# Midterm Oral Presenation: Overview and Guide

## Purpose
The oral presentation format for our midterm will give you the chance to use key concepts and terms to create semi-improvised narratives of the sort that are central to the traditions of folklore and myth. Developing a foundational grasp of these terms and concepts is a goal of this course, and these oral presentations will assess your authentic understanding of them by asking you to put a semi-random combination of them into dialogue with one another.

Here's a video description:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/blK4XC5Xzgs?si=nmLyAI3rZj9EhwvP" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### What are the steps of the oral presentation?
Here are the nuts and bolts of how your oral presentation itself will go:
- **Step 1: Get situated.** You'll go into a small studio in the Learning Lab where 3 decks of cards will be on a table, along with pencil/pen and a piece of paper
- **Step 2: Draw your cards.** You'll draw 4 cards from each of the 3 decks/categories.
- **Step 3. Brainstorm and plan.** You now have **5 minutes** to decide which cards to use from the 12 you've just drawn and take notes (using the pencil/pen and paper on the table) for your presentation. Be sure you that you have **at least 3** cards total and that you have **at least 1** from each of the 3 categories. You can pick **a maximum of 5 cards**.
- **Step 4. Action!** After these **5 minutes** of prep, it's presentation time. Your presentation should be **between 4 and 6 minutes** long. (There will be a timer in the studio). Also, if you would like a real live person in the studio with you while you're presenting, just ask.

### After you're done with your presentation
Steps 1–4 are the graded portion of the midterm, but there are a couple of additional steps before you head out

- **AI-generated follow-up questions to your presentation**
- Your answers to these three questions will be ungraded
- After you finish the exam, we'll have you scan a QR code and do a survey about this experience (you may opt-out of this survey)
- **Footage**:
- If you'd like your footage, in a form like the examples shown, let us know! We can collect your email and send you the footage and transcript.

---

## Terms

Across the semester, you’ve learned three different kinds of things that work together. Core concepts are the vocabulary of folklore—the key ideas (like tradition, performance, liminality) that let you describe how culture moves and changes. Case studies are the real-world examples that show those ideas in action—songs, customs, crafts, or communities that reveal what folklore does for people and how it expresses shared values. Theoretical models and approaches are the lenses scholars use to interpret folklore, each highlighting different questions—about function, power, creativity, or technology.

For the midterm, think about how these pieces fit together: a concept gives you language, a case study gives you evidence, and a theory gives you perspective. Using all three shows that you’re not just recalling facts—you’re thinking like a folklorist.

**Core Concepts**
• Folklore
• Folk Group
• Tradition
• Transmission
• Genre
• Aesthetics
• Meanings and Values
• Authenticity
• Positionality and Identity
• Performance
• Text, Context, and Texture
• Triviality Barrier
• Esoteric / Exoteric Meaning
• Etic / Emic Perspective
• Tradition Bearer
• Worldview
• Revival / Revitalization

**Case Studies**
• Decorated Mortarboards
• Brìghde Chaimbeul
• Scottish Smallpipes Revival
• Hand-Clapping Games
• The Lomaxes (John, Alan, and Bess)
• Murder Ballads
• Black Ash Basket Making
• Puerto Rican Espiritismo
• HarvardLore
• Domestic Crafts
• Japanese Bathroom Aesthetics
• The Folk Revival
• Momata Barbi
• Zora Neale Hurston
• ShantyTok
• Waulking Songs
• Handmade
• String Games and Coyote Stories
• Souvenirs
• Mayan Guatemalan Weaving
• Water
• Thermal Pools
• Maine Lobster
• Jokes
• Women’s Use of Coffee
• Third Spaces
• Shotgun Houses
• The Parry-Lord Project
• Adornment / Getting Dressed in Banaras
• Folklore and Nation-Building
• Francis James Child
• Wild Card Option

**Theoretical Models, Approaches, and Interventions**
• Ethnography
• Performance Theory
• Historic-Geographic Method
• Intersectionality
• Critical Race and Postcolonial Frameworks
• Practice Theory
• Digital Folklore
• Folk Healing
• Meshworks
• Ethnography of Communication
• Attention and Aesthetics
• The Twin Laws of Tradition
• Approaches to Material Culture
• Tourism and Authenticity

---

## Example

Here's a video run-through of a completely spontaneous test (without the five minute planning session and randomly pulling cards). We didn't have a timer in the room during this test, so you'll see that I ran over time. Hopefully this makes it clear how easy it is to present these materials.

~Five minutes sounds long, but it goes by quickly. If you'd like this sort of footage (or even an edit with the greenscreen) make sure to opt-in to facial recording.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U1wkBTTXoW8?si=86QEC-W-6VFrvZ-M" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

---

## Rubric
The oral presentations will be graded using [this rubric](/veCg8mxgRRy4-uk_5JuaHA).

### How to study

To prepare for your presentation, take some time to:

1. **Review the terms.** Working from the list above, organize the "terms" into groups that make sense for you and create a list that includes definitions, examples, related terms, cross references, etc. These are the "characters" that will populate your oral presentation, so you want to be sure you can describe them and imagine how they related to other characters.
2. **Practice**. If you have your terms in an ordered (i.e., numbered) list, you can roll a die or generate a random number and simulate the "drawing cards" step of the oral presentation. However you approach this stage, stick to the parameters of the presentation itself: take 5 minutes to decide on the terms you'll use and take some notes, and then time yourself to get a sense of what 4 minutes (the minimum) and more like 6 minutes (the maximum) feel like.
3. **Take note and reflect**. After you practice, take notes about what kinds of connections felt easier to make and articulate, e.g., core concepts or case studies or theoretical models. Is it easier to work with more of one category or fewer of another? Head into a few more rounds of review and practice with these reflections as guidance for where to put your energy and how to approach choosing the cards you'll work with.

---

## Sign-ups

To sign up for your 20 minute slot, use [this link](https://calendly.com/boklearninglab/gened-1196?month=2025-10&date=2025-10-20).

For scheduling questions, email: [e-mail]