I was really impressed with how I could teach using PowerPoint. I discussed with my cohort group in class how to use PowerPoint to teach English lessons. I was really surprised with some of the suggestions I received, such as using it to show family trees. I can see how that would be useful, particularly in teaching Romeo and Juliet. It would be a good visual representation on how all the characters were related to the Capulets or the Montagues.
PowerPoint is also a good way to reach visual learners because they can see the data with pictures and diagrams to support the material. The PowerPoint lesson would address spatial intelligence, linguistic intelligence, and possibly musical intelligence if music or songs related to the material were presented in the PowerPoint as well.
As a future teacher, I believe PowerPoint will not only address the aforementioned multiple intelligences, it will also serve as a great tool in organizing and synthesizing lesson plans and also in developing and sharing curriculum with other educators. I thought sharing our PowerPoint lesson plans this week with our fellow classmates was a great way to see how other educators were utilizing PowerPoint to develop engaging lesson plans. It is also a good format to share information in that it is user-friendly and engaging. One downside is that the PowerPoint files can be too large to send easily as e-mail attachments.
For students, I feel PowerPoint will help make lessons more engaging and may be a really useful tool if they could be posted on a school website. The slides could be printed and used as notes or to catch up on missed work if the student was absent the day the material was presented. PowerPoint presentations would also be good study materials to review for an exam.
There are many ways PowerPoint can be used successfully in education, and I look forward to learning more about its uses and implication in the classroom.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Week Four: Mind Maps
I just finished reading the article “Mapping Student Minds” by Ariel Owen. I was impressed with this educator’s use of technology in her class. I had never really considered mind maps or brainstorms as anything more than annoying clutter until I read how she incorporated them into her science class. She was able to use the mind maps as a way for students to track relationships between water quality and the factors that affected it. I can see how this would be a good visual representation of these relationships. It should clarify complex relationships by making them more straightforward and would definitely make the lesson more tangible to visual learners.
One really good suggestion was to start the lesson very simply. Owen introduced the concept of mind mapping on her whiteboard and chose a simple topic “getting good grades” to demonstrate how a mind map worked. Once students were familiar with the concept, they could be introduced to the technology to mind map on a computer using Casual Mapper. I also liked the suggestion to help students trim unnecessary words by asking them to remove at least two repetitive words or concepts from the map. A mind map really isn’t an effective tool if it’s too cluttered to make sense of it!
I think I could apply mind mapping in an English course to explain character relationships and plot devices. I can see how this would be a good tool for students, especially when learning Shakespeare. It would be a neat representation of how everyone in the play was related to one another.
One really good suggestion was to start the lesson very simply. Owen introduced the concept of mind mapping on her whiteboard and chose a simple topic “getting good grades” to demonstrate how a mind map worked. Once students were familiar with the concept, they could be introduced to the technology to mind map on a computer using Casual Mapper. I also liked the suggestion to help students trim unnecessary words by asking them to remove at least two repetitive words or concepts from the map. A mind map really isn’t an effective tool if it’s too cluttered to make sense of it!
I think I could apply mind mapping in an English course to explain character relationships and plot devices. I can see how this would be a good tool for students, especially when learning Shakespeare. It would be a neat representation of how everyone in the play was related to one another.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Week Three Changes in Technology
It was pretty amazing reflecting on the changes in technology that have occurred the past three decades. I can't even picture a computer that takes up a whole room like those that were around in the 1970's! It was also interesting reading student comments in the article, "Oh the Changes We've Seen" because many of the students quoted were reporting on what computer programs they were using in the 1980's. Many of the programs they used for drawing and simple word processing were developed before I was born.
The article detailed how computers in the realm of education used to be simply tools for reviewing assignments. Simple programs could create flashcards or be used to practice vocabulary. Students were expected to be "learners of facts" and could use computers as tools in improving memory and practicing writing. Today, computers provide the sole way for students to produce written assignments (sadly, penmanship has become a lost art in the process). With the advent of the World Wide Web, information for projects and assignments is readily available.
As a future teacher, I feel it is imperative that I am aware of how to use technology and use it as an effective tool to enhance the education of very tech-savvy students. After all, most of the students I will be teaching will be of the My Space generation. They were basically raised in front of computers. While I do not have a My Space page, I do plan on developing a website when I teach so students will have online access to handouts, assignment guidelines, testing information, and an e-mail address where students and parents can reach me. I also want to make sure students understand online ethics and also plagiarism. They need to understand what sites and online journals are academic sources and what ones are not. I still want to teach students how to do research in the library, but they also need to be proficient in online searches.
I also would like to keep track of what tools I could use online for myself as well as students. For me, rubistar is a very helpful website. I also think blogging may be good in order to communicate with other educators. I could also have my students complete blogs, such as when we read Romeo and Juliet. I could have my students keep a blog from either Romeo or Juliet's perspective throughout the play and have them turn that in rather than merely writing an essay. There are many wonderful tools available and I am looking forward to continuing to learn and think more about how incorporating technology into the curriculum will be enriching for myself and my students.
The article detailed how computers in the realm of education used to be simply tools for reviewing assignments. Simple programs could create flashcards or be used to practice vocabulary. Students were expected to be "learners of facts" and could use computers as tools in improving memory and practicing writing. Today, computers provide the sole way for students to produce written assignments (sadly, penmanship has become a lost art in the process). With the advent of the World Wide Web, information for projects and assignments is readily available.
As a future teacher, I feel it is imperative that I am aware of how to use technology and use it as an effective tool to enhance the education of very tech-savvy students. After all, most of the students I will be teaching will be of the My Space generation. They were basically raised in front of computers. While I do not have a My Space page, I do plan on developing a website when I teach so students will have online access to handouts, assignment guidelines, testing information, and an e-mail address where students and parents can reach me. I also want to make sure students understand online ethics and also plagiarism. They need to understand what sites and online journals are academic sources and what ones are not. I still want to teach students how to do research in the library, but they also need to be proficient in online searches.
I also would like to keep track of what tools I could use online for myself as well as students. For me, rubistar is a very helpful website. I also think blogging may be good in order to communicate with other educators. I could also have my students complete blogs, such as when we read Romeo and Juliet. I could have my students keep a blog from either Romeo or Juliet's perspective throughout the play and have them turn that in rather than merely writing an essay. There are many wonderful tools available and I am looking forward to continuing to learn and think more about how incorporating technology into the curriculum will be enriching for myself and my students.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Week Two Tools and Technology
This week I learned a lot about the internet. I didn't think that I would have that much to learn because I often use the internet for research and of course I have e-mail. This week was actually quite beneficial as I learned how to do very advanced searches online. I was able to find poems by searching with the "exact phrase" option. I was also able to search news stories and narrow down what I wanted to find so that I didn't get a lot of repeat hits. This was great because often when I would search for a news story I would get the same results from every major website. I could narrow searches on the Super Tuesday election results and I could also narrow searches on pop culture.
Something else interesting I learned about was the Print Screen option. I had never been aware of that before. I found it helpful in printing the whole screen, but I haven't figured out how to crop a webshot on a PC. I think once I figure it out it will be beneficial for gathering photos and clippings for PowerPoint presentations. It will also be good for personal bookeeping--when I pay a bill online I can print the screen where it says the payment was sucessfully recieved.
The reading this week focused on how students learn and retain information and how educators can use technology to heighten learning. I found the technology and assessments section helpful, since educators will have to be able to teach state tests. However, I agree with the article in that educators should strive to teach students so that they will really learn a concept and not just reatin information. I feel I am already learning a lot about technology which will help me to become a better educator. I will hopefully be better able to relate to my students and also prepare them for a world that is run by ever-increasing technological inventions.
Something else interesting I learned about was the Print Screen option. I had never been aware of that before. I found it helpful in printing the whole screen, but I haven't figured out how to crop a webshot on a PC. I think once I figure it out it will be beneficial for gathering photos and clippings for PowerPoint presentations. It will also be good for personal bookeeping--when I pay a bill online I can print the screen where it says the payment was sucessfully recieved.
The reading this week focused on how students learn and retain information and how educators can use technology to heighten learning. I found the technology and assessments section helpful, since educators will have to be able to teach state tests. However, I agree with the article in that educators should strive to teach students so that they will really learn a concept and not just reatin information. I feel I am already learning a lot about technology which will help me to become a better educator. I will hopefully be better able to relate to my students and also prepare them for a world that is run by ever-increasing technological inventions.
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