Presentations

Kazza has been on at me to tell the stories of my presentations at University. So here goes.

The first one I had to do was for Introduction to Sociology and I chose deviance as my topic. I figured I probably knew quite a bit about it. Because I hated the thought of standing (or sitting) in front of the class and talking at them, I devised a questionnaire with about 5 or 6 questions. The point of the exercise, and I admit it was totally fixed, was to prove that everyone in the room was "deviant" in some way. I handed out the questionnaire, and when everyone had finished answering it, I told them that anyone who answered yes to any of the questions, could be considered "deviant". Needless to say I deliberately picked the questions to slant the answers in the direction I wanted to go. Some of the questions included (if I remember correctly): Are you a mature age student? (I knew the average age of the class was 35, and this was in the late 1980s). Are you a single mother? Are you gay? I've forgotten the rest of the questions.

It worked incredibly well. I didn't have to say another word as the class did the rest and we had the greatest discussion about deviance.

The second was was for Social Policy in Social Work, an incredibly boring subject. I don't remember what my topic was. I devised a scenario where the individuals in the class were a group of residents who had been asked by their local government to a meeting to discuss a local  issue and give their views on it. The issue just happened to be the topic I was to present on.

I gave each person in the class a role, gender, and a few bits of information about themselves, including their stance on the issue and they had to argue, for or against. I gave out the roles to the different people and I deliberately gave them roles that they might not be comfortable with. So the slightly homophobic man, became a lesbian university professor. I also had a "greenie" and the guy who played the "greenie" was beautiful, all he wanted to do was to sit under a Karri tree and commune with nature. I was actually much more nervous with this one than the last. It worked reasonably well, but if I remember rightly I think I needed to have spent more time explaining what I was after. However, good discussion ensued and I have no idea what mark I got for the presentation.

There now, happy Kazza.

Madeleine

Thursday, 4 September 2008