About Presentations...don't forget...

Presentations in Vanguard are a great way for the youth to share what they've learned with the rest of the students and build confidence speaking before a group.  For the most part, the youth excel at this skill!  Many of our Vanguard Youth have take speech and debate classes and are great at public speaking.  Vanguard presentations are different than a speech in that they can engage the audience, have visual aids and be as creative as the presenter wants to be.

Here are just a few reminders to help Vanguard presentations flow more smoothly:

How long is my presentation?

• How long is it supposed to be?  Check the blog.  It is usually specified.
• How do I know how long my presentation is after I prepare it?  Run through it in advance and time yourself.
  
• Make sure your presentations is not too long, not too short but JUST RIGHT!
• If you want to go long because you find your topic fascinating, get permission from the mentor the day before.
• Once you’re called on, your time starts, not once you’re “ready”.  So if you have visual aids to prepare, props to bring out, a computer to hook up or volunteers to include, do all of the prep work ahead of time.  

What is my presentation about?

• What is the assignment?  Read the blog carefully.  
• Don’t just regurgitate what you learned in the assigned reading, look at additional sources and full you mind with information and then filter through it and present the nuggets.

Is my presentation engaging?

• Don’t talk AT you audience, have a conversation with them.
• The more preparation you are the better.
• Change up your style.  Prezi, slide show, visual aids, photos, song, poem, quotes, etc.  Step out of your comfort zone!
• If you’re using a song or poem, introduce it first.
• Learn & grow by giving different types of presentations.

CHALLENGE:

For every presentation you do, try to choose a different type of presentation to present to help you grow and learn to be more flexible.

A reminder on the no-no’s:

• No filming presentations.  Let's be honest, there's really no reason to have your phone out at Vanguard anyways.  So just keep it put away during presentations.  If you want to take notes, do it in your common place book.  Vanguard is a safe space to shine and make mistakes.  Mistakes are bound to happen and we don't want them filmed for the world to see.
• No goofing off when someone is presenting.  As a listener, respect the presenter by paying attention and not having a side conversation with the person next to you.
• Do NOT bore us!  

YouTube upload instructions

Log into Google with the following credentials...

username: vanguardmtnebo@gmail.com
password: vanguard2014

Go to YouTube and click this button to upload your video. 

Depending on your internet connection and length of video, it may take a while.  Please don't stress your mom out by waiting until Vanguard morning, 5 minutes before you have to leave to upload.  Trust me.  ;)

Mission Statement

MISSION STATEMENT

We will engage in a respectful and inspiring peer environment that will not only help us grow in our faith, but will help us feel free to develop our unique strengths

as well as a passion for learning that will allow us to better ourselves, our families, our communities, and, ultimately, the world.

We, the Vanguard Youth, accept the challenge to move forward in our pursuit of right and truth.

The 5 Types of Questions to ask while reading a book

While reading any book, ask yourself the following questions and ponder the answers.  Bring your answers to our class discussions.

1 - KNOWLEDGE

What happened?

We need to be able to explain the basic facts and information to someone else.

2 - MEANING

Why did it happen?

We need to know why things matter and why the author is writing about them.

3 - PRINCIPLE

What principles were/were not lived?  What was the result?

We need to see what principles were being lived or broken and if they have application to all people, all of the time.

4 - APPLICATION

How can I apply these principles to my life?

We need to think about what any of it had to do with us personally.

5 - INTERDISCIPLINARY

Where else do I find evidence of these principle?

We rally information from multiple sources and compare and contrast them
to find the truth.

How to make a Venn Diagram

A Venn diagram uses overlapping circles to illustrate the similarities, differences, and relationships between concepts, ideas, categories, or groups. Similarities between groups are represented in the overlapping portions of the circles, while differences are represented in the non-overlapping portions of the circles.

Another example:

1 Each large group is represented by one of the circles.

2 Each overlapping area represents similarities between two large groups or smaller groups that belong to the two larger groups.

How and Why to Mark a Book

How to mark a book

Why would we want to mark in our books?

“You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to "write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.  I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love.  

Why is marking up a book indispensable to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean merely conscious; I mean wide awake.) In the second place, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed. 

Even if you wrote on a scratch pad, and threw the paper away when you had finished writing, your grasp of the book would be surer. But you don't have to throw the paper away. The margins (top and bottom, as well as side), the end-papers, the very space between the lines, are all available. They aren't sacred. And, best of all, your marks and notes become an integral part of the book and stay there forever. You can pick up the book the following week or year, and there are all your points of agreement, disagreement, doubt, and inquiry. It's like resuming an interrupted conversation with the advantage of being able to pick up where you left off.

And that is exactly what reading a book should be: a conversation between you and the author.” 

--- Mortimer Adler

There are many ways to mark and things to mark as you read a book.  We teach the youth to begin by marking a few specific things:

• Characters – to track the characters and be able to find physical characteristics and character traits later.  We can go back later and get a full picture of the character.
• Themes – When we mark the themes, we can find the principles.
• Quotes – It's always great when you find a great quote to be able to find it again later!
• Definitions – for better understanding, we can go back and find definitions to words we don't know.

How to read and mark a book:

• Read with a pencil or pen in hand.  Make marks in the margins.  
• When you have finished a chapter, go back and annotate the things you marked on the blank pages at the front or back of the book.

It's as simple as that!  And every time you go back to the book after the first reading, you will have your notes and can quickly skim them if you need to, or track more themes and characters every time you read the complete book again!

What if I don't own the book?

Use the folded page method and store your pages in a binder for reference later.

What is a Classic?

WHAT IS A CLASSIC?

Classic as defined by Thomas Jefferson: “…everything that is useful which contributes to fix us in the principles and practice of virtue.”

A Classic:

• ·         Contains profound ideas on several topics
• ·         Contains truth
• ·         Deepens the understanding
• ·         Can be learned from over and over again- sometimes indefinitely
• ·         Elevates and enlightens
• ·         Helps you to understand yourself and the world in new ways
• ·         Facilitates learning by discovery

Reasons to Read Classics:

• ·         Because, “we can learn only from our ‘betters.’ We must know who they are and how to learn from them.”
• ·         To be enlightened rather than informed
• ·         To be pulled out of the culture and mores of our time and see the bigger picture
• ·         To come closer to truth because pursuit of truth is the goal of the truly great writers

Components of Classics:

“Bent stories portray evil as good, and good as evil. Such stories are meant to enhance the evil tendencies of the reader, such as pornography and many horror books and movies.

Broken stories portray accurately evil as evil and good as good, but evil wins. Something is broken, not right, in need of fixing…Broken stories can be very good for the reader if they motivate him or her to heal them, to fix them.

Whole stories are where good is good, bad is bad and good wins…readers should spend most of their time in such works.

Healing stories can be either Whole or Broken stories where the reader is profoundly moved, changed, or significantly improved by her reading experience.”[1]

·         Natural consequences

·         Natural laws and natural rights

·         How you are inspired

[1] DeMille, A Thomas Jefferson Education

This entire article comes from the ten Boom Institute and can be found online here.