Working with PowerPoint

This was another productive day as I began to design yet another unexplored technology tool, PowerPoint. Although, I have required a PowerPoint presentation from my students for years as an exiting collaborative learning activity, I had never actually worked on one myself. This was a satisfying accomplishment to explore the templates, coloring and fonts and to finally choose the right one that will also reflect my sense of style and what I have learned about the purpose and content of a PowerPoint presentation. I kept in mind that it is used as a guide to enhance and assist the audience through your talk. I followed Brittanie's advice that I must tell the audience what I will tell them. Then tell them and conclude. Everyone suggested to 'keep it simple' yet interesting, entertaining and informative. Brittanie also suggested to make sure I have the content. Do I know what I want to talk about? Do I know where to start and what my logical development plan will contain? Do I have a conclusion? Oh..no...this is turning out like a paper! It became a challenge to 'keep it simple' while including the pertinent information that will reflect my presentation on the 'wiki'. After working with a pad and pencil and back and forth selecting slides, positioning text and pictures, as a first attempt, I felt satisfied. I now want to place a few links that will take me to my wiki during my presentation.

A Virtual Experience

Part of my July 4th week-end was traveling to the Met without the frustration of traffic, sore feet and complaints from a hungry family! Although a virtual visit isn't as emotionally moving as the 'real thing' but it can be the next 'best thing' and a powerful learning experience if it is effectively implemented within the context of a lesson! This is what google lit trips and google earth can provide and more for the traveling enthusiast and learners in a classroom. Students are able to access places and to visualize historical travels in an interactive way. When I taught Zinn's, "Columbus, Indians and Human Progress", I used to bring in maps of Columbus' journey so students can be given a visual, a platform for discussion, as well as a deeper understanding of his explorations. Google earth can easily make journeys tirelessly accessible. I thoroughly enjoyed both tools and often explore through these sites European countries, the wonders of the world, parks, my own plot of land, or the country I have yet fully been able to explore, the United States of America! I would like to use these tools during the fall to offer students much needed schema before plunging into some of our transcendental authors we will be actively reading about, e.g. Emerson, Thoreau and more. I would like them to feel the sense of a literary community that existed at that time in Concord, Massachusetts. There's a lot of work to be done to prepare for this course but the tech tools that I will bring along, should leave a lasting impression on us all!

shoes

shoes

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Pod Casts- I just arrived from the land of this trendy but interesting way to enhance, maintain, evoke student interest while teaching any given subject not just language arts. While listening to the clear voices of the sales people/announcers, I understood that this is yet another tech tool that may be used in the beginning levels of education. However, when I began noticing the array of possibilities in even higher education, I was again drawn to its 'limitless' capabilities, possibilities and outcomes. I am certain at any age, students like to hear their voices, interviews, presentations and to refer back to them. Pod casts show creativity and an exciting way to present final projects. In an ESL listening/speaking class this could be so influential to promote language skills, improve communication, pronunciation and more. Students can hear themselves. In a writing class, they can hear themselves read their own writing and others. This may help them edit surface errors but especially to notice the way meaning and content is understood. However, as Sean(the voice that came to life from my computer) reminds educators that we must provide background information and to model what we are asking our students to do. We should not "cram our curriculum in the new technology". We must be aware of the 'outcomes' we want to achieve with our students. Do we want our students through podcasts to: "read aloud to create meaning, express clear responses to related material, express learning to evaluate or reflect on oneself or others?" Whatever the reason, we must also let the students know how and what they will be evaluated on. Is it how well they "retell, relate reflect interview or critique". This is quite an interesting tool along with the "flip camera" that is so 'easy' to use according to all the techies!