Activity 3
Review the three written accounts below. In pairs you are now examiners assessing the reflective writing skills of each
individual who has written this account. You must identify positive areas within the writing based on your
understanding now of reflective writing and offer suggestions of how each account could be improved.
Account 1: As part of our outcome I had to talk about my Global Perspectives team project that I am working on to a
group of parents. I practiced my talk during my class in front of all of the students and the teacher. I was confident but I
did spend quite a bit of time preparing. During the presentation I became nervous when I realised they were all waiting
for me to speak and my nerves made my voice wobble. Afterwards I was disappointed that my presentation did not seem
to have gone well. My teacher suggested that I practice my presentation a few times with a small group of students or
family before I presented to parents.
Account 2: I was scared about not saying the right things and not being able to answer questions properly. I did a
presentation in my class during an English lesson and had felt the same about it initially. During the presentation I realise
that I was desperately trying to prove that I could present as well the team I had watched last week. I wanted to impress
everyone. Early on it went wrong and I began to panic. Trying to pretend I was confident made the situation worse
because I did not admit I needed help. The more I spoke, the more my voice wobbled. Following on from the
presentation, my confidence has become lower in class. However, partly through talking over the presentation and the
things that went wrong, I can see several areas that I could get better. I am hoping that if I practice with some friends or
family members then it will get better.
Account 3: As part of our outcome I had to talk about my Global Perspectives team project that I am working on to a
group of parents. I spent quite a bit of time preparing for it and had worked on my presentation skills in class,
particularly focusing on my expressive language skills, tone and body language.
We had the opportunity to practice our presentation in class before delivering it to the parents. I really wanted to do it
well – as well as the other teams presentations I had seen the week before. They spoke with confidence and in doing so it
was very clear they knew their subject matter well and connected with their audience. Maybe I wanted too much to do
well? My efforts to be calm failed and my voice went wobbly – that’s how it felt to me anyway. My teacher said
afterwards that I looked quite calm despite what I was feeling.
Personally I felt that the presentation had not gone well and it left me feeling uncomfortable and under confident not
only in my Global Perspectives class but in other classes at school also. I have spent some time thinking about why a
simple presentation could have such an effect on me and feel that this relates back to an assembly that I spoke in a few
years ago where I did not know my lines.
After some time to reflect I started to feel more positive and began to analyse what I could do better in the presentation.
It was interesting to see the change in my attitude after a week. I realise now that I need to think from the beginning
about the process of giving a good presentation and return the skills we developed in class.