What I Love About Teaching

Besides providing firsthand accounts of "inappropriate elimination" (yes, a term related to cats and their bowels that I have now applied to what comes out of students' mouths) which makes me at times laugh in disbelief, explode in anger, or grab a happy hour rita with friends, teaching ultimately refreshes me. This summer, while working with student teachers, teaching my own public speaking class, and working with some of Houston's brightest educators, I am learning about a new speaking technique which actually cures the ever-present and unfortunately prevalent Death-By-PowerPoint!

Check out Japanese-originating Pecha Kucha:




This new product of Japan is blasting through business training and surprisingly through the social realm crossing borders. I feel quite fortunate that a colleague introduced me to this presentation style this summer, and it's a breath of educational fresh air to experiment with my students with the 20-seconds-for-each-of-20-slides speaking extravaganza.

Yes, extravaganza. With this format and a motivating assignment or two, student creativity should flourish. I look forward to updating after this initial trial run and await the fall when I hope my new students can embrace a fresh and effective presentation style.