Plan.Meet.Repeat. Premier Issue book meet repeat premiere issue | Page 4

High Performance for Outstanding Presenters P art way through my career as an educator in Utah at an alternative high school, I added another certificate to my tool belt. Because Summit High School provided students who had been kicked out of mainstream education, and we were a small school, being a teacher with multiple certifications was a great asset. I already carried four, so adding Career and Technical Education (CTE) allowed me to teach two more subjects. That rounded out my classes taught with eight different subjects per term. I love teaching, and I always looked for ways to improve, so when I got all the lesson plans complete with Power Points to download from the district office, I was excited. I didn’t have to spend hours after school prepping for my two new classes. Those Power Points where full of information, and my students took copious notes. I had never seen them write so much before. I just knew they were going to pass these classes with ease and grace. But that wasn’t the case. After the second term of CTE classes, my students were back to failing. I spent many late nights trying to figure it out. I knew the reason they were at Summit was because of failing grades, and being in “the system.” Being in “the system” meant they were in foster care or group homes because of arrests for many different offences. It would have been very easy to blame them for their poor grades in the new classes; however, the fact they had great success in my other ones told me it wasn’t them. I started doing research on what else it could be. During this time, I went to the National Achievers Congress in California over spring break and was introduced to T. Harv Eker and Success Resources. 4 Plan Meet Repeat Magazine Premier Issue I signed up for their Train the Trainer five-day training, hoping to learn some new techniques, and, hopefully, solve the problem as to why my students were struggling. Success Resources is the world’s largest training company, so I knew they were doing something right. It was during that five-day training I learned how to reach my students on a deeper, more impactful level: the key was flip charts. My students copied all the information off the Power Point in my CTE classes. They would then put their notebooks in a backpack, in their locker, or sometimes under their beds to be looked at the night before a test (if they remembered). The morning of the test, they would be stressing. “No amount of praying will take out what you never put in,” I would say. It was clear to me they were not reviewing their notes. With flip charts, their results were totally different. I relayed the information to my students and put a diagram or words that summed up my points on the flip chart. At the end of each class, I put the flip charts on the walls of the classroom so they were easily visible every day to the students. When a student reviews material for ten minutes within twenty-four hours for seven days, their retention is 80%. That’s a B-, and if I considered adding in studying the night before, my students would have even higher grades. I still use flip charts when I speak to audiences all over the world of all ages during every speaking topic. There is never lost time due to projector malfunction, and my audience is more engaged because they want to see what I’m writing on the flip chart. A mind that is actively engaged learns more. I invite you to ditch your Power Points and go high-tech with flip charts. No more death by Power Point. Thank God. By: Jeanie Cisco-Meth