I have always been an interpersonal learner, so it would make sense that I am also an interpersonal presenter. When I am in front of a room leading a class or a workshop, I try to gauge the audience in an exchange. I can feel engagement, and I can often sense the lack thereof. When I feel like I’m losing someone, I slow down or connect with them through eye contact, proximity or even by shaking up the experience by building in more opportunity for participation, for example. Most presenters feed off their audience in some invisible give-and-take that enhances or detracts from the experience.
When Derek Rhodenizer asked me to present Building Outside the Blocks for a PD day at his school, I was excited but had my trepidations. The fact that I was off that day was a bonus, because teaching full time can make it difficult to find time to present. This workshop experience for Westboro Academy in Ottawa was particularly unique because Derek was planning for a personalized virtual PD day for his staff where they could choose to learn from a selection of possible presenters each hour over the course of the day for which 20 different educators had been amassed. That is such a tribute to Derek’s innovative leadership and relationship-building skills. I am waiting for the full list, but there isn’t one presenter that he mentioned from whom I would not have enjoyed learning.
This virtual presentation was going to be my very first. The format was simple. At the designated time slot, one member of the group would grab a laptop with the presenter on the screen through a Google Hangout. Although you lose some dimensionality in terms of being able to deeply connect with everyone, you could still see everyone. The real challenge came as soon as it was time to screen share my slides. Once I figured out how to screen share in Google Hangouts, a quick learning curve, I had to figure out how to present when I could not see my audience. This caused a bit more uncertainty.
I learned a lot from the hour of introducing BOB to people who selected this option based a brief explanation of what the approach entails. I was so happy to share the projects with a new group of people who seemed to see that this is a genuine way to connect with and teach learners. Building Outside the Blocks is an approach that uses personalizing projects to help students build skill, autonomy and community in minimal class time. I shared a few one-off BOBs and a few tri-BOBs as best as I could with some planned stopping points to reengage with the participants and minimize the distance created from presenting slides without being able to see anyone’s face. From the feedback I received, it went well. This gave me wings but also showed me about the possibility of more reach.
The experience impacted me because it gave me a new route to sharing BOB. A few schools have asked for a lunch and learn BOB experience, but it wouldn’t be prudent to take a whole day off to make a brief lunchtime presentation. Even though I’d much rather be able to share the air in the room when I present on Building Outside the Blocks because it energizes me and because the motivational power of these projects propels my enthusiasm, I understand from the feedback that it wasn’t lost in translation. Happily, this positive virtual presentation has shown me that I can pop on a screen and share the approach that has transformed my teaching and class culture. I will be calling this newly possible lunchtime taste a Bite of BOB. Now all I have to figure out is which morsels to share first.
