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Monday, November 9, 2009

Elementary: Word Processing

After reading Chapter 7, I definitely found a few pros for using word processing in the classroom. Again, it's hard for me to think about replacing hand written work with computers. I think it's very important for students to practice English by hand because it helps them recognize letters, etc. But seeing as students today will probably be working on computers more than using their written hand, then word processing is great practice.

I liked the fact that while using word processing students are able to find more colorful words using the thesaurus. This will help students build their vocabulary! I also am completely for keyboarding classes. The keyboarding class that I took in 5th grade was one of the most important classes that I have taken in my schooling career. So many of what we do is on the computer, involving typing; it is crucial that we learn at an elementary level the proper fingering etc. for typing!

I also liked the creative word processing activities planned in this chapter. I really liked the hundreds chart idea where the students use a table to create a reference tool for math. Field trip reports, research reports, and virtual e-mails were all great ideas for the classroom as well. Using word processing to write poems is also a great idea. It's a great way to help students creatively present their poems. It also helps students grasp the ideas of using images in word processing.

In general, I thought this chapter was very helpful and I agreed with most of what was said. The Computer Apps. courses that I took in high school have been very helpful over the years and I would have loved to have the chance to learn more about word processing programs at a younger age.

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