http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/powerpoint/
explain how this type of technology can be used in the modern-day classroom. Teachers can use this resource to create lectures about almost any topic. PowerPoints can be useful since they are able to be made ahead of time and can include many types of graphics such as photos, images, graphs, and even sound and animation. Obviously, this is more fun and interactive to look at than a dry erase board or a chalk board.
PowerPoints can also be beneficial as a way to assist students with note-taking. In my college classes, many of my professors used PowerPoint as the main way in which they conducted class. They would create slideshows and then post them online for our class to access. This was extremely helpful, as I could print out the slides, bring them to class, and use them for taking notes. This was obviously helpful to keep me on track, but it was also nice to be able to have a built-in study guide that we created throughout the semester. I like this idea for secondary students, as well, especially Juniors and Seniors in High School. It would be beneficial for them to use this to start to learn about how to manage courses in college.
PowerPoints are definitely beneficial when it comes to simply lecturing, as well. An example I read this week mentioned a teacher who, when using PowerPoint, instead of having to draw an image of a cell on the chalkboard, was able to create a slide that had real photographs and better images of cells for the students to see. This is definitely beneficial for students, as they are seeing real-world examples rather than rough sketches.
With all that being said, teachers do need to take some precautions when using PowerPoint, though. PowerPoint can definitely be a crutch for their presenters. Many people use them by simply creating some bullet points and reading them to the class. This is not an affective way to teach. The PowerPoint, as we learned this week, should be used more as a guide and a way to show specific examples of the lesson that you are teaching. It should not be the entire lesson in and of itself. Also, since PowerPoints are so easily made and manipulated, a savvy user can create great graphics and images and animations in their PowerPoint. The use of this, though a great concept, should be monitored so that the actual lesson and point that you are trying to get across does not get lost in the glitter and glamour of the PowerPoint itself.
After learning a lot about PowerPoints, I feel that I will most definitely use them in my future classroom. I know that I will use them for certain lessons that I create, especially for topics that need a visual image or ones that I feel students will need assistance with note-taking. I also think that PowerPoint would be very useful for students to use when they are assigned class presentations. In the classroom that I observed for one of my classes this week, the students were assigned a PowerPoint presentation that was on Genocide. They were made to write a research paper on the topic and then present a PowerPoint presentation to their class on the topic. The lesson combined the subjects that they were studying in English (research papers) as well as what they were studying in Global Studies (Genocide). I think that this was a great use of PowerPoint in the classroom, as students were able to have the autonomy to be creative and create their own presentation.
The other main part of our studies this week was an exploration of www.ted.com.
I think that this website is an absolutely invaluable source for a classroom. I love the idea that I can search for a topic and find a video for it almost instantly. There are many different speeches listed, so I feel that whenever I needed one for a certain topic, I would almost certainly be able to locate one. This source could be used as an instructional tool in any size, type, or level of classroom. The specific videos I watched were Birke Baehr's "What's Wrong With Our Food System" and Jamie Oliver's "Teach Every Child About Food."
One of my strong personal beliefs is that every student in our country should be educated about nutrition. I believe that this lack of knowledge is one of the key parts of the terrible obesity epidemic that our country is currently suffering and dying from. If we educate students about this at a young age and continue to do so as they grow older, they are more likely to choose better food options and be aware of the damage that unhealthy food can do to their bodies. That being said, I plan to show these two videos to my future classroom to at least start a conversation about this topic.
I also feel that these videos could be used as a means of curriculum instruction. For example, these videos are great examples of persuasive speeches. It would be a great enhancement to a lesson on persuasive writing and speaking to show these two videos as examples. A fun idea in correlation with that would be to have students, after watching these speeches, come up with a topic to write a persuasive paper on. They could use www.ted.com for inspiration to find a topic that they are passionate about enough to write about. The students could then prepare a persuasive paper along with a persuasive PowerPoint presentation and present it, along with the video where they found their inspiration, to the class. I am already looking forward to using www.ted.com in my classroom.
As a quick side note, I also watched Ken Robinson's "Schools Kill Creativity" speech and found that I absolutely agree with what he spoke about. I definitely agree with him on the fact that instead of encouraging students who have different learning styles, we (sadly) often medicate them or think they are disruptive or "bad" students. This is oftentimes simply not the case. I hope as a teaching professional, I am able to recognize the wonderful differences in all of my individual students and help them grow in their own ways. Instead of thinking that children all have to sit quietly and "behave," why not allow them to express themselves creatively and encourage them to find what they are passionate about?
For this week's comprehensive project and after watching the two videos from www.ted.com, I created a PowerPoint about Clean Eating.
1. Since I do not have a classroom yet, I presented this topic to my cousin who is a Junior in High School.
2. I feel that I was most proud of the fact that instead of using the method of simply writing bullet points and not expanding on them, I left this PowerPoint much more "cut and dry" than those I have made in the past. I found that instead of using the PowerPoint as a crutch and simply reading from it, it was much more useful as a guide and a way to enhance the actual bulk of my lesson.
3. If I could do the presentation again, I would probably add more visuals. I felt a little nervous about using clip art and images from the internet, since I need to become more clear on sourcing information for PowerPoints. I felt that I could have spent more time on the graphics and created my own charts to enhance the lesson. I also could have taken my own pictures to add to certain parts of it.
4. Though I don't yet have students, my cousin responded well to my presentation. She found it interesting, since it is somewhat of a "hot topic" now. She also found the facts I presented alarming, which made the presentation successful since it was attention-grabbing.
This week's Technology Explorations encompassed some of my favorite ones so far. Here they are:
Comic Life
I learned from this website that this resource is
basically for the user to be able to create a comic strip about any subject
that they please. You are even able, as the user, to make a personalized
comic using photos of yourself. It is available for Windows, for a Mac, and
for an iPad. There is a whole section on the Comic Life website that refers
to how Comic Life is beneficial for a classroom. The software is relatively
inexpensive, easy to use, and allows for lots of creativity from the user.
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Comic Life could be used in classrooms of really any grade
and almost any subject. I think it would be most suited for an English class,
since the gist of it is story-telling. The software is probably a little more
suited to younger students – maybe upper elementary through middle school – since
this age is usually more interested in comic books.
In my class, I could potentially use it in a unit to have
students make their own comics to tell a story. It would be a fun way to
assess comprehension of story lines and plot. For example, when studying
Greek Mythology, since many of those stories are confusing, it might be fun
to allow students to choose a certain one we are studying and create their
own version of it using the Comic Life software. They could use images of
themselves as the main “hero” or even draw the images they wish to use and
scan and upload them to the computer to download them into the software. The
students could then create the stories in their own words and make their own
comic strip about the tale. It would be fun to have a day at the end of the
segment where students would be allowed to present their comics to the class.
It would be a great way to break down the complicated stories into fun ones
that they can understand. It is also a great way to assess their knowledge of
the subject at hand.
Comic Life could be fun in many other ways, as well. It
might be fun for just a general creative-writing project where the students
could have free-reign to make a comic about anything they wanted. It would be
a good way to give them a short break from taxing curriculum by allowing them
to do something that still allows them to learn and be creative. It
might also be a fun way to end the school year – to have students write a
“Adventures of Summer” comic where they make up a story about what they plan
to do that summer.
I also believe the software would be fun for students to
do on their iPads, since it is compatible with them. They could use it in
class and at home in this way. In short, Comic Life provides lots of
possibilities to students and teachers.
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I believe I would recommend Comic Life to other educators.
Though it inexpensive, I don’t believe I would necessarily purchase it myself
unless I needed it for a specific assignment. If it were provided to me as a
teacher, though, I would definitely take advantage of it occasionally. It has
the potential to break up the monotony of certain assignments and allow
students to create something creative that they could keep. It also has the
potential to help students understand some computer basics like uploading
images, typing, and arranging their text the way they want.
After watching the tutorial video, I believe that Comic
Life is definitely simple to use after you play with it for a while. It would
probably be intuitive for students who are often exposed to technology like
this. I felt that the fee was not unreasonable, but again, I don’t believe I
would purchase it on my own, as I don’t feel I would use it very often.
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iSpeech
I really enjoyed exploring the iSpeech website. I feel
that it is one of the most useful ones that we have looked at, especially in
regards to the classroom. There are many different types of apps that are
mentioned on this website. There are also many ways in which these can be
used both in life in general as well as in the classroom. Some of the uses
that stood out to me are the Drive Safely app, the Caller ID app, and the
Speech Translator. The Drive Safely app reads your text messages to you and
allows you to dictate what you want to say in a message you plan to send. The
Caller ID app notifies you by saying the name of who is calling you, so you
don’t have to look down at your phone. The Speech Translator, which would
probably be most useful for the classroom, allows you to hear the translation
of any words or phrases that you email or text. There is even an app to
Podcast your Blog, which would be useful for students with seeing problems.
There is also a Text to Speech Online segment that allows you to convert
basically anything on your computer to speech, including websites and
documents.
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This software could be used in the classroom in countless
ways. One of the ones that stood out to me the most was the potential benefit
of using the Speech Translator in a foreign language classroom. How amazing
would it be for students in class to be able to plug in a word through their
text messages and immediately have it translated? It would need to be regulated in classroom
use since they would need to make sure to learn the words on their own, but
it could be very useful and helpful when used in moderation. It would be nice
for when they are writing long papers and need to quickly know the translation
of a word. It would also be nice for when they are completing homework. This
is fun way for students to get involved with their studies since they are so
used to texting. Not only is it convenient, but it makes the content
relatable to them.
Since this would be useful for foreign language classes,
it would also be highly useful for ESL students. As they learn new phrases
and words they are unfamiliar with, they could simply type them into their
phones and instantly know the translation. This could be paired with the
Perfect Pronunciation component so that they could not only hear the
translation, but they could also hear how they are pronounced (which can be
tweaked based on location, etc.).
I also believe that this resource could be helpful in the
classroom for students with sight disabilities. For those unable to see well,
this could be useful since it converts basically anything to speech. If the
student was tasked with writing a paper and couldn’t see well, they could use
the software to read what they had typed to them to check for typos and
cohesiveness. Teachers could also install it for presentations so that these
students could more easily follow along in class. It could also be downloaded
onto their cell phones so that they are able to see emails and other
important information. In short, I think this this software is very useful.
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I do feel that I would recommend this software to other
educators. There are so many different components to it, which means there
are so many possibilities of how to use it in the classroom. Like I mentioned
above, it could be used for the average student to assist with homework or it
could be used by ESL students or even students with disabilities. I think
that the ease of use is great and the app nature is appealing to students
with smart phones. Since many of the apps are free, the price is not an
issue. I think it is important, also, to mention that the apps that assist
with young people not texting and driving are important. It would be good, as
an educator, to mention this to all of the students that you come across to
help with this.
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Voice Thread
VoiceThread is a really interesting and useful
application. I like the fact that there is no software to install and that it
works off the cloud. On the “about” section, the VoiceThread website says
that the user is able to “upload, share, and discuss documents,
presentations, images, and audio files and videos.” The only thing I can
think of that would be similar to this would be the iLearn portal that we use
for our class. Just like iLearn, users are able to log on and literally leave
comments and documents for one another. I have never heard of this resource,
but I think it could be so useful in many ways, especially in a classroom
setting.
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This resource could definitely be used in a school
setting. It would obviously be very useful in an online classroom setting
similar to ours, since the users are able to log on and off and leave
comments and other documents for each other. It would be a great way to
organize an online class. It would also be very beneficial for college
courses. Since they don’t meet occasionally or a few times a week, this could
be extremely beneficial for group projects. It could make group projects flow
much more seamlessly since different individuals in the group could easily
contribute and comment on the work being done.
I think the best way to use this program in my classroom
would also be through group projects. It could be a really valuable resource
in terms of holding each student accountable for completing the work they
have been assigned. As the teacher, I could log on and see all the documents
uploaded, work being done, and comments made. This would hold students
accountable and make the work be evenly dispersed, but it would also help me
to see what progress is made and how the group is doing on the assignment in
order to help guide them in the right direction. I like, also, that this is
compatible with iPhones, iPads, and other smart phones.
I believe this could be a beneficial part of my classroom
simply as a portal, too. It could be something that students use to get in
contact with me or other students quickly if they have an urgent question
about an assignment. It could also be where they turn in their assignments or
classwork so that I am notified right away when it was turned in. I think
that VoiceThread could be used this way and a classroom could really get a
good amount of use out of it.
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I would recommend this software to other educators,
especially for college level or high school classes. I think that for
students to use this correctly, there would need to be a certain maturity
level in place so that the comments and work stay on topic. The webinars that
are provided on the website explain how beneficial VoiceThread can be for
online classes and also large lecture classes. I like the idea of using this
in my classroom for group projects and even as a portal for students to use.
I took a look at the fees associated, and for a single educator, it runs at
around $15.00 per month. I think that if you used this in your classroom
regularly, this fee would be worth it. According to the webinars and
instructions, I don’t believe this would be difficult to learn how to use,
especially since there is no software installation required.
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Voice Thread WikiSpace
After exploring the VoiceThread website, I checked out the
VoiceThread Wikispace. I felt that this resource was even more valuable than
the website, because it provided real life examples of how VoiceThread is
being used in different classrooms. Though I feel the website gave me a good
general understanding of it, the Wikispace page made it much clearer since I
was able to see true examples of what a VoiceThread looks like.
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I felt that the VoiceThread Wikispace could definitely be
used in conjunction with VoiceThread in the classroom. If I end up using
VoiceThread, it would be such a great place for me to go to get ideas on how
to work it into my lessons.
On the VoiceThread Wikispace, I clicked on the 9-12 link
to see how teachers of older students put this resource to use. After
watching some of the examples, one that stood out to me was the VoiceThread
called “Many Voices for Darfur.” The teacher created a VoiceThread made up of
different political cartoons about Darfur. Then, the students went through
these and commented on them. Each student’s picture was listed on the sides,
and you could click to see what each one had said. I think this is such a
neat idea. It’s a simple homework assignment that could be done at home, in
class, or on a phone or tablet. The fact that it shows each student’s image
and name beside their comment is great and makes it easier to grade or check
for participation. I also like that the class as a whole is able to read what
each other think about the cartoons to get a conversation going about the
subject.
An idea of something similar that I could do in my English
classroom would be to post different examples of irony, symbolism, and other
literary devices and have students discuss or explain how these devices are
working in the samples I choose. It would a nice way to have students share
ideas and get a conversation rolling rather than simply being quizzed on it.
I definitely think that the VoiceThread Wikispace is a
beneficial classroom tool and know that it would be a nice place to revert
back to when you need some fresh ideas.
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I would recommend VoiceThread and the VoiceThread
Wikispace to other educators. The Wikispace really explains in a more
thorough way how VoiceThread works and it gives specific examples of how
teachers are using it in classrooms. The Wikispace is broken down into grade
levels, which makes for easy navigation. Even if you don’t find an idea that
fits your lesson exactly, at least you will feel inspired and able to
brainstorm some fresh ideas. If you have the VoiceThread technology, this
Wikispace would definitely be a great resource. It is also free and easy to
use.
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Storybird
I love Storybird! It is one of my favorite Technology
Explorations that we have discussed to date. It is one of the ones that
allows the most creativity, and you can really get lost just browsing the
site and exploring what others have created. The website is similar to a
social media platform similar to Pinterest, where you can “heart” and comment
on others’ work. The website allows you to browse others’ work but also
create your own. I think this is one of the most interesting and inventive
resources out there, especially for an English classroom.
To create a story, the process is pretty simple and
intuitive. There is also a step by step list on the FAQ section of the
website. As a user, I just clicked the “Create” button and then browsed until
I found artwork that I liked. One you decide on the art you want to use, you can
just drag them onto the page of your story that you want them. Then, you can
add your text and finish it by clicking “Publish.”
There are lots of other possibilities for Storybird, too.
You can create and upload artwork that can be used for your book or for
others’ books. You can comment or like others’ images and books. You can also
purchase books that you particularly like. There are so many possibilities
with this website, and it is free!
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Storybird could be used in so many ways in a classroom. I
love the idea of incorporating it into my future English class. I think it is
intuitive and easy to use, and it gives students guidelines while also
allowing for immense creativity. Storybird could be used as a way to assess a
student’s understanding of a story in a few ways. First, they could make
their own “version” of a story by using them same general plot and ideas but
changing the characters and details. Another way, which I think would be
really neat, would be to have students create a prequel or a sequel to a
story that would might be studying at the time. For example, it would be neat
to have a class read something as a whole and then have the students create a
story about what they think would happen next or what they think happened
before. It would be such a fun way to make sure that they understand the
story but also allow them to have some creativity in a writing assignment.
I also think that Storybird could be just a nice, general
project for an end of year project on writing. It would be really awesome to
collaborate with an art class and have students create artwork in their class
that could go along with their story. Then at the end, you could give parents
the option to purchase their child’s book. This would be such a great thing!
On the teacher section of the website, there are other
great ideas mentioned on how to use Storybird in the classroom. It can be
used to create and solve puzzles in different stories. It can be used on a
private setting so that the class can have access only to each other’s work.
It can also be public, which is nice too, for more ideas. It can easily be
downloaded and emailed to parents or uploaded to class websites, etc. The
possibilities with this are endless.
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I am definitely going to use this in my class, and I am
also definitely going to recommend it to other educators. For a basic membership, Storybird is free.
For a premium membership, it runs at about $9.00 per month. I don’t think
this is unreasonable since the resource is so great. If you planned to use it
only for one month and have your students create and finish their project in
that amount of time, it is definitely affordable. If not, the free version is
great, too.
I think the site is easy to use and intuitive enough for
younger kids. I think older ones would grasp it easily and love that they can
comment and “like” each other’s work. Since it’s usage is similar to social
media, it is relatable to students. I can’t wait to use this in my class!
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Scribblar
From exploring the Scribblar website, I learned that
Scribblar is a virtual “room” in which students and/or teachers can log on
and conduct a “class” of sorts. The software allows the user to create a
“room” and invite other users into it. In it is a virtual white board that
all users have access to, so that this software is very beneficial when used
for collaborative projects. The program provides a whiteboard what contains
many tools like shapes, colors, text, and more. It also allows for images to
be uploaded into it and for its users to be able to talk to one another
through it. There is also an option to sync your account with your Skype
account, so that you are able to see and be seen by the other users while you
are in the “room” together.
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This resource could be invaluable for online teachers and
also for teachers who are assigning large group projects in their classes. I
think that the most valuable way that this could be used, as mentioned in
many of the testimonials on the website, is for it to serve as a meeting
place for online classes. I feel that it would especially be useful for an
online mathematics class, since the user is able to type and work directly
with the whiteboard. As a teacher of this class, you could have students work
out problems that you write on the board. You could also have them
collaborate together to solve a problem. I think that the fact that anyone
can use the whiteboard would be very beneficial for this.
Scribblar would also be useful for classes that are
working on an in-depth group project. It would be helpful for students to be
able to log on after school hours and use Scribblar to formulate their
project. Not only would they be able to see the others’ ideas, they would be
able to hear their fellow students and speak directly to them. It would be
especially beneficial, again, for a class that uses many images – like a
Geometry class or an art class.
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I believe I would recommend this project only to certain
teachers who might get the most use out of it, like math teachers and online
teachers. Otherwise, I’m not sure that I would necessarily recommend it. It
seems like using it would require a bit of a
learning curve, and this seems to be a little too much trouble for
what it’s worth in an English class. I don’t think that there would be a time
that I would need this software for my future class, especially since there
are other free online portals that would also serve as something similar to
this, like a classroom Wiki. I feel, also, that the fee is a little too
expensive for what I could use it for. The basic fee, which starts at $9.00
per month, doesn’t seem unreasonable to me if you use the software often for
an online class.
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Xtranormal
Xtranormal is a really neat software. I never knew that it
could be this simple to create your own movie. It is similar to Storybird in
that it allows users to create a piece of art by giving them lots of autonomy
but also some guidelines such as limited characters and settings, etc. I
think that this program could be a great addition to a classroom or lesson
plan. The website is clear and concise and has plenty of tutorials that
helped me understand exactly how it works. I watched both the “For Teachers”
tutorial as well as the “For Students” tutorial, and the program really seems
pretty self-explanatory.
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I think that as a teacher, this resource would only need
to be used in class occasionally. There is a definite potential for students
to get side tracked here, but on the other hand, it allows for lots of
creativity and the end result would be a creation that a student would be
proud of.
A great way to use this in an English class would be to
have students write a story – they could even use the Storybird program for
this part – and then have them bring it to life using the Xtranormal
software. The Xtranormal program would let them have the ability to choose
what the characters look like (and if they had drawn or chosen them for their
Storybird books, they could make them look as similar as possible to them). I
like the fact that the teacher is able to log on and view the students’
progress on each separate video.
It would also be a good idea to have students work
together on this project, since it is a large undertaking. For example, if
the lesson is on literary devices, I could have the students create a video
and they could have complete free reign on its content – except they would
need to include the literary devices that I assign like irony or symbolism.
This would be a great way to assess their understanding of these devices
since they would be in charge of creating a scenario using them. At the end,
you could project the videos on screen and have the class watch each other’s
work to get even more review on literary devices as well as show students the
great job they did in making videos.
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I would recommend this to other educators and will keep it
in mind for myself. Since lots of students these days enjoy playing video
games and games on their phones or tablets, this would definitely be
relatable to them. I’m sure they would like creating their own project like
this, and it is definitely different than the standard old notebook and book
learning style. The educator plan runs at around $10 per month, so I feel
that is a fine price, especially since you would probably only need to
subscribe to it for about a month while your class works on their
videos.
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Virtual Manipulatives
I think that the Virtual Manipulatives resource would be a
really great tool, especially for mathematics teachers. The site is broken down into content areas
such as Numbers and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data
Analysis and Probability. It is also broken down by grade levels into Pre-K through
2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. The site contains all types of
different math games and interactive problems where students can work on
honing in on their math skills.
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Obviously this site could be used in generally any math
class in any grade. Since there are numerous options for teachers to choose
from, they could assign students to work on these games as a group or as an
individual. I think a great way that this could be used in instruction would
be to set up stations where students rotate and each have a turn at each “gaming
spot.” This could be great for a review for a test, especially if you chose
only games that are relevant to the exam material. It would also be a nice
way to differentiate instruction. For example, if certain students are struggling
with a concept, they could play some of these games to enhance their
understanding. Since so many students have access to tablets and smart
phones, it would be nice to assign some of these as “homework” for them to
play on their phones or tablets.
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I would definitely recommend this site to mathematics
teachers. I feel it would be invaluable to them, especially for reviews and
ensuring their students understand a topic. It is also a fun way to have
students do math rather than simply sitting at their desk with their
textbooks and paper. I also think that the website is broken down into clear
categories, which is helpful. It is also free, so that is a huge positive.
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That's all for this week!
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