In-class presentations

Part 0 due Sunday, October 16, Part 1 due Sunday, October 23

For your in-class presentation, you will be presenting one of the following sections of Venema’s book.

	The Classical Triangle Centers (Charlotte, Nov 2)	V 2.1 to 2.5
	Circumscribed, Inscribed, and Escribed Circles (Irina, Nov 7)	V 4.1 to 4.5
	The Medial and Orthic Triangles (Anik, Nov 9)	V 5.1 to 5.4
	The Nine-Point Circle (Jason, Nov 14)	V 7.1 to 7.3
	Ceva’s Theorem (Rachel, Nov 16)	V 8.1 to 8.6
	Theorem of Menelaus (Angie, Nov 21)	V 9.1 to 9.2
	Applications of the Theorem of Menelaus (optional, Nov 21)	V 11.1 to 11.8

Your presentation may cover the whole section, but may just cover a relevant subset of what is included in the text (for example, V 11 is a long section so that presentation will certainly not cover it all). You should plan to speak for 45 minutes to 1 hour. You will receive support from your instructor as you prepare.

Dates:

There are 7 topics but only 6 of you, so one of the topics will not be covered. The topics that must be covered are identified as “required” above. The presentations will be given in the order above on the following dates:

Presentation 1, Charlotte	Wednesday, November 2
Presentation 2, Irina	Monday, November 7
Presentation 3, Anik	Wednesday, November 9
Presentation 4, Jason	Monday, November 14
Presentation 5, Rachel	Wednesday, November 16
Presentation 6, Angie	Monday, November 21

Step-by-step instructions

Giving an hour-long presentation may sound like a daunting task if you haven’t given one before, so we’ll break down your responsibilities into bite-sized pieces.

Step 0: Choose your topic

Comment on this post due by Sunday, October 16

Choose a topic from the table above. Indicate your choice in the comments below. Do not choose a topic that one of your classmates has already chosen.

Part 1: Learn the content

Email your written notes to your professor by Sunday, October 23

The Venema text is written from an inquiry-based-learning perspective. This means it is designed to be used as a lab manual where students work through exercises of each section during a 3-hour class session as opposed to as in a traditional lecture.

Give yourself about 3 hours to read your section and to try working through all the exercises (make a note of which exercises you are not able to complete). Get to know how the section is laid out. Is there one main theorem that is being proved? Are there corollaries to the main theorem?

Write your own detailed notes of all the content, including solutions to any exercises. Even if you are unable to complete all the exercises, you should be able to see how the exercises fit together; sometimes a sequence of exercises form the steps for proving the main theorem of the section. Make sure you are familiar with the elements of the section, even if you’re not an expert yet.

You may reach out to your professor during this part if you need help understanding any part of your section.

Part 2: Meet with your professor

About a week before your presentation date

Schedule an appointment with your professor. At this one-on-one meeting, we’ll discuss the content you’ve learned, what you need more help with, and how you might approach your lesson. For example, we can discuss what material absolutely needs to be in your presentation and what you might skip.

We will find a time that works for both our schedules. This meeting might take only 15 or 20 minutes but it can take longer if necessary. It all depends on what you need to be comfortable!

Part 3: Prepare your presentation and choose homework

Email your written plan to your professor about a week before your presentation date

Now that you are an expert on your topic, you get to decide how you will present it to the class. The students need not separately read your section of the text, so this is their chance to learn from you!

You have a lot of freedom for the structure of your presentation. Here are some questions to consider:

1. Do you want to prepare slides or write on the board?
2. How will you use GeoGebra?
3. How do you want to engage the other students?

The primary requirement is that you use GeoGebra during the presentation. You should have generated a handful of GeoGebra files during Part 1, so you may share the links as part of your presentation if you want your audience to play with them and/or share your GeoGebra screen as you present.

Practice giving your presentation out loud at least once before giving it (even if it’s just to your dog or to an empty room!). This will help you see if there are any parts of your presentation that you need to work on.

Include one or two homework problems in your plan. Some ideas: a homework problem might be a straightforward application of the main theorem in your presentation or it might be to prove a lemma that you used for your presentation but did not prove. Make sure the homework you assign is not too easy and not too hard!

You may email your professor to schedule another appointment with your instructor if you need help with preparing your presentation or choosing homework problems.

Part 4: Give your presentation

Day of presentation — during class

You will have around 45 minutes to 1 hour to give your presentation.

Part 5: Post your work and assign one or two homework problems

Day of presentation — after you present

Whether you take notes during the presentation or use prepared slides, you should have a record of what you presented. Share these and links to your GeoGebra files by submitting a post on the OpenLab.

In your post, include the homework exercises you are assigning to the class.

As the title of your post, use your topic name. Select the category Student presentations.

Homework

Homework exercises will be collected into sets and officially assigned separately.

Grading

Anyone who completes all parts listed above will earn a passing grade for the presentation. This rubric will be used to determine the overall grade. You will receive feedback from your classmates as well.