02 Powerpoint as an Instructional Tool: Learning to Learn

During this portion of our class, I was asked to create an instructional slideshow presentation explaining how to use a peripheral. I will admit that at first I was attracted to the drawing tablet. However, upon taking it home, I found that it was really similar to the Paint program that's already installed on my computer (perhaps I didn't really delve deep enough to find the cool stuff). So when I returned to class on Monday, I decided to try something different. I chose the digital microscope.
Alright, for those of you who chose not to use the digital microscope, you should be sorry. It's freaking awesome. During the summer I work with students at a summer camp and I can already see my boys wanting to examine some cool crawly bugs under this thing. What's even better about the microscope is that it is pretty simple to use. I mean I could figure it out, so it can't be THAT complicated.
For my 'teaching lesson' i decided to create an instructional slideshow explaining how to dissect a flower under the microscope. I began with the assumption that students would already know how to plug their microscopes in, open them under applications, and focus their microscopes. From this assumption, I asked the students to dissect different parts of their flowers and take pictures of them. I also asked the students to create a 'Petal Movie' showing the transformation of a petal that is fresh and alive to dead and decaying. The cool thing about this feature is the fact that students will be able to see the progression in fast motion 'ala Planet Earth' style.
Creating the Power Point was not a horrible challenge to me. I worked a lot with the program in middle school and high school and I felt fairly confident around them.
The only downside to the digital microscope is the fact that you need a MAC to run the microscope program. For a PC user like me, this was a real downer. I was able to accomodate myself to create this lesson, and it was kind of cool to try something new on a type of computer that I'm not used to.
Overall, I thought this lesson was pretty cool. It has given me lots of ideas for what to do in my own classroom, and it's something that I look forward to.
Till the next blog
Sam

Blog of My Choice 01

Okay, I know this blog is late....so apologies for that. The Friday I went into a classroom at Effie Kokrine to do my fieldwork. The seventh grade class was learning about airplanes and aviation. The classroom has a SMART board. During the class that I observed, the teacher actually had a flight instructor come in and hook up a flight simulator so the kids could practice flying 'in action'. I thought this went along with what we are doing in class right now---how to use technology tools to teach. The kids all got to try the flight simulator and they learned about all of the dials on the airplane, how to take off, and how to chart a heading. Of course, all of the boys in the class were mainly interested in crashing the plane. Nonetheless, they still walked away with some hands on knowledge that they might not have had without the assistance of technology. Kudos to the teacher!

01 Software Resources

Software Title: Brain Pop
Grade/Age level: 3rd-6th grade
Subject Area(s): Math, Reading, Arts, Science, Social Studies, Technology
Platform: Both Mac and Windows
Purpose: Let's say you're teaching a lesson and you have a couple of kids who finish their assignment before the rest of the class. What's a teacher to do? Don't pile them down with buy work like grading papers. Instead, allow them the opportunity to do independant research about a topic they are interested in. Brain Pop allows kids to research hundreds of different fields under many different topics. Kids can reasearch their interests, take the quiz at the end to test their knowledge. Brain Pop also provides kids room to do experiments (none of them are costly or time consuming). This site can also serve as a great introduction or attention getter at the beginning of a new unit. It will peak kids interests. The characters are funny and exciting to watch. The only downside to this site is that it does require subscription. If you want a taste of the website (to see if it's worth your money) there are a couple of topics that are free to look at.

Software Title: Starfall
Grade/Age level: Primary (K-2nd)
Subject Area(s): Reading
Platform: Both Mac and Windows
Purpose: I first learned about this website through my Literacy for Children class. This is a great website for primary children who are just beginning to understand that 'words have meaning'. The area that I will be focusing on in my presentation is "ABCS". This area discusses the different letters and the different sounds that the letters make. Many ABC websites I found were mainly about asking students to sequence the alphabet. To me, this has no meaning. This website actually teaches the kids that certain letters have certain sounds. It also focuses on the difference between capitol letters and lower case letters. It really hits home the point that even though an "A" and an "a" may look totally different from one another, they actually make the same noise. The website is bright, colorful, and easily accessible for a kid of a young age. Finding a website for kindergarten is no easy feat and I think that this website serves as a great introduction to computers.

Software Title: Comic Creator
Grade/Age level: 1st-6th
Subject Area(s): Writing
Platform: Both Mac and Windows
Purpose: Do you have kids in your class who hate writing? Are you looking for a way to spice up your writing prompts or are you looking for an innovative way to incoprorate a lesson about onomatopoea? If you answered yes, then this is the website for you. The comic creator allows kids the opportunity to express their writing ideas in the form of a comic strip. This website provides students with a comic creator simulator and a comic strip planning sheet. This invites kids to prewrite before they begin. In addition to this, this website provides teachers with lots of lesson plans that teachers can plug into this webpage. Here are some examples:
Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips
Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study
Overall, I think this is an idea that kids can really get excited about. It think it would do wonders for kids who dislike writing and I think that this tool can be used to teach innumerable concepts--not just one.

One to One

The idea of having a one to one program in schools has always had me uneasy. Growing up I was raised on the idea that television and computers will rot your brain. Moving away from such a sentiment has been difficult for me. Certainly, I can see the benefits of using television and computers in the classroom. Both can open the doors for students.
My fear about having computers in the classroom is that they will become overused. It can be very easy for a teacher to rely too heavily on the power of computer. Rather, teachers aren't using them as tools, they are using them as a babysitter or teacher in lieu of themselves. Overuse of computers could have a negative connotation. Students who type on a computer instead of writing things out are not gaining the necessary motor skills that come with writing. Students who perform science experiments through the computer instead of by hand may be robbed of the expereince that comes with tactile learning.
Of course, I can see the allure of computers. I don't think that we shouldn't use computers in the classroom, I just think that they must be viewed as a tool--not a be all end all solution to everything in the classroom. A healthy balance will prove beneficial for all types of students and all types of learners.