Tips for Teachers- Lecture Slideshows

Oftentimes teachers will create PowerPoint presentations as a means to communicate content with students in a way other than lecturing or teaching from a textbook. If done correctly, this can be a powerful tool for both educators and students. It can be effective for reinforcing concepts and providing visual aids to help students retain information. However, if done poorly, a slideshow can turn a lesson into a boring and disengaging experience for students. Here’s a look at how teachers can turn their slideshows into an effective teaching tool. 

Focus on a Main Take-Home Message

Each lesson should have one main message that teachers want their students to remember. This should be the foundation for their slideshow and the entire presentation be centered around this take home message. Teachers can do this by starting their slideshow with a summary slide that includes a brief summary of what the lesson is about. There should also be a table of contents that includes a list of supplemental topics that will be covered during the lesson. This lets the students know right away what the teacher is intending to accomplish through the slideshow. At the end of the slideshow, the teacher should include another summary slide, briefly reinforcing the take home message. 

Add Meaningful Visuals

Teachers can reinforce their main points through the use of meaningful visuals.  They should stay away from cartoon images, animations, and distracting transitions and go with charts, symbols, photographs, or video clips instead. When used correctly, visuals can be a fantastic way to help students remember important information. Charts and graphs are also a great way to illustrate data. In fact, it can actually be beneficial for slides to contain more visuals than text. 

Keep Slides Brief and Limit Text

All too often teachers make the mistake of cramming way too much text onto each slide. Generally speaking, each slide should have only one main point, with no more than three subpoints. Teachers should aim to keep the word count low and should avoid complete sentences. They should be mindful that the slides are only there to emphasize and reinforce, not to replace the words they are speaking. It is not beneficial to have students reading slides when they should be listening to the teacher.

Avoid Unnecessary Clutter

Many teachers like to add banners, headers, footers, page numbers, and different colored fonts to their slides. The problem is that this is confusing and distracting for students. Unless the information needs to be there for a vital reason, it should be eliminated. 

Highlight as You Speak

Teachers should keep in mind that students might be taking notes as they are speaking or they might get momentarily distracted by something else. That’s why it can be extremely helpful to use call-outs or contrast to clearly highlight the areas that are being discussed. This makes it easy for students to pick right back up. Furthermore, bullet points should be revealed one at a time as the teacher is speaking, so that the last one visible is the one that is being talked about. It can also be helpful to use arrows, circles, or pointers to show which parts of a table or chart are being referenced.