Pet Peeve

Quite possibly one of my biggest school/presentation pet peeves is when people misuse PowerPoint.   I’m a huge nerd when it comes to using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so when people use it with their head up their butt, it makes it difficult for me to respect you as an educator/presenter.  Case in point:  I’m in class today and the teaching assistant gets up to teach the class.  I will say that, thank God, her speech was understandable, and the only way to describe the rate at which she speaks would be to compare it to a squirrel on crack.  Here is the problem.  First of all, she has her back to the classroom and she is looking at the screen.  Problem one:  YOU SHOULD NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON STUDENTS.  We’re not gonna pay attention and you can bet that if you did this in a public school, all hell would break loose if you taught with your back to them. Also, if you don’t make eye contact with me {and you’re capable of it} you’ve lost even more of my attention and respect.  Problem 2:  She’s reading VERBATIM what is on the slides.  Remember that old adage when PowerPoints were just starting to pop up?  If you don’t, I’ll remind you, “Keep about 5-10 words maximum on each slide.”  I’m willing to let this slide {see what I did there?}  because it makes it easier for me to not pay attention when you put everything on the slide.  BUT DO NOT sit there and ONLY read the slides to me.  Last time I checked, literacy, was imperative to getting into college.  Do not insult my intelligence while you’re teaching me. 

Rant over.