1. The pattern (a climb to a peak, then a drop) is visible at once. Ask what changed: the facts did not, only the way they reached the audience. CCRA.SL.5 asks speakers to make that kind of choice on purpose.

2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

   Terms for the lesson.

   • Digital media: any element a presenter adds with a computer or projector: text on a slide, images, charts, audio, video, animation or interactive pieces such as a map listeners can explore.
   • Visual display of data: a chart, graph, table, map or diagram that shows numbers or other information.
   • Strategic: chosen for a reason that serves the talk's purpose and audience. Each element should earn its place by expressing information or helping listeners understand.
   • Takeaway title: a slide title that states what the display shows ("Sightings peaked in early September") rather than only its topic ("Sightings").
   • Baseline: the value where a chart's vertical axis begins. For bar charts it should be zero, so bar heights stay in true proportion.
   • Direct label: a label placed right beside the line or bar it names, instead of in a separate legend.

   Two jobs, one standard. A display can express information, putting a pattern or a number in front of listeners, and it can enhance understanding of the talk: point the eye to what matters, make reasoning visible, or let listeners check the evidence. Strategic use means deciding which jobs each element does and cutting the elements that do neither. The tools do not matter: the same choices apply to slide software, a whiteboard or a printed handout.

   How the anchor grows. In grade 6, students include graphics, images and sound to clarify information. By grade 8 they integrate displays so that they strengthen claims and evidence. In grades 9-12 the word becomes strategic: students choose among textual, graphical, audio, visual and interactive elements for what each does to listeners' understanding of findings, reasoning and evidence. The table lists every grade-level standard that carries CCRA.SL.5.

   Progression of CCRA.SL.5 in grades 6-12

   Grade-level standard	Band	What this band adds
   SL.6.5	Grade 6	Include multimedia components (for example graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information
   SL.7.5	Grade 7	Include multimedia and visual displays to clarify claims and findings and to emphasize the most important points
   SL.8.5	Grade 8	Integrate multimedia and visual displays into the talk to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest
   SL.9-10.5	Grades 9-10	Make strategic use of digital media (textual, graphical, audio, visual and interactive elements) to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning and evidence and to add interest
   SL.11-12.5	Grades 11-12	The same wording as grades 9-10, applied to more complex findings, reasoning and evidence

   Matching the display to the job (a starting guide, not a rule)

   If the job is to ...	A display that often works	Watch out for
   Compare amounts across a few categories	Bar chart, with the axis starting at zero	Too many bars, or an axis that starts above zero
   Show change over time	Line graph, with time running left to right	Comparing different seasons or uneven time steps
   Show a relationship between two measurements	Scatter plot, one dot per case	Implying that one thing causes the other
   Show the parts of one whole	One stacked bar, or a pie with very few slices	Pie charts of data that are not parts of a whole
   Give exact values so listeners can check	A small table, often on a printed copy	Reading a whole table aloud
   Make one number stick	The number alone in large type, with a short label	A number with no comparison or unit
   Show what something looks or sounds like	A photograph, diagram, short video or audio clip	Media that are decorative, inaccurate or play over the speaker

   A model from 1914. Willard C. Brinton was an American engineer. In 1914 he published Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts, one of the first American handbooks on charts for business and public reports. This excerpt opens the first chapter and argues that collecting facts is only half of the work. A few terms: a proposition is a proposal or plan; fallacious means mistaken; an edifice is a large building; a phonograph was an early record player; deductions are conclusions a person reasons out. The paragraphs are numbered; nothing is cut inside this excerpt.

   1AFTER a person has collected data and studied a proposition with great care so that his own mind is made up as to the best solution for the problem, he is apt to feel that his work is about completed. Usually, however, when his own mind is made up, his task is only half done. The larger and more difficult part of the work is to convince the minds of others that the proposed solution is the best one—that all the recommendations are really necessary. Time after time it happens that some ignorant or presumptuous member of a committee or a board of directors will upset the carefully-thought-out plan of a man who knows the facts, simply because the man with the facts cannot present his facts readily enough to overcome the opposition. It is often with impotent exasperation that a person having the knowledge sees some fallacious conclusion accepted, or some wrong policy adopted, just because known facts cannot be marshalled and presented in such manner as to be effective.

   2Millions of dollars yearly are spent in the collection of data, with the fond expectation that the data will automatically cause the correction of the conditions studied. Though accurate data and real facts are valuable, when it comes to getting results the manner of presentation is ordinarily more important than the facts themselves. The foundation of an edifice is of vast importance. Still, it is not the foundation but the structure built upon the foundation which gives the result for which the whole work was planned. As the cathedral is to its foundation so is an effective presentation of facts to the data.

   3We daily see facts presented in the hope of creating interest and action for some really worthy piece of work to benefit the people as a whole. In many of these cases the attitude of the person presenting the matter seems to be that the facts will speak for themselves and that they need little or no assistance. Ordinarily, facts do not speak for themselves. When they do speak for themselves, the wrong conclusions are often drawn from them. Unless the facts are presented in a clear and interesting manner, they are about as effective as a phonograph record with the phonograph missing.

   4If it were more generally realized how much depends upon the method of presenting facts, as compared with the facts themselves, there would be a great increase in the use of the graphic methods of presentation. Unlimited numbers of reports, magazines, and newspapers are now giving us reams of quantitative facts. If the facts were put in graphic form, not only would there be a great saving in the time of the readers but there would be infinite gain to society, because more facts could be absorbed and with less danger of misinterpretation. Graphic methods usually require no more space than is needed if the facts are presented in the form of words. In many cases, the graphic method requires less space than is required for words and there is, besides, the great advantage that with graphic methods facts are presented so that the reader may make deductions of his own, while when words are used the reader must usually accept the ready-made conclusions handed to him.

   • A display needs a speaker

     Brinton writes in paragraph 3, "Ordinarily, facts do not speak for themselves." What does this mean for a student who puts a chart on the screen?

     Result: The speaker has to say what the chart shows and why it matters. Model A does this: after the chart appears, the speaker says, "Look at the dark bar," and then gives the count. A chart shown in silence leaves each listener to find a pattern alone, and Brinton warns that "the wrong conclusions are often drawn" when that happens.

   • The audience is the person who must decide

     In paragraph 1, Brinton says that when a person's own mind is made up, "his task is only half done." Who is the other half of the task for?

     Result: It is for the people who must accept the plan: "the minds of others," such as "a committee or a board of directors." For a presenter, the display is chosen for those listeners and what they must decide. Model A's volunteers must pick a week for Monarch Day, so the slide that ends the talk names the week.

   • Make the display carry the point

     Look at Diagram 1, Model A's Slide 2. Name three choices that help the chart express its information.

     Result: First, the title states the takeaway, "Monarch sightings peaked in the week of September 8," so listeners know what to look for. Second, only the peak bar is dark, which draws the eye there. Third, each bar has its number on top, so no one has to estimate from the axis. Each choice serves the talk's one question: when do the monarchs stop here most?

   • Reveal the evidence in the order of the reasoning

     In Model B, the line graph appears in two steps: first the dashed line for the year before meters, then the solid line for the year after. Why build the graph this way?

     Result: The speaker first wants listeners to notice the normal summer rise ("Notice that it rises in July"). Only then does the second line appear, so listeners compare it with a pattern they already understand. Showing both lines at once would ask them to read two patterns while the speaker is still explaining the first.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Two presentations, two sets of slides. Both scripts were written for this lesson; the meadow, the town, the people and all numbers are invented. Each script includes its slide outline in square brackets, and Diagrams 1 and 2 draw the two charts to scale. Model A is a seventh grader's talk to a meadow's volunteer group. Model B is a twelfth grader's talk at a public meeting of a town water board.

   1[Slide 1: the title "The Monarchs of Willow Meadow" and one photograph: a monarch butterfly, orange with black veins, feeding on a milkweed flower.]

   2Good morning. This is a monarch butterfly on milkweed, the plant monarch caterpillars eat. Every fall, monarchs from our region fly south to central Mexico, and many stop in Willow Meadow on the way. Our class wanted to know when they stop here most, so the volunteers can plan Monarch Day for next year.

   3[Slide 2: a bar chart titled "Monarch sightings peaked in the week of September 8." One bar for each Saturday walk, from August 4 to September 22. The tallest bar is dark blue; the others are light blue. Each bar has its number on top.]

   4Every Saturday for eight weeks, we walked the same path for 30 minutes and counted every monarch we saw. Look at the dark bar. On September 8 we counted 51 monarchs, more than on any other walk. The week before, 38. The week after, the count fell to 27.

   5[Slide 3: one sentence in large type: "Best week for Monarch Day: the second week of September." Under it, a small line: "Based on 8 walks in one year."]

   6So here is our recommendation. Hold Monarch Day in the second week of September. The small line at the bottom is there on purpose: this is one year of counts, so it would help to count again next year and check.

   7Thank you. I'll leave the chart up while you ask questions.

   1[Slide 1: the question "Did water meters lower household water use in Marlow?" on a plain background. No images.]

   2Good evening. Two years ago the board asked our statistics class to answer one question once the new meters had been in for a full year. Here is what the records show.

   3[Slide 2: a line graph of average gallons used per household per day, measured in January, April, July and October. At first only one dashed line appears: the year before meters. Then a solid line appears for the year after meters. Both lines are labeled directly at their ends, and the vertical axis starts at zero.]

   4The dashed line is the year before meters. Notice that it rises in July, when people water lawns. Now the solid line, the year after. It sits below the dashed line in every one of the four months, and the gap is widest in July: 300 gallons a day before, 245 after.

   5I chose a line graph because the question is about change across the year, and I put both years on the same months so that you compare July with July, not July with January. Comparing different seasons would make the drop look larger or smaller than it really is.

   6[Slide 3: one large number, "40 gallons less," and the line "average per household per day: 240 before, 200 after."]

   7On average, households used about 40 gallons a day less, roughly one sixth. Could the weather explain it? The town recorded 9.1 inches of rain from June through August before the meters and 9.4 inches after, so the summers were nearly the same.

   8[Slide 4: the exact monthly numbers in a small table. Printed copies are on the table by the door.]

   9The exact numbers are in the table and on the printed copies, so you can check my reading of the graph. I am glad to take questions.

   Slide audit (students fill in the empty cells for each slide)

   Slide	What it shows	Job: express information, enhance understanding, or both	Would the talk be weaker without it? Why?
   Model A, Slide 1	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in
   Model A, Slide 2	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in
   Model A, Slide 3	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in
   Model B, Slide 2	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in
   Model B, Slide 3	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in
   Model B, Slide 4	Students fill in	Students fill in	Students fill in

   1. Audit the slides. Grades 6-8 complete the Model A rows; grades 9-12 complete all six rows. Pairs must point to a sentence in the script for each answer.
   2. Speaker and screen. Ask: "Find a place where the speaker tells listeners where to look." Teacher note: Model A says "Look at the dark bar"; Model B says "The dashed line is the year before meters."
   3. What is missing on purpose. Ask: "Model B's first slide has no image. Is that a weakness?" Accept reasoned answers; one strong answer is that a question on a plain slide keeps attention on the question.
   4. Grades 9-12 discussion. Ask: "Model B could have used an animated chart in which the lines draw themselves while music plays. Would that be more strategic?" Steer the discussion to what each element would do for a board deciding about meters.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Redesign a weak plan. The slide outline below was written for this lesson as a deliberately weak example. It uses the same invented counts as Model A. Students redesign it on paper slide frames; no software is needed.

   1Slide 1: Title "Butterflies!!!" spins in from the corner. A song plays for 20 seconds while the title spins.

   2Slide 2: A paragraph of 70 words about monarch migration, in small type, filling the slide. Speaker note: read the paragraph out loud.

   3Slide 3: A 3-D pie chart with eight slices, one for each Saturday walk, each slice a different color. A legend lists the eight dates. No numbers are shown.

   4Slide 4: A bar chart of the eight counts. To make the chart look more dramatic, the vertical axis starts at 30 instead of 0. The weeks with fewer than 30 sightings do not show a bar at all.

   5Slide 5: A photograph of a painted lady butterfly, found online, with the caption "Monarch."

   6Speaker note for the end: "I'll just let the charts speak for themselves."

   • Grades 6-8: Replace the five slides with three or four. For each new slide, sketch it on a paper frame and write one sentence saying what it shows and why the volunteers need it. Keep at least one image and one chart, and make sure each is accurate.
   • Grades 9-12: Redesign the plan, then write the one or two sentences the speaker will say as each slide appears. Decide whether any sound, video or interactive element would help this audience, and justify the decision in two sentences either way.

   Teacher note: Model A and Diagram 1 show one strong version, so collect the redesigns before students compare. Credit any design whose choices serve the volunteers' question.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: Name one element you cut from the weak plan and one you added, and write one sentence for each explaining what it does or did for the audience.

   Teacher note on the 1914 text: Brinton wrote for readers of printed reports, and his language reflects his time: the person with the facts is always "a man" or "he," as in "a man who knows the facts." Point out that his argument applies to every presenter. Two pages after this excerpt, the chapter prints a table of world population by "race," using categories of that period; it is not reproduced on this page.

   For homework: students use the data set below. It was written for this lesson; the pool, the parks department and the numbers are invented.

   1Question from the city parks department: On which days should the Eastside Pool schedule a fourth lifeguard? The department adds one when it expects more than 200 swimmers in a day.

   2Data: The pool staff recorded the day's high temperature and the number of swimmers on 11 weekdays in July.

   372 degrees Fahrenheit, 91 swimmers. 75 degrees, 98 swimmers. 78 degrees, 142 swimmers. 80 degrees, 137 swimmers. 83 degrees, 181 swimmers. 85 degrees, 169 swimmers. 86 degrees, 64 swimmers. 88 degrees, 229 swimmers. 90 degrees, 251 swimmers. 93 degrees, 262 swimmers. 95 degrees, 308 swimmers.

   4Staff note: On the 86-degree day, a thunderstorm closed the pool at 2 p.m.

   5Audience for the presentation: the parks department's scheduling committee, which meets for 15 minutes and will make the decision that day. The committee has asked for one recommendation and the evidence for it.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which description best fits a strategic use of digital media in a presentation?

   AEvery slide includes an image, so that no slide looks empty. BEach element is chosen for what it shows or helps listeners grasp. CThe slides contain every word the speaker plans to say aloud. DThe talk uses as many kinds of media as the room allows.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 1, why does Brinton say a careful plan can be upset by "some ignorant or presumptuous member of a committee"?

   AThe committee member has better facts than the person who made the plan. BThe person who made the plan has not yet collected enough data to be sure. CThe person with the facts cannot present them readily enough to persuade. DThe committee has a rule that no plan may be accepted on its first reading.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 2, Brinton writes, "As the cathedral is to its foundation so is an effective presentation of facts to the data." What does the comparison mean?

   AThe data are the base, and the presentation is what gets built on it and seen. BThe data matter more than the presentation, as a foundation outlasts a building. CThe presentation should be as large and as decorated as a cathedral can be. DThe data and the presentation should be finished at exactly the same moment.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   At the end of paragraph 3, Brinton compares facts presented poorly to "a phonograph record with the phonograph missing." What is his point?

   AFacts become out of date as quickly as old phonograph records do. BFacts should be read aloud so that the audience can hear them clearly. CFacts are pleasant to collect but are seldom useful to anyone else. DFacts hold their value but cannot reach anyone without a way to present them.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Brinton writes that when facts "do speak for themselves, the wrong conclusions are often drawn from them" (paragraph 3). What does this suggest a presenter should do with a chart?

   ASay what the chart shows so listeners draw the conclusion the evidence supports. BLeave the chart on the screen longer so that listeners can study it in silence. CAvoid charts entirely and give the facts in sentences, which cannot mislead. DShow many charts of the same facts so that listeners can choose a favorite one.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 4, which advantage does Brinton claim graphic methods have over words?

   AThey let readers reason to conclusions themselves instead of accepting ready-made ones. BThey always take far more space on the page, which makes the facts seem more important. CThey remove the need for any data, because a chart can stand in for the facts. DThey can be prepared in less time than the same facts can be written in sentences.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Model A's Slide 1 shows one photograph: a monarch feeding on milkweed. Which job does it do best for the volunteers?

   AIt gives the evidence for the recommended week of Monarch Day. BIt shows what the monarch and its food plant look like as the talk starts. CIt replaces the need for the speaker to say anything about monarchs. DIt proves that monarchs from the region fly south to central Mexico.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Model A's Slide 3 adds a small line: "Based on 8 walks in one year." Why is this a strategic addition?

   AIt makes the slide look more scientific with a second line of text. BIt reminds listeners how many slides are left in the presentation. CIt shows the limits of the evidence beside the recommendation. DIt replaces the chart, which the volunteers may have forgotten.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Using Diagram 1, how many more monarchs were counted on September 8 than on September 15?

   A13 B24 C27 D40

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Model B's Slide 3 shows only "40 gallons less" in large type with one short line under it. Why does this slide suit the board?

    AIt makes the main finding easy to remember after the graph is gone. BIt hides the monthly numbers so that board members cannot question them. CIt adds variety, because every talk should change its slide style often. DIt saves the speaker from having to say what the number means.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Model B ends with a table of exact numbers and printed copies by the door. Which purpose does this serve?

    AIt lets the speaker skip explaining the line graph during the talk. BIt replaces the graph for listeners who cannot see the screen well. CIt shows the board that the class worked harder than other groups. DIt lets board members check the speaker's reading of the graph.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Model B, why does the speaker put both years on the same four months?

    ASo that the graph needs fewer labels and fits on one slide BSo that the summer rise disappears from the graph entirely CSo that listeners compare July with July, not with January DSo that the board sees only the months with the largest gap

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why is the 3-D pie chart on Slide 3 of the weak outline a poor choice for the monarch counts?

    APie charts can only be shown in black and white, not in color. BPie charts should be used only when every slice is the same size. CEight slices are too few for a pie chart to be read correctly. DWeekly counts over a season show change, not parts of one whole.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What is the most serious problem with Slide 5 of the weak outline?

    AThe photograph is too small to see from the back of the room. BThe photograph should have been placed on the first slide instead. CThe photograph is labeled as a monarch but shows another species. DThe photograph has no music playing behind it during the talk.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student presenting the history of a town's fire bell has a 5-second recording of the bell made in 1928. When would playing it be most strategic?

    AWhile the speaker explains the bell's history, so listeners hear both at once BRight after the speaker says listeners will hear the sound the town relied on COver and over in the background for the whole talk, to keep the mood DAt the very end, after the questions, as a surprise with no explanation

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Brinton wrote about printed reports, not spoken talks. Explain one way his argument in paragraph 4 applies even more strongly to a listener than to a reader, and give one example of what a presenter should do about it.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Use Diagram 2. In which month is the gap between the two lines widest, and by how many gallons? Explain why the speaker points listeners to that month.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Slide 2 of the weak outline is a 70-word paragraph that the speaker reads aloud. Describe a better slide for that point and write the one or two sentences the speaker would say while it is on the screen.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    A club wants to show (a) how many members it has in each of grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 this year and (b) how its total membership changed over the last five years. Name the display you would use for each and explain why.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name one element of Model A's slides that mainly expresses information and one that mainly enhances understanding of the talk. Explain the difference between those two jobs.

    Show model answer

These are the grade-level standards that carry anchor CCRA.SL.5 in grades 6-12, plus closely related anchors.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.