- It is extremely helpful for students to rehearse at least their first presentation with you. (drawback: significant time commitment from the instructor.)
- Mia Minnes writes of her experience using practice presentations in M.I.T.’s Seminar in Mathematical Logic, “I found that the rehearsals of presenations for my seminar last year were very beneficial to the students and drastically improved the experience (for the audience too!). Most of my students had never spoken in front of a group before, not to mention written on the blackboard, and the rehearsal with me brought to light things they needed to work on before their presentation.”
- You may want to require weaker presenters to continue coming in for rehearsals. Or, have rehearsals be optional but available for all students.
- One option is to have students present in teams of two. If each presents half of the lecture, they can practice together to give each other feedback and ensure that the two halves of the lecture work well together. To see comments from educators who have tried this strategy, see the end of the Assignments page.
Practice presentations
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