Judith Anne Purdy, a student teacher for the Penn-Trafford School District, wanted to give students at Level Green Elementary School a fun Reading/Language Arts lesson after an April morning filled with PSSA testing. She was familiar with a popular “presentation game” and decided to put a third-grade spin on it.
Miss Purdy assigned a unique prompt to each student and asked them to think about the main ideas, form opinions, and list details to support those opinions. Next, they each created a slide to present to the class outlining the opinion they chose to support.
“The students loved being able to customize their slides to fit their topic,” said Miss Purdy. “It was awesome to see their creativity come alive on the board as they stated their supporting reasons and showed the pictures they chose to complement their slides.”
Miss Purdy noted that the activity helped the third-graders gain confidence speaking to a group; “As classmates gave feedback to each presenter, followed by a round of applause, I could see that each student was able to make it over the mental hurdle that is fear of presentations”, she said. “This was a really fun and rewarding lesson for both the students and for myself!”
Miss Purdy will complete her final semester at St. Vincent College in May. She spent the Spring 2021 semester working alongside Mrs. Barbara Feathers at Level Green Elementary School.