Lived Practice of Catholicism in the U.S.
(032:054) Instructor: Heather Hartel

Syllabus
Policies & Requirements
Class Schedule
Assigned Weekly Readings

Assignments
Presentations
Book/Movie Review
Field Report
Final Paper

Description
You will be required to give two class presentations over the course of the semester. Each presentation will be worth 5 points. One presentation will be a 5-10 minute talk on one of the smaller projects, either your movie or book review, or your field report & interview. I want to avoid repetitive presentations as much as possible, so you cannot present on something that has already been talked about by another classmate, and you should know what you are going to present on at least by the week before your talk so that we can negotiate with people who have similar interests. There are enough books, films and Catholic activities out there to avoid repetition.

Your second presentation will be a 15 minute talk about your final project to be given sometime during the last three weeks of the semester. If your final project is derived from either your book/movie review or your field report & interview, please do not repeat your shorter presentation in a longer form. In other words, if you present a field report & interview on Opus Dei and your final project is also on Opus Dei, you will need to provide us with completely different and new information in your final presentation. Even better, you should see if you can avoid presenting on the same topic twice.

I do not expect these presentations to be extremely formal. Do what is comfortable for you. If you need note cards, make them. If you need to use the chalk board, do so. If you want to sit on the desk, fine. Think of your presentations as opportunities to teach your classmates about your research and ideas, something more like show and tell exercises than opening remarks for a debate team.

Requirements
The following criteria are required of each presentation:

1) Visual aids. For example, if you talk about a book review, you could bring the book or a photo of the author(s). If you are doing movie reviews, perhaps bring in a handout with summaries of the movies. If you are doing your field report, you could bring a pamphlet from the organization you visited. For you final project, you will want to have visual aids as well, probably more than one. Perhaps some photographs, web pages for whatever you are reporting on, clips from films etc. Whatever you use, however, you will have to refer to during your presentations.

2)    Outline. This will be handed in to me after your presentation as a record of it.

Evaluation (5 points total for each presentation)

You will be graded on the following criteria:

1) Organization & Clarity. Are you just standing up and talking or is there evidence that you decided on a logical order for your information? Can others understand what you are talking about and have you provided enough general information for them to do so? Have you been able to sufficiently address questions from the class. (2 points)

2) Insight & Originality. Have you provided some critical analysis of the materials you present by relating them to the course as a whole, giving some kind of interpretation of the materials or providing some commentary or your thoughts? Are you presenting material that is relatively new to the course? (2 points)

3)  Use of Visuals & Time. Have you incorporated visuals into your presentation? Have you adhered to the time limits? (1 point)