Lesson 4 - PowerPoint in the Classroom

Technology offers many great resources for both teaching and learning. One of those resources includes presentation software (example: Microsoft Office PowerPoint). Microsoft Office PowerPoint has become a tool that many classrooms around the globe are now using. It’s much more engaging for students than the traditional transparencies on the overhead projector or even the use of the blackboard. PowerPoint presentations allows for the users to be creative, adding color, pictures, graphics, sounds, animations, and much more to attract its viewers. Teachers can use PowerPoint to enhance the curricula for teaching. Not only does Microsoft Office PowerPoint add creativity, it also allows the students to print the slides without having to take notes throughout the entire lesson and risk losing some of the vital information needed. The program is quite self explanatory and doesn’t take very long to learn how to use. Teachers can display their presentations on the SMART Board so that the entire class can view the presentation at the simultaneously. However, “Too much of a good thing can sometimes be bad”. Presentations can sometimes be overwhelming to students by having too many visuals and/or sounds. This is called the triple “P” – PowerPoint Paralysis. Triple “P” is simply when the author of a presentation includes too many visuals, etc. to the presentation that the viewers cannot absorb the information covered. Therefore, it’s extremely vital to know when to stop inserting things into one’s presentation.
I have used numerous PowerPoint presentations not only as a teacher, but also as a student. One particular PowerPoint presentation I have used in my classroom was “Name that Computer Part”. I showed this presentation to 1-6th graders to assess their knowledge of computer terminology and descriptions at the beginning of the school year. Each slide had a different computer part or other technology device, for example: monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, USB cord, flash drive, scanner, etc. We went over this presentation as a group and explained what each part was and its function. I plan to do this again at the end of the school year to assess what they have learned this school year in my computer lab.
There isn’t anything I would change to this presentation. It’s colorful, has sounds, and animations, and keeps the students engaged. I added as many visuals to the presentation as I could without them over-taking the purpose of the presentation. One of the components in my presentation in which I am the most proud is the fact that I added links to websites on the presentation that pertained to the term being covered. For instance, for the computer mouse I had a link to a website that provides a song about how a mouse works. It’s very basic and was great for the primary students, but some of the upper grade students thought it was too young for them. The following is the link to the computer mouse song if any of you are interested in using it: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/my-computer-mouse.

Collaboration with DTP and Word Processing

The Digital Revolution of the 20th century brought about many changes for the world. Since then people have used, and are still using, technology for the majority of the things they do. For instance, we use computers, fax machines, telephones, cellular phones, scanners, radios, cassette players, cd players, vcr players, dvd players, iPods, MP3s, iPads, and the list goes on.

Educators incorporate technology in their classrooms in various ways. This is very significant for students because technology is only going to improve. Students need to be aware of what types of technology are available today so that when newer technology is developed it will be an easier transition for them to make.

Teachers and students utilize multi-media collaboration for projects and presentations. One of the many ways to enhance the visuals of a presentation and make it more appealing is through desktop publishing software. There are various desktop publishing programs, such as: Microsoft Office Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, Corel Ventura, and many other programs that offer graphics, web publishing, or presentation software. DTP (Desktop Publishing) is much more convenient and efficient compared to the traditional paper and pencil presentations.

Word Processing is used for typing information. There are many options in word processing, such as: font options, copy, cut, paste, word count, spell check, thesaurus, etc. Word Processing programs, as well as DTP, can be used to create brochures, banners, flyers, posters, newsletters, certificates, etc. One way I have incorporated Desktop Publishing in my classroom is by using Microsoft Office Publisher to create banners and certificates.

One way I have incorporated Word Processing is through Microsoft Office Word. I am a computer lab teacher. Keyboarding plays an important role in my classes. I give students a keyboarding book and assign them typing on Microsoft Office Word in order to improve their keyboarding skills. Another of the various ways I have used word processing is having the students complete stories on Microsoft Office Word. In doing this the students get to practice their keyboarding skills and become familiar with the program at the same time.

One way I have utilized DTP in my classroom is by using Microsoft Office Desktop Publisher. I created several documents for my students, including computer lab rules, the ABCs of Computers (each letter of the alphabet can represent some type of technology in the classroom), and keyboarding certificates. The following is a DTP file that I created of my computer lab rules. I am a big fan of DTP! It makes documents and presentations much more appealing to students and seems to keep students’ focus more.

The bright colors make the document very appealing to students. It’s much more attractive to students than seeing the black and white or even pale colors. The only characteristic of this document that I find distractive is for an 8.5”x11” handout, the spacing of the words is somewhat close. I hope some of you can find my document valuable.

Lesson 2 - Productivity Software: Using Spreadsheets in the Classroom

Utilizing productivity software, such as spreadsheets and databases, in the classroom can be beneficial but also challenging, especially for teachers and students with no previous experience with this type of software.  However, once it is learned, I feel that the productivity software usage in the classroom can be very effective and can be used in various ways.  Spreadsheets can be used for record keeping, inventory of classroom materials, creating charts and graphs, creating calendars, timelines, and other tasks that can be utilized in the classroom setting.

www.microsoft.com/education/createtimeline.aspx

The above URL is one of the many websites I located that discusses spreadsheet utilization in the classroom.  I was really surprised to see that spreadsheets can be used to create timelines.  Students in a social studies classroom can generate a spreadsheet timeline regarding the history of a particular person, past events such as wars, and even presidents of the past.  Students in a science classroom can create a spreadsheet to show when different elements were discovered, when famous scientists performed their work, etc.  The possibilities of utilizing spreadsheets in the classroom are endless.  Microsoft demonstrates on its website how to create timelines using spreadsheets.  I thought the timelines were very interesting.  Using these can be modified to accustom students of all ages.  Even primary students can use spreadsheets.  For instance, these students can create a spreadsheet timeline regarding their school day and insert pictures to show what they do at particular times.

I have not used spreadsheets very often in the past.  As a matter of fact, I was not introduced to the software until the eighth grade.  During this time our teacher assigned us a simple task to create a spreadsheet of a contact list.  This list consisted of our friends, phone numbers, and addresses (optional).  We were then allowed to insert clip art and word art to spice up our spreadsheet.

Although I haven’t assigned any tasks to my computer lab classes, I have introduced the concept of utilizing spreadsheets.  I do plan to use spreadsheets and give the students assignments.  I will have them create their own monthly calendar in which they will format their cells by changing their sizes, background colors, fonts, etc.  I will have students insert borders, clip art and/or word art for special occasions. I will allow students to complete this assignment monthly in order to gain more knowledge of how spreadsheets work.  Each month I will assign an additional task to their calendar assignment.  The repetition of creating the spreadsheet calendars monthly for the students will allow them to comprehend the effectiveness of the productivity software and it will be easier for them to use with more difficult tasks in the future.

Lesson 1 - Applying Technology in the Classroom

Reflecting upon my assigned readings for Lesson 1, I have learned many valuable lessons regarding technology in which I can apply to my own classroom setting.  Foremost, applying the National Educational Technology Standards for teachers and students to the classroom environment is extremely vital.  As a computer lab instructor in an elementary school, I was not aware of such standards until this course.  I have applied the majority of these standards in my classroom and definitely plan to continue covering and reviewing them.  In order to be an effective teacher, I must meet the criteria of all the NETS-T.  One instance in which I have implemented the NETS-T is through promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility.  Within the first week of my hire date, I covered the topic of digital citizenship and responsibility.  In a nutshell, I taught this material with the visual aid of a powerpoint presentation.  Once I completed the presentation, the students (K-6) made a pledge to maintain good digital citizenship and signed a contract.  We review this issue frequently and will continue to do so.  In a society where the majority of people have some kind of digital access that consists of cyber bullying, high digital commerce, internet hacking, etc. I feel it’s very significant for students to fully comprehend how to have excellent digital citizenship.

Another component of Lesson 1 that I learned this week is how to utilize web-based programs such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, and/or other productivity software.  This is a part of the technology competency guidelines.  I have read a few wikis in the past, such as www.wikipedia.com, but I have never actually developed one myself.  After creating my own blog as a requirement for this course, I have found it to be interesting and rather simple.  I definitely intend on utilizing a blog in my own classroom.  Once I complete my school’s web page, I will create a blog and assign students to update it periodically on various topics.  I will add the URL to the blog on the school’s webpage so that parents and other viewers of the site can see what the students in the computer lab are learning.  I will have them write about a particular research topic and have them all contribute at some point.  One challenge that I anticipate facing when using this in my own classroom is the fact that some of the students may not be aware of what a blog is.  In order to overcome this particular challenge, I can explain what a blog is and provide them with tutorials that are available online.  I will show these tutorials on the SMART Board so that all the students will be capable of watching the tutorial simultaneously and can ask questions when needed.