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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

New Tools

After learning the ins and outs of Microsoft word this past week, I found that they have already been greatly helpful. Since I am an english major, my 17 year old brother always sends me his essays so that I can proof them. Understanding how to use the comment tool has been a major help. Teachers have used this before on my essays, but I could never figure it out on my own. Now that I have the knowledge, I was able to comment, highlight, and completely edit his papers in an easy, visually appealing way.

I also took some time to explore other tools and options in word to refresh my memory. For example, I used to have a hard time with adding columns, or text and pictures. It is definitely important that as teachers we are more than familiar with Word because this is a key program for writing. Most likely, Word will continue to develop and add new features that we must continue to learn. We need to make sure that we attend technolgoy workshops as teachers so that we can stay updated. My mom is a teacher and she is constantly trying to stay knowledgeable with Word and other technologies, but her knowledge and familiarity are no where near younger teachers because she did not grow up around these technologies. We have to be prepared for all other tools and programs that our future students will be growing up with.