Kudos of Presentation Software

Even just reading the first few paragraphs of Chapter 10 bring up ideas and show that powerpoints, etc. are great tools for using in the classroom. They are creative ways to introduce new material or outline key ideas about a new topic. They can also generate TOUGHTFUL questions, encourage higher-level thinking, motivate students to participate, and stimulate questions and discussion among students. What more could you want. The fact that presentation software is so interactive is wonderful because it involves students more than a lecture or reading a chapter in a book.

Once again, I think that the activities that Hamilton describes are very helpful for beginning teachers. My favorite activity was the visual peotry described on page 142. It uses technology to make something sometimes seen as boring and redundant more fun and interactive. The ability to format text and add graphics helps make the work more visually appealing and more fun to present throughout the classroom.

In class through the past weeks, what has helped me the most and been most informative are the fact sheets about each processor. Many times, we dont have time to "play around" with technology, but with instructions to new functions on each helps us out. I do not think that I would be learning as much if we were not given time to actually experience this.

Presentations

Since middle school, I have been using Power Point presentations for my classes. Until I read this chapter, however, I did not realize the "intuitive nature and versatility of the software application" (125). I never realized you could create so many different projects with Power Point. I basically always thought of Power Point as a slide show generator, but it is much more.

During classes, I would usually get angry when my classmates would create slide shows for discussion but use a lot of text on them. This chapter really enforced the idea of "presentations with only visuals force students to practice inferential skills as they wrestle to understand how what they see relates to what they are learning" (126). Power Point also allows you to creatively reach students with different learning styles. As stated, "the appropriate use for presentation software in a school is limited only by a teacher's creativity" (126).

I really enjoyed all the projects that this book gave such as bookmarks, cards for holidays, photo albums and trading cards. I look forward to implementing some of these ideas into my project for this section of the course, and learning all the tricks of Power Point. I learned a lot about Excel already, and I look forward to enhancing my learning on Power Point.

Presentation Software

I started using PowerPoint when I was in middle school, but I still don't think I am proficient in all of its uses. Just the other day I made a photo essay for my teaching science education course, and we had the option to add music to the picture slide show. I had completely forgotten how to implement this skill, so my presentation was slightly lacking. I look forward to learning about the basic elements of PowerPoint and how I can incorporate them into my classroom. I thought the book had a lot of neat ideas about how to use presentation software. I liked the section on effective instructional slide shows which lays out the basics of a good slide show because I think that some teachers do not know the proper ways to present information on presentation software and yet, they still use the software. This section is also helpful to me as I think about using presentation software in my classroom. I think it is important to remember that the PowerPoint should enhance the subject matter being taught and successfully produce learning. If used incorrectly the presentation could distract students from gaining an understanding of the subject matter or not produce the best option for a teaching method. I love the idea of having parents view their students work in some way or another. I think this is a great way to encourage parents to get involved with their students learning by talking about the projects and to make students feel proud of their accomplishments. I liked many of the presentation software ideas in the book, such as the postcards, trading cards, dictionaries, and visual poetry. I think these ideas in particular are excellent ways to get students thinking in different ways and to encourage the sharing of students ideas/projects.

I have learned a lot in this class so far, and I am eager to learn more. I enjoyed the unit on spreadsheets, and I am excited to learn more about PowerPoint and its uses.

Presentation Software

This chapter was very informative and I was amazed at all the ideas for using presentation software in the classroom. I thought it was a great point that slide shows with pictures to generate students thinking. Also, slide shows invite student participation and keep students engaged. I liked the idea of creating a portfolio slide show. This enables students to track their own progress and share it with parents and other students. For younger students, I thought the acrostic poem would be a beneficial tool to introduce students to the power point program and tools. I will use the postcard and trading card idea in my future classroom. These projects can be applied to any subject and are very engaging for students. I was surprised at how many project ideas this chapter presented. I am looking forward to learning more about power point and creating some of the projects that were suggested in the chapter.

So far I am amazed with all I have learned. I never thought I would be able to create projects with excel such as the interactive quiz.  I look forward to learning more and becoming proficient with power point.

Presenting Presentations

I am in awe of how many things you can do with software like PowerPoint. I would have never thought of many of these activities or the way it can be so helpful to students in the classroom. 

I really liked Hamilton's idea of using instructional slide shows to, "outline the key ideas or use visuals to stimulate questions and discussion among students," (125).  I never thought to use PowerPoint int his way. By creating a presentation where the images are large, you limit the text, and skip the glitz as Hamilton says it seems like it would be a great way to open a unit.  

I really enjoyed the ideas for the portfolios, bookmarks, and acrostic. But my favorite idea was the class shows and to have them running at parent teacher conference or to hyperlink each child's name so the parents can see each child's individual work. 

I never knew that so much could be done with Excel so I am excited to being learning about PowerPoint! 

Presentation Software

Once again, I was familiar with powerpoint but this chapter showed me a variety of activities I could do with powerpoint, and I am amazed. I love the idea of portfolios because it gets the parents involved. If you burn a copy for each family then the parents can view their childs' progress throughout the year. I also love the idea of creating a game such as "Jeopardy" out of a powerpoint because not only are games fun for the students, but it is a good way to review for a test, or even just use as a way to test them on information they have learned. I thought the homophone idea was extremely beneficial because students seem to struggle with that a lot and this would provide them not only with an auditory aid, but also a visual aid with pictures representing the different words.

Each chapter I read provides me with more and more ideas about the use of technology in a classroom. I feel as if there is no subject where technology could not be used. I cannot wait to view all the activities that powerpoint can provide.

Chapter 10

I thought this chapter had a lot of useful information for the classroom. I think presentation software is a very effective way for students to do different and interesting kinds of projects, but besides that, it is also a good way for teachers to present information in a different way. Learning to use Power-Point is one of the first things I remember learning in our computer class in junior high.

Hamilton brought up a good point on page 130 when discussing an interactive slide show: "The students enjoy the activity without thinking of it as a test." Making slide shows in which students have to complete things is a good way to evaluate what they have learned without making them take a test.

I also liked the idea of making the bookmarks. It allows students to show what they know by presenting it in a concise project. It does not have to take a lot of time, but it allows them to show their creativity and summarizing skills while creating something that they may use.

The dictionary and idiom collections were also good ideas. It is a way for students to learn vocabulary and expressions that they may not otherwise learn. The idea of the "Dictionary Day" where students dress up as a word is really cute.