Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Students write for three minutes, then share with a partner. Collect five or six answers and sort them on the board into two columns: "helped me understand" and "got in the way."

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a presentation, a class slide show or an explainer video you remember. Name one thing on the screen or in the sound that helped you understand the point, and one thing that got in the way."

   Answers usually include a graph that made a number click, a clip that was too long, slides full of words the speaker read aloud, and a sound effect that got a laugh but no idea across. Tell students that SL.9-10.5 asks them to use digital media strategically: every element on the screen or in the speakers should help listeners understand a finding, a reason or a piece of evidence, or add interest without pulling attention away from the speaker. Show Diagram 1.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: Five kinds of media, two tests. The standard names five kinds of digital media. Textual elements are words and numbers on a screen. Graphical elements show numbers as shapes: line graphs, bar graphs, charts and maps of data. Audio elements are sounds: recordings, interview clips, music. Visual elements show what something looks like: photos, video, diagrams and animations. Interactive elements ask the audience to do something: answer a poll, make a prediction, move a slider. Each kind has a job it does best (Diagram 1). A finding is what the presenter discovered, reasoning is why the presenter thinks it is true or what it means, and evidence is the data, quotations and observations behind it. A media element is strategic when it passes at least one of Diagram 1's two tests and fails neither: it helps listeners understand a finding, a reason or a piece of evidence, or it adds interest that does not compete with the speaker.

   Part 2: A model presentation. Students cannot see the slides or hear the clips on the page, so they read a transcript with media cues in brackets. Read Model Presentation A aloud and describe each cue as you reach it. It is a science club's report to the principal and the student council at an invented school, written for this page. Students mark each media cue with its kind (T, G, A, V or I) and a check or a question mark.

   1[Slide 1: the title, "How Loud Is Lunch?", over a photo of our cafeteria at 12:40 on a Tuesday, with every table full.] Good morning. We are the Alder Creek Science Club. For ten school days in March, we measured the sound level in our cafeteria during both lunch periods. Our finding is that second lunch gets loud enough that most students have to raise their voices to be heard, and that one low-cost change made a measurable difference.

   2[Audio: a ten-second recording from a center table at 12:40, played at a comfortable volume. The screen shows one line: "Recorded at 12:40, center table. Measured level: 84 decibels."] That is an ordinary Tuesday at second lunch. Keep that sound in mind, because the numbers that come next describe it.

   3[Slide 2: a line graph of the average sound level at five-minute marks in each lunch period, first lunch in light blue and second lunch in dark blue, with a dashed line at 60 decibels labeled "ordinary conversation."] We used a sound-meter app that we first checked against the physics lab's sound meter. Each point on the graph is the average of our ten days. First lunch levels off in the low 70s. Second lunch keeps climbing until it reaches 84 decibels at the 20-minute mark. Look at the space between the dark line and the dashed line. That space is why people shout.

   4[Slide 3: a scale from 50 to 90 decibels with three marks: ordinary conversation at about 60, a vacuum cleaner at about 75, and second lunch at its loudest, 84. As the slide appears, a cartoon explosion fills the screen with the sound effect "BOOM!"] Decibels are hard to picture, so here is a scale. Every 10 decibels sounds about twice as loud to our ears, so second lunch at its peak sounds more than four times as loud as a normal conversation.

   5[Slide 4: one sentence in large type: "71 of 96 students surveyed at second lunch said they often raise their voices to be heard." Below it, in smaller type, the survey question word for word.] We also asked students. We drew six table numbers at random and surveyed every student at those tables, 96 in all. Seventy-one of them, about three out of four, said they often raise their voices to be heard. The exact question is on the slide so you can judge the wording for yourselves.

   6[Interactive: a live poll on your phones. The question is "Which change would you try first?" and the choices are acoustic panels on the walls, a staggered dismissal from fourth period, or moving four tables out to the courtyard. The results appear as votes come in.] Vote before we tell you what we tried. [The speaker waits twenty seconds.] Keep your answer in mind. Panels would work, but the district's estimate for our cafeteria is $18,000. So we tried the cheapest idea first.

   7[Slide 5: the same graph as Slide 2, with a third line added for two courtyard days.] In the third week, on two dry days, we moved four tables out to the courtyard with help from the custodians. At second lunch, the peak dropped from 84 to 78 decibels. Two days is a start, not proof, so we are asking to try it for four weeks and measure again.

   8[Slide 6: three short lines: "Second lunch peaks at 84 decibels." "Most students raise their voices." "Four courtyard tables lowered the peak." Under them, in bold, our request: a four-week courtyard trial.] Thank you. We'll leave the graph up for your questions.

   The readings behind Slide 2 (invented data): average of ten school days

   Minutes into the lunch period	First lunch (decibels)	Second lunch (decibels)
   0	64	66
   5	69	73
   10	72	79
   15	73	82
   20	73	84
   25	72	83
   30	70	80
   35	66	74

   Diagram 2 draws Slide 2 to scale from this table. Work through the examples below with the class, one media cue at a time.

   • Visual element (paragraph 1)

     Slide 1 puts the title "over a photo of our cafeteria at 12:40 on a Tuesday, with every table full."

     Result: The photo is strategic because it shows the setting of the finding, a full room at the time the club will later show is loudest, before a single number appears. It adds interest and sets up the evidence. A stock photo of some other cafeteria would add interest only, because it would say nothing about this room at this time.

   • Audio element (paragraph 2)

     "a ten-second recording from a center table at 12:40," followed by "Keep that sound in mind, because the numbers that come next describe it."

     Result: The clip lets listeners experience the finding before they hear it measured, so the graph that follows means something. It is short, it is labeled with the time, place and measured level, and it is played at a comfortable volume rather than at 84 decibels. The speaker also tells listeners what to do with it: remember it.

   • Graphical element (paragraph 3 and Diagram 2)

     "a line graph of the average sound level at five-minute marks in each lunch period" with "a dashed line at 60 decibels labeled 'ordinary conversation,'" and the direction "Look at the space between the dark line and the dashed line."

     Result: A graph beats reading 16 numbers aloud because the finding is a pattern: first lunch levels off at 72-73 decibels while second lunch climbs to 84. The dashed line turns an unfamiliar unit into something listeners know. The speaker points to the one thing to see, the gap, and names the method (an app checked against the lab meter, ten-day averages), so listeners can trust the evidence.

   • Textual element (paragraph 5)

     "one sentence in large type: '71 of 96 students surveyed at second lunch said they often raise their voices to be heard.' Below it, in smaller type, the survey question word for word."

     Result: Words on a slide work best for what listeners must hold exactly: a count and the question behind it. The slide gives the count, 71 of 96 (about 74 percent), instead of a vague "most," and printing the question lets the audience judge the evidence. The speaker says the finding in other words ("about three out of four") instead of reading the slide aloud.

   • Strategic or decorative? (paragraph 4)

     Slide 3 shows "a scale from 50 to 90 decibels with three marks," and as it appears, "a cartoon explosion fills the screen with the sound effect 'BOOM!'"

     Result: The scale is strategic: decibels are abstract, and three familiar marks let listeners see that 84 sits well above both a conversation and a vacuum cleaner. The explosion adds interest of the wrong kind. It says nothing about the finding, it makes a careful measurement look like a joke, and a loud effect in a talk about noise pulls attention from the reasoning. Keep the scale and cut the effect.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Groups of three reread paragraphs 6-8 of Model Presentation A, the poll, the courtyard result and the closing slide, and test each media cue with Diagram 1's two questions. Each group writes one sentence per cue: the kind of element, the finding, reason or evidence it serves, and whether it adds interest without distracting. Then each group proposes one change to one cue.

   Debrief with three questions. (1) Is the poll in paragraph 6 strategic? Mostly. It asks listeners to weigh the same three options the club weighed, so the reasoning that follows ("So we tried the cheapest idea first") lands on people who have just made that choice themselves, and it adds interest at the middle of the talk. It would be stronger if the speaker said what the poll showed before moving on. (2) Why does Slide 5 reuse Slide 2's graph? Listeners already know how to read it, so the only new thing is the third line, and the drop from 84 to 78 decibels, 6 decibels, is easy to see against lines they know. The speaker's words, "Two days is a start, not proof," keep the evidence honest while the graph makes it clear. (3) What does Slide 6 do at the end? It is a textual summary: three short findings and the request in bold, left on the screen during questions. Nothing on it is new, which is right for a closing slide.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Model Presentation B, an ecology club's report on a campus bird count at an invented school, written for this page. Its media choices range from strong to distracting. Students answer quiz questions 1-9 and 15, 17 and 20 with the transcript open, and questions 10-14, 16, 18 and 19, which apply the standard to new situations.

   1[Slide 1: the title, "Who Lives Here? Our Campus Bird Count," with a dozen cartoon birds flying across the screen. The animation loops and keeps running behind every slide that follows.] Hi, everyone. We're the Ecology Club. Every Friday morning for eight weeks this fall, four of us walked the same route around campus for thirty minutes and counted every bird we saw or heard. We found 11 species, or kinds, of birds, and we found that where the birds were depended on what was planted there.

   2[Audio: three five-second recordings of bird songs we made on campus. After each one, a photo of the bird appears with its name.] Here are three of our regulars: the house finch, the black phoebe and the lesser goldfinch. We heard more birds than we saw, so learning songs like these is how we counted most of them.

   3[Slide 2: a table with a row for each of the 11 species and a column for each of the eight Fridays, 88 numbers in all, in small type.] Here is all of our data. In week one we had four house finches, two black phoebes, one lesser goldfinch, three American crows... [The speaker reads the first two rows aloud.]

   4[Slide 3: a map of campus with a circle on each of our four zones: the native plant garden, the oak row by the parking lot, the main lawn and the blacktop courts. The bigger the circle, the more birds we counted there.] This is our main finding. The native plant garden had 212 of our 405 bird sightings, even though it is the smallest zone on the map. The main lawn is five times bigger than the garden, and it had 38.

   5[Video: a 45-second slow-motion clip of an Anna's hummingbird at the garden's sage bushes, with a pop song playing over it.] While this plays, let me explain how we kept our count fair. We always started at 7:30, we walked at the same pace, and when we weren't sure whether we had already counted a bird, we left it out.

   6[Slide 4: two photos side by side, the garden and the lawn, each with a short label listing what it gives birds: "Seeds, berries, insects, cover" under the garden and "Open grass" under the lawn.] Why the garden? The native plants there, like sage and coffeeberry, give birds food and places to hide all year. The lawn gives them open space and not much else.

   7[Interactive: a quiz on your phones: "Which zone do you think had the fewest birds?" The answer appears after everyone votes.] Okay, vote now. [The results appear.] Most of you said the courts, and you're right: the courts had 34, just under the lawn.

   8[Slide 5: "Our request: plant a strip of native plants along the edge of the main lawn," with a sketch of the planned strip.] We have a plant list and $640 from our plant sale. We'd like to plant in March, and we'd count again next fall to see if the birds follow. Thank you.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one media element from Model Presentation A or B that you would copy in your own presentation and one you would never use. For each, say which of Diagram 1's two tests it passes or fails." Use the tickets to pair students for Activity 1.

   Homework. Tonight students plan the media for Model Presentation C, a draft talk by an invented student with no media cues yet. Show the directions and the rubric before students leave.

   1Good afternoon. I'm Priya Nair, and I'm speaking for the Student Council's service committee. Every Friday this semester, we sorted and counted everything in the lost and found in the front office. We wanted to know what gets lost, how much of it goes home again, and what happens to the rest.

   2From September through January, 431 items were turned in. The biggest groups were water bottles, 138; jackets and hoodies, 104; and lunch containers, 57. The other 132 items included calculators, earbuds, keys, books and one trombone mouthpiece.

   3Only 97 of the 431 items were ever claimed. That is fewer than one in four. Jackets were the most likely to go home: 41 of the 104 were claimed. Water bottles were the least likely: 12 of 138.

   4Why so few? In our survey of 150 students in advisory, 88 said they did not know where the lost and found was, and 37 said they had looked once but could not find their item. Right now, everything goes into three large bins behind the counter, and students have to ask before they can dig through them.

   5At the end of each month, unclaimed items are donated. Items with a name written on them are returned first, and this semester that was 23 items.

   6We have two requests. First, a weekly photo post on the school's student page showing everything turned in that week, which our committee would run. Second, a labeled shelf by the front office with the items sorted by type, which the office says would cost about $240. Thank you. I'm happy to take questions.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 1 of Model Presentation B, the cartoon birds on Slide 1 are in an animation that "loops and keeps running behind every slide that follows." What is the main problem with this choice?

   AThe birds are cartoons, and a presentation should use only real photographs BIt keeps moving during every slide, which pulls eyes away from the evidence CIt shows a dozen birds, but the club found 11 species, so it is inaccurate DIt is on the title slide, and a title slide should never have any media

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why is the audio in paragraph 2 of Model Presentation B a strategic choice?

   AIt shows listeners how the club counted birds that it heard but never saw BIt fills time, so the speaker does not have to explain how the club counted CIt proves that the club saw all 11 species with their own eyes on each walk DIt adds interest, but it has no connection to how the club gathered its data

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Slide 2 in paragraph 3 of Model Presentation B shows a table with "88 numbers in all, in small type," and the speaker reads rows aloud. Which revision would best help listeners understand the club's findings?

   AKeep all 88 numbers, and read every row aloud so that no listener misses one BMake the type even smaller, so that all eight Fridays fit on a single slide CBring the numbers in one column at a time with a flying animation effect DShow a bar graph of each zone's total, and give the full table as a handout

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does the map on Slide 3 (paragraph 4 of Model Presentation B) let listeners see that the speaker's numbers alone would not?

   AThat the club walked its route on Friday mornings for eight weeks in a row BThat hummingbirds prefer the garden's sage to every other plant on campus CHow the size of each zone compares with the number of birds counted there DThat the blacktop courts had more bird sightings than the oak row did

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 4 of Model Presentation B, the garden had 212 of the club's 405 sightings. A student wants to show that share on a slide as a percent. Which percent is correct?

   AAbout 48 percent BAbout 52 percent CAbout 18 percent DAbout 9 percent

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How should a listener evaluate the video in paragraph 5 of Model Presentation B?

   AIt adds interest, but its length and music compete with what the speaker says BIt is the talk's strongest evidence, since a video can never be misleading CIt should be cut, since a video can never help a presentation about data DIt works well, because music always makes a presentation more interesting

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Slide 4 (paragraph 6 of Model Presentation B) support the club's reasoning?

   AIt gives the exact number of plants in each zone, which proves the bird count BIt adds interest only, because two photos cannot show a reason for anything CIt sets the two zones side by side with labels naming what each gives birds DIt takes the place of the reason, so the speaker no longer has to explain it

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The poll in paragraph 7 of Model Presentation B asks, "Which zone do you think had the fewest birds?" How could the club make this interactive element more strategic?

   ARemove it, because asking an audience a question wastes presentation time BAsk which zone had the most birds before Slide 3, and then reveal the map CKeep the question, but show the answer on screen before anyone can vote DAdd eight more zones to the poll, so that the voting lasts until the end

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best sums up how Model Presentation B uses digital media?

   AEvery element is decorative, so the talk would be stronger with no media BEvery element is strategic, so the club should give the talk as written CSome elements carry the findings well, and others pull attention away DOnly the interactive element is strategic, so the poll is the best part

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is presenting the finding that audiobook checkouts at her town library rose every year for six years. Which element would best help listeners understand this finding?

    AA line graph of checkouts by year, with the rising line labeled on screen BA photo of the library's front entrance, taken on a clear and sunny spring morning CA slide that lists all six yearly checkout totals in one long sentence DA cash-register sound effect that plays each time a new year is named

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is explaining how a heart valve opens and closes to keep blood moving one way. Which media element fits this part of the talk best?

    AA table of the resting heart rates of every student in the class BA slide showing a full textbook page about the heart, word for word CSoft background music that plays under the whole explanation DA short labeled animation of the valve, paused at each step

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is presenting interviews with three farmers about how a dry year affected their wells. Which media choice is most strategic?

    AAll three full interviews, about twenty minutes each, played in order BA 15-second clip of one farmer describing the dry well, with a caption CRecorded rain sounds that play quietly under the entire presentation DA slide with the full written transcripts of all three of the interviews

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    When is putting words on a slide most strategic?

    AWhen the speaker plans to read the whole script aloud from the screen BWhenever a slide would otherwise look empty or plain to the audience COnly on the title slide, since words never belong in the body of a talk DWhen listeners must hold an exact number, quotation or term in mind

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student ends a talk about the school's recycling findings with a 30-second video of fireworks and cheering. What is the main problem?

    AVideos in a presentation must always be shorter than ten seconds long BFireworks are unsafe, so showing them sets a poor example for students CIt adds excitement but says nothing about the findings at the very end DIt belongs at the start, because a talk's opening never needs a point

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Slide 5 in paragraph 8 of Model Presentation B shows the request and a sketch of the planned strip. Name one more media element of any kind that would help the audience understand the reason for the request, say where it would go, and explain why it helps.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Marisol is presenting her finding that students who used the school's free tutoring center raised their math grades. She plans three media elements: (1) a slide with the center's hours, (2) a bar graph of the average math grade before and after for the students who used the center, and (3) twenty seconds of upbeat music as she walks up. For each element, say whether it enhances understanding of a finding, reasoning or evidence, adds interest, or does neither, and explain.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student in the audience is hard of hearing. Explain how the Ecology Club could change the audio element in paragraph 2 of Model Presentation B so that this listener still understands how the club counted birds.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a media cue, in brackets like the ones in the model presentations, for one slide that shows this finding: "Between 7:40 and 7:55 a.m., 186 students crossed at the front crosswalk and 23 crossed at the side crosswalk." Then explain in one or two sentences why your choice helps listeners.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In your own words, explain what "strategic" means in SL.9-10.5, and give one example of a media element that would be strategic in one talk but not in another.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    If the Ecology Club could keep only one media element from Model Presentation B, which should it keep? Defend your choice by naming the finding, reason or evidence it serves.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to SL.9-10.5: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

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.