Powerpoint in the Classroom

What are your reactions to the opinions expressed? Are teacher-centered uses of technology more or less effective than student-centered uses of technology?


    I was really intrigued after reading "Powerpoint is Evil" and listening to the NPR story. I had never really taken the time to think about the negative affects Powerpoint may have on students, I have only thought of the benefits. However, as I began to really think about it I have thought about the issue in a more around about kind of way. First of all, I think, and always have thought that Powerpoint are boring. If ever in class, especially in middle or high school I was given the option to do a powerpoint or make a poster or some sort of visual display, I chose the latter. I found that many times, especially in middle school Powerpoints were used to by students only because they liked making the words twirl off the pages, or they liked making the titles change colors, or they liked adding a "boink" sound as the slide switched. And while, all of this takes technology skill it has nothing to do with the content. I think this is one issue that was discussed in the NPR story, that students using Powerpoint are not able to extract the necessary content to give an oral presentation without Powerpoints bullets as their security blanket. Without powerpoint their thoughts would be jumbled, unorganized, and perhaps incoherent. And I would agree that this is because the students were never taught how to find and organize the content without some sort of Powerpoint. 
    Secondly, I have grown up being told by my dad that public speaking is one of the most important skills you could ever learn. Powerpoint is hindering that skill from a very young age. Students, businessmen, and teachers, have become too reliant on the information sitting up on the screen next to them. This in turn causes them to lose eye contact, disallows them to make a genuine connection with the audience  and unfortunately leads to a less than thrilling presentation.
     I by no means would argue that there are not valuable uses for Powerpoint especially for LD or ESL students who may need that extra help with organization or if the students are giving a presentation with bullet-point based content. 
   However, if the skills being taught are ones where students need to use inquiry to research content and then present their findings in an organized manner, perhaps teachers should start with a simple oral presentation, maybe an index card or two, before they allow students to begin to rely so heavily on Powerpoints as their crutch. 

Reflections

Thus far in this course I have learned much more about the vast breadth of google applications as well as I have learned about other programs that are not offered on the mac. I am a mac user myself, but it is beneficial to learn about the programs that Microsoft offers as well because you do not always know what programs the school you work in will offer. 

     I have enjoyed using the blog, I think it is a great way for to communicate with your students because you are able to display many different mediums in one forum. It is also simple to use. 

   My favorite thing we have done so far in the course has been the digital story. I think it is a great way to introduce a lesson and capture the students attention. 

   The course thus far has been interesting, however, it would be helpful if there were more acknowledgement to the students who have already used many of these programs. Sometimes, while I feel that I always am learning something in class, there are other times when it is very repetitive to things we have already learned in undergrad. 

WillRichardson and Standardized Tests

I revisited Will Richardson's blog today, and once again I was pleasantly surprised to gain some interesting insights and perspective. I more specifically was encouraged about his post on the California Govenor vetoing the California state bill asking for more standardized testing in California schools.
    Most recently in one of my grade level meetings, there was a heated discussion with our administration about why we had not yet started our reading groups. Mind you, we had been teaching literacy every day and the students had had ample time to read through out the day, they had yet to be divided up in to leveled reading groups.
    This obviously upset the administration, however, to us, there was nothing we could do. Why? Standardized tests. Because of our frustration we calculated how much time we had spent during the first eight weeks of school on standardized tests. At our school this only includes AIMS and Gates. I know at other schools, there is much more to be done. We found that we had spent twenty school days, (the hours calculated to 20 school days) giving those tests and scoring them.
    Thus, when I read Will Richard's blog post I was in complete understanding with his frusteration and also the frusteration wtih the California governor.
    I think this can all be summed up with Albert Einstein's quote that Jerry Brown retold to the world, "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted, counts." Amen is right.  

Inquiry-based learning

     We do use inquiry-based learning in our classrooms at the school I work at right now. Over the past two years we have taken a long hard look at our curriculum flipping it upside down to look at it using the "Understanding by Design" method. By looking at the bigger picture first for each lesson and then making it smaller, it allows us, as the teachers to come up with essential questions for the students, first, rather than focusing on the content knowledge. The next step, after formulating the essential question (what you want your students to know), you decide what skills you want your students to be able to do after the unit or lesson. This system really forces teachers to think about how they are asking their students to gain these skills and with what means. In inquiry-based learning teachers not only need to ask the questions, but they also need to give the students the tools to be able to come up with further questions, and have tools to solve the question. I think inquiry-based learning is necessary and can be used in all classrooms, even math, where some teachers may argue that content is what is most important. However, I would argue that the skills the students gain to learn that content is much more valuable.

My Home Page

https://sites.google.com/site/katiehennessy44/

Express Yourself

Creative Writing through Photography. How can you express yourself through a photo? How can you express yourself through a photo in which everyone must be doing the same thing? What makes you, you? This would be a great exercise to connect with a creative writing exercise to examine how students express themselves.

Kidspiration Concept Map