Introduction

Life is about making choices.  Every person has a story to tell.  In the spirit of the upcoming Olympic Games, pick an Olympian (or an Olympic hopeful) and tell his or her story.  Use five different resources including books, research databases, the Internet, videos, and interviews.   After your research, you will create a PowerPoint presentation to show the class. 

 

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Task

Use the following outline as a guide for your research.  If you like to use Microsoft Word for your note-taking or correcting, copy the following outline into Word and save it as a new document.  Do not plagiarize!   You must paraphrase (use your own words) or use quotation marks.  Your last slide will be your “works cited” page or bibliography.

 

Name of the Olympian or Olympic hopeful:

 

Age:

 

Sport:

 

Accomplishments:

 

Disappointments:

 

Timeline:

 

Personal story:

 

Favorite quote:

 

Training & lifestyle:

 

Do you know an Olympian or Olympic hopeful?  Develop a set of questions and conduct an interview:

 

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Resources

 

Books

Using the library’s Spectrum Catalog, type the name of your Olympian or just “Olympics” or “Olympic.”  There are some books with multiple Olympians in them that won’t come up with a regular search by name.

Also, the Library can get books through the interlibrary loan system. 

Click on the following link:

 

Research databases

For Olympians, try the Biography Resource Center:

 

Many of them have been in the news.  Try using one of our magazine and newspaper databases:

 

From home, click here:

 

 

Internet

For web sources, try the:

Official Olympics website:  www.olympics.org 

Official U.S. Olympic Team site: www.usoc.org

No wikipedia!

 

Audio & Videos

Try google.com for pictures using their images search.  For video, use “video” in your search.  Create a link from your PowerPoint if you don’t want to or can’t download it.

 

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Process

 

PowerPoint presentation guidelines:  

 

You should have at least 10 slides with valuable information about your person. 

Some of you may find video or audio clips.  Please include those. 

Remember to make sure that your text is readable!  Sometimes it’s better to alternate images with text than to make the picture your background.

Document your resources:  Use the guide available at the circulation desk or go to easybib.com.  Remember to use the MLA format. 

Your last slide will be your bibliography.

 

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Evaluation

Criteria

Points

 

Power Point Presentation
	1	2	3	4
Organization	Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information.	Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which audience can follow.	Student presents information in logical, interesting sequence which audience can follow.	____
Content Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions.	Student is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required)with explanations and elaboration.	____
Visuals	Student used no visuals.	Student occasional used visuals that rarely support text and presentation.	Visuals related to text and presentation.	Student used visuals to reinforce screen text and presentation.	____
Mechanics	Student's presentation had four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation had three misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.	____
Delivery	Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear.	Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation.	Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly.	Student used a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms.	____

 

 

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Conclusion

"Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best." Michael  Johnson,  Track and Field Sprinter who won five gold medals during three Olympic Games (1992, '96, 2000).