If you follow this blog regularly, then you know that I am adamant about the misuse of Power Point in the classroom. We have used and abused it beyond how it was intended and we are using it in a manner that hinders the educational process. I prefer to use other methods and in a previous post I shared several other options.
This year though, I will be using Power Point....but for a completely different reason. This year I am using Power Point as a method of sharing my daily agenda, homework, and "I Can" statements that are required. I have realized this is so much easier then writing everything on the board each morning or afternoon. I can do it in advance and have it ready for when students enter the room. Students know exactly where to look and know exactly what they will be learning in my classroom each day. I can then save them and post them to my website each week if necessary so that students know what we did if they missed school.
I suggest you try this if you have access to a projector or your computer is hooked to the TV and see if it is something that helps you in your classroom.
This year though, I will be using Power Point....but for a completely different reason. This year I am using Power Point as a method of sharing my daily agenda, homework, and "I Can" statements that are required. I have realized this is so much easier then writing everything on the board each morning or afternoon. I can do it in advance and have it ready for when students enter the room. Students know exactly where to look and know exactly what they will be learning in my classroom each day. I can then save them and post them to my website each week if necessary so that students know what we did if they missed school.
I suggest you try this if you have access to a projector or your computer is hooked to the TV and see if it is something that helps you in your classroom.
I do the same thing, but I use Google Presentation and embed it into my Moodle course. Great for students who were absent and also for end of year review to see all that we have learned!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with you more on the abuse of PowerPoint, although it sounds like you have found a more productive use for it. Allow to push your thinking a bit. I'm afraid that with all of this focus on "i can" learning targets in Kentucky, we are just jumping on another bandwagon. Something else that admins can check off during a walkthrough. "Yup, he had this learning targets on a PowerPoint. Check."
ReplyDeleteThe "i can" learning targets can actually be much more powerful then just showing them at the beginning of class. We should be referencing them throughout a class period to remind students WHY they are doing a certain activity. We should refer back to them at the end of the class period to allow students to see HOW WELL they have learned something. ... you see where I'm going with this. For all those reasons, I'm wondering if PowerPoint is truly the most effective tool.
I do something similar using moodle at the beginning of each class. On another note, I assigned a project where students had to create a slideshow last year (most used google apps instead of PP). They where only allowed 10 slides and less than 20 words total (including title and names if listed). It was very interesting to see them create a presentation in this manner. We set up the presentations like mini TED talks.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sauer, I completely agree with you. I do it to meet the necessary requirements, yet utilize them as a way to maintain focus on the objective in the classroom. By having them on the Power Point I can easily refer back to it and point out how it relates to the agenda and assignments that we are doing in class. I generally try to open and conclude class with the "I Can" statement to reiterate what we learned in class. For my students and myself, it is more than a check for a walkthrough.
ReplyDeleteI could certainly use another tool, but it is not the tool that makes the difference. In the end, it is the teacher who makes it effective or not.
Thanks for the insight and opinion!