PowerPoint As An Instructional Tool

I feel that the use of programs, such as Power point presentations can be a very useful way to highlight key points and concepts with every age group, if used well. Younger students can be wowed with the visual aspects that power point employs. I do find that some older students, including myself, get hung up on trying to copy down the slide when used as part of a lecture. This can simply be remedied by providing the students a copy of the slides. As a student, I find this enables me to recall more of the lecture, especially when I can add my own notes next to the slide.

As a teacher, I feel students can use this tool as a way to do their own presentations. It provides an easy way to speak in public with visual back up. Students can do reports in all subjects, particularly language arts and history. The program allows for voice animation which can help very reluctant speakers present as well. The ability to sort the slides, also allows students to arrange and organize their thoughts in a logical manner. Providing copies of their slides to classmates enforces the literacy development goals of students seeing themselves as writers.

Personally, I learned a lot about Power Point with this assignment. My husband and I have both used it to help our older daughters with presentations, but other than one report, I have not used it myself. I like being able to use media to make my point. Using Powerpoint enables me to do so. And as long as the slides are not too wordy, it can be a valuable tool in the classroom. One other point I'd like to make about it. Once a lesson is created, it can be saved and reused often. It also allows for an absent student to view material once they return to class, or it can be emailed if the student has Internet access. One must be diligent to screen their earlier files, however, for up-to-date information and relevance.

Graphics Tablet

Peripherals can enhance computers and computer uses in many ways, personal use as well as for in the classroom. The peripherals or set of peripherals (probeware, QX5 Microscope, MIDI keyboard, graphics tablet) were shown in ED 429. I found all of these to be very interesting. The one that I found most interesting was the graphics tablet. Mostly because I have very limited artistic abilities. My children however, take after their grandmother who is a well known artist in the Southwest and Australia (of all places). I also chose this peripheral because my girl scout troop was creating a book for Thinking Day. The book was a three month long project with stories submitted by eight different troops and distributed to 140 girls in the Fairbanks community. We 'played' with the tablet and created a cover page for our book using the graphics tablet. My oldest daughter now wants one.
As a future teacher, one of our greatest challenges is teaching literacy. I was curious as to what could be done using this technology to entice or enhance literacy with my girl scout troop. What I found was that it worked well as a way to get them to read the stories submitted and then have them create a picture to go along with the story. I think this would work well in a larger group. Creating classroom books is a very powerful way to help students see themselves as readers and writers.
I really enjoyed the other peripherals discussed in class as well. I wish I had a few thousand dollars to buy a bunch of these things to enhance my classrooms. Not to worry, I'll eventually build that collection!

Living my Life Based on a Refridgerator Magnet

It says, "I was put on this planet to embarrass my teenagers in front of their friends." Sounds easy enough, right? Not if you have kids like mine. Quite honestly, I am getting tired of hearing about how amazing I am and that I am cool. I must come up with a better scheme and fast! That is where you come in... Comment me your suggestions!

First, let me give you a little run down of my latest stunts.
1. Freshmen Orientation. At the beginning of my two daughters high school year, I made them hold my hand while we looked for their classes. Imagine my annoyance when I had to yank my hand free so I could shake their new teachers hand.
2. The Football Game. My husband attended the game with me and we dragged the kids with us. Yay, victory! Well sort of. My victory cry for the touchdowns were limited by the fact that our team didn't score. And the teens moved off into their perspective pack of friends. No worries, I still had to pick them up from the dance.
3. Homecoming Dance. As planned, I arrived to pick up the girls and a gaggle of their friends, wearing a frizzy blond disco wig. Yes, I rock. Two unknown girls approached the van and backed off slowly! I was sure this look would embarrass them. It didn't. They loved it. All of them did. Sigh, how did they ever talk me into going to McDonald's like that to order a diet water, I'll never know! I was called 'amazing' like 342 billion times.
4. Bra Hats. Yes, you read that right. I said bra hats. Now I am like ' really amazing.' No embarrassment factor there. sigh.
5. The Rave. We held a Rave for one of the girls birthday parties. For those of you not up on the lingo (And my God, I went to Raves back when I was a teen. Get out more already.), a Rave is like a dance with neon lights, techno music and parents with splitting headaches. OKOK, so most Raves don't really have parents there, but in this case, I am NOT that cool. HOWEVER, I did use air freshener to separate kids dancing too close. Thats when it was determined that I am a 'cool emom' if you were to believe the rumors.

OK people, what am I doing wrong here?!?! Why are my kids not embarrassed and what can I do to fulfill the refrigerator magnet prophecy?

No Brakes

When I was a kid, I was pretty sure life was slow, easy going, and one organized party after another. Now as an adult, I have come to realize that there are no brakes in life. Its full speed ahead. Oh sure, I stop to smell the roses once in awhile, but they just remind me that I need to plant my flowers come springtime. Last semester was a perfect example of my life. I was in school full time, my ill father-in-law moved in with us over the summer. We took in one of my daughters displaced friends (she is like a daughter to us), I had major surgery, my father-in-law died the week before finals and we took a huge family vacation that we had been planning for an entire year...

I figured this semester would be easier...

Nope...
Started off with the Praxis II test, That short little SOE application, taxes, financial aid/scholarship applications, a full load at school, the "other daughter" still lives with us, bought a new van, buying a house, got a kitty... And the semester is just getting started!

where are the brakes?!?! Just seems like this car only has a gas petal!

Software Resources

• Software Title: Ancient Egypt Web Quest
• Grade/Age level: 6^th grade
• Subject Area(s): History
• Platform: Both
• Purpose: From iwebquest . com, I found this very cool resource. I LOVED this website because it could be done at school or at home. It is set up like a quests and students must complete “Missions” as they progress through the program. Each mission has a set of goals, such as learning about the daily life of ancient Egyptians, and the students answer detailed and specific questions based on the websites provided. The really neat thing about this set up is that any teacher could do this using their own learning objectives.

• Software Title: 6^th Grade Math Skills
• Grade/Age level: 6^th Grade
• Subject Area(s): Math
• Platform: Both
• Purpose: A part of Internet4Classrooms. This website has many interactive activities to help students see, experiment and manipulate numbers. For example, the Spinner activity allows students to experiment with probability by creating a spinner with up to 12 sections and then spinning it to see if the theoretical probability of landing on a specific color matches the experimental probability.

• Software Title: Elementary United States Map
• Grade/Age level: Intermediate
• Subject Area(s): Geography
• Platform: Both
• Purpose: This site is from Apples4theTeachers . Nice easy website that shows children State Names, State Capitals and State Nicknames. Could easily be used to help children label a US map as an introduction to a larger unit, or to study for an exam. The information jumps off the map as the mouse rolls over the area.

One to One Video

The one to one program as featured in class was very impressive. I really was surprised that all of our questions were answered in the video. For each student to have their own laptop, easy access to all homework and the ability to use this kind of technology at school and at home will be very beneficial to these students. I remember my first computer class WAY back in high school. I was so afraid I was going to put in the wrong thing, give it a virus, break it, I think I barely passed that class and I hated computers after that. It took more than ten years for me to get over that feeling and join the tech savvy world by buying a new computer in 1998. Todays kids definitely seem more comfortable around computers and we as teachers need to incorporate that into our classrooms.
My foster daughter got a free laptop computer through the Gifted and Talented program at Randy Smith. She is now in high school and uses it constantly. And she is still bringing in the high grades. I think the most significant point made was the problem of IMing during class. In the video, the teacher addressed this concern by stating that she gives the students a few minutes to finish up what they are doing, then she begins class. Another good point is that the students got into the routine; when the teachers told them to close their laptops, they did.
I definitely think each student having their own laptop would be an ideal situation. So many times at home, I think of something I forgot to tell my girl scout troop about and will fire off an email to the girls. I can see where this would be beneficial in the classroom; where I could post a link that may help with homework or a reminder to bring in canned foods for our food drive, etc.
Still, my only concern is that written curriculum was replaced. I think it is very important for students to interact with books.