Lesson 4 Blog

            This week I learned about presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint. I think that PowerPoint is an extremely useful tool for the classroom, benefiting both teachers and students. This piece of software particularly helps in accommodating multiple intelligences as identified by Gardner. It is my experience, however, that in most schools it is rarely used by teachers for class presentations.  From what I have witnessed, most use in schools is as a student tool. By incorporating presentation software into the classroom, it will help teachers achieve NETS for teachers standards 1 through 4 by modeling digital age work and learning, and also by designing and developing digital age learning experiences among others.

       For my PowerPoint this week, I created a presentation on Kentucky Government aimed at a 4th grade level. One reason that I think most teachers do not use this program in their daily lessons is because it is very time consuming. While I did not specifically keep track of the time I spent putting this presentation together, I would estimate that I spent between five and eight hours on this project. Obviously, there is no way that a teacher with 7 different classes, or one that has a self contained classroom, could prepare a quality presentation for every subject everyday.

          Since I am not currently teaching, I gave the presentation to a group of children from my church. While there were several children who were in my target grade range; there were also younger children, including a kindergartener. Their response was generally positive. They told me that they really liked "Tommy the Thoroughbred" who raced in occasionally to ask the kids a question or to clarify a point. An adult who watched the presentation noted that I continually used "alright". I know from my undergraduate study of communication that this is called a "placeholder" and allows a speaker to mentally "catch-up." I have dealt with this issue before, particularly in informal conversation. In the future I will try to be cognizant of this and just simply be quiet when I need to think about what I want to say next.  

          The thing that I was most proud of is that, after I finished my presentation, the children seemed to have a decent understanding of the material. They asked good questions that seemed to indicate that they understood the material. I was particularly proud when a second grader asked "how many courts are in Kentucky"? This was a good question because it showed comprehension; but also because the student was on the extreme lower end of the grade range that I intended to reach.

        

     If I were to give this presentation again, I would most certainly revise my PowerPoint. Even today I wonder if I could change the wording of definitions or rearrange the order of the slides to make it flow better. I would also like to add an interactive quiz/game at the end of the presentation to formally assess my students' comprehension.  I found the educationworld.com article on how to create a quiz to be particularly informative. Before reading the article, I had not thought about using PowerPoint in that manner.

Lesson 3 Blog

This week I learned about the uses of desktop publishing and word processing in the classroom. I also learned about how scanners and digital cameras are used to enhance instructional materials made with these programs. These tools can be used by both teachers and students. Teachers can use these programs to help meet NETS for teachers standard three. They need to be able to show their students that they have a strong working knowledge of these technologies to help effectively communicate to their students and their students’ families. Teachers can make flyers and letters to communicate with the parents of their students.

          Students can use these programs to help them meet standards one, two, three and six.  For standard one, student’s can use desktop publishing programs to create posters or redesign book covers. These activities could be tied into many different subjects, such as book reports or even science, where students could create a poster to represent different classification levels. This can be used to assess student’s understanding of the material and at the same time allow the children to express their creativity. Obviously, for standard six, students will need to know how to use these programs as they progress through their education and careers. While I do not know the exact numbers, I would guess that word processing programs are at the top of the list of most frequently used programs in education and the workplace.

          The picture attached to this blog shows a redesigned flyer that I made last fall to communicate to parents about a children’s theatre workshop. This workshop was being hosted by a community theatre organization that I helped found. The original version of this flyer was a very simple one page word document without any special formatting or graphics. As you can see from the picture,, I was able to reduce the amount of wording by using graphics. I feel that this redesigned flyer is much more concise and still communicates all of the vital information. For example I was able to replace the words “tennis shoes=best, flip-flops= worst” with a clipart picture of tennis shoes and flip flops; putting a green check over the tennis shoes and a red X over the flip flops communicates clearly the proper attire . I was also able to change the font size to make sure that the most important information was more prominent than the supporting, less important information.

          Because of my background in media I have had a wide array of experience with desktop publishing software including QuarkXpress. I am sure that I will be using these types programs not only to communicate with parents and also for student projects.

           

Lesson 2 Blog

This week I learned about using spreadsheets and databases in the classroom. This lesson was particularly valuable to me because, as I noted in my technology literacy review, this is an area in which I am particularly weak. I now see the value of using spreadsheets. Particularly, the ability for students to immediately see how the abstract numbers relate to concrete charts, as the technology article pointed out in its “what’s good about it” arguments. I think that it is easy to get caught up in the theoretical math without showing students exactly why they need to understand its practical applications.

I will admit that I do not use spreadsheets or database creation software very frequently. I have not really touched Excel since high school and have only used Access a few times, and then only on a very limited basis. The school system where I am currently working as a substitute uses a web based system called Infinite Campus as their administrative database. They use this to collect attendance and input grades. While I usually do not use this system, several teachers for whom I have subbed on multiple occasions have demonstrated how it works. It is nice to be able to look up class rosters and take attendance without having to bother the school’s clerical staff.  

I believe that database software is very valuable in a school situation. Obviously, the main focus of such software is to organize information and knowledge so that it is easily accessible. Therefore, as teachers, we must show students how to use these types of software so that they know how to gain access to this information. But more importantly, we must teach them how to use that information to analyze, synthesize and make value judgments. We must lead students to higher levels of thinking as Bloom’s taxonomy points out. I liked the assignment that the technology article on databases suggested; this would assist social studies teachers in helping their students understand the ‘horrors of war.’

I found one idea for using Excel on Microsoft’s website. The link can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/education/DesignSurvey.aspx. Basically, it shows how you can use Excel to have your students make a survey, then be able to look at the data and create a chart. Finally, the students can analyze their survey results. I really liked this idea because I feel like I could use it in an upper level elementary classroom. The hardest part of completing this activity for elementary students would be creating the formula to calculate the results. However, I feel like they should be able to do this if I were to lead them through the process, step by step, in a computer lab situation. The reason I choose this particular website is because I feel like a lot of the ideas for using databases seemed to be aimed at middle school and high school classrooms.

Lesson One Blog

This week I learned about the importance of technology in the classroom. As teachers we need to use technology to enhance and aid classroom learning in our subject area. We also need to prepare our students to use new technologies in their daily lives. To do this we must follow the 21^st Century standards to prepare our students for a world which is increasingly technology dependent. I also learned about the need to understand the different theories on learning when deciding how to best implement technology in the classroom. I believe that NETS standard one for teachers and students is very important in the modern classroom. Using creative practices helps teachers to move away from an outdated view of learning. This helps to address Gardeners view of multiple intelligences and provides a more holistic approach to teaching.

Even before beginning this class I had decided to try to incorporate as much technology into my classroom as possible.  I believe that if you can start implementing technology into your planning from the beginning of your career you will be much more likely to use it throughout your time of service. One way that I know that I want to start using technology immediately in the classroom is the through the use of a class webpage. This webpage will serve multiple purposes. First and foremost it will be a communication tool with parents. This will help me to meet NETS for teachers standard three. It will model for my students the importance of using technology to communicate important information. This website will be a place for parents to be informed about what is happening in their child’s classroom. It can also act as a portal for students to link to web based activities or videos. I have also looked with some interest at a piece of software called Adobe Collaborate.

I can foresee many difficulties in implementing technology in the classroom. The biggest challenge is obviously money. Technology can be very expensive.  Another possible issue would be working with district technology staff for access to necessary tools such as web server space. A specific problem to the classroom webpage is that it can be very time consuming keeping a website up to date. To solve the money problems, I can work with the board of education to obtain additional funding. Another option would be to look for grant money opportunities. As far as dealing with the technology staff, I plan to develop a good working relationship with the key technology personnel to help avoid any major issues.

To help alleviate the workload associated with updating the website I intend to enlist the help of my students. This will allow them the chance to work on many of the NETS standards for students. By taking turns acting as “class reporters” it will not only allow them to practice writing skills but will also help them to meet NETS standard two specifically and also standards four and six.