Powerpoint Presentation

As I do not teach, I created a Powerpoint presentation that I could use with one of my children.  The subject that I used was on westward expansion through Railroads as my daughter is currently studying this topic, and I thought it would be a great way to help her with an upcoming quiz.  I used basic information from handouts that her teacher had sent home, but tried to add interesting facts such as contrasting the amount of time it had taken to travel west both before and after the railroads.  Since so many of the ideas pertained to other areas, such as the affect of the buffalo’s demise on the American Indians, I decided to add questions that would promote higher level thinking and discussion beyond the information presented on the slides.

We were able to effectively study the facts that she needed to know for the quiz, and also have a dynamic discussion where she gave independent ideas for how the early settlers would have dealt with the problems they faced and how the American Indians were dependent on the buffalo.  One of the things that I added that is not apparent from the slides, as they can only be posted as visuals, was an audio clip of the United States government’s stance on the killing of buffalo.  I think that in today’s age of environment protection, she was more than a little surprised at how they actively promoted the killing off of the buffalo herds.  I was proud to be able to add this component to show how ways of thinking have changed over time, and it led to us researching further what the status of the buffalo are today.

If I could create this presentation again, I would have added links to internet resources that explained some of the questions that she had so that the research was done prior to presentation.  Although it was fun to be able to conduct this research with her, it would be too time-consuming when teaching a class and I would want to be better prepared for some of the questions the students may have.

Overall, the experience was a very rewarding one as I was able to put together a Powerpoint presentation indicative of one that I would use in a classroom and also help my daughter study and think critically about the ramifications of the information presented.  “I already know this” was the response that I received upon asking my daughter to be my test subject for this presentation.  After much cajoling on my part, and a little bribery, she agreed to sit down for the lesson.  She said that she liked how we talked about other things than just the railroads, how the slides were short, and how there weren’t too many pictures.  Her only concern it seems, upon viewing the last slide, was “Do I really have to write about this?”.

Documents for Students & Parents

My youngest children transferred this year to a brand new elementary school in our district.  The colorful building, brightly lit classrooms, new technologies, and overall enthusiasm are wonderful; however, the communication between staff and parents definitely leaves room for improvement.  Our newsletters are overstuffed with detail, often in a paragraph form that is somewhat overwhelming and where it is easy to miss information.  By trying to include everything, often nothing gets noticed.

Teachers and administrators should make information as easy to understand as possible, perhaps in a bolded bullet point format or with a calendar of important events in addition to the detailed information contained within.  Another item I have noted has been the lack of visual stimulation included on correspondence.  Images pertaining to the content of the message could draw attention to its main features.  This would also help younger students who do not read at an advanced level to recognize ideas that are being presented. 

Effective document design is about helping your important information stand out.  Headings and bolded text can help draw attention to essential elements, and tables can organize information into concise patterns to distinguish between ideas.  This is true for both communication with parents and lesson assignments provided to students.

I would begin with having the school logo on top of all communication that is not already on letterhead, so official exchanges are not overlooked.  It is also important to include school contact information in case there are any questions or concerns.  As parents, we are required to sign daily agendas of our children to portray our involvement.  We receive a weekly newsletter that has to be signed as well, and this helps to ensure that we are receiving the information in an appropriate time frame.

Teachers should strive to supply timely, consistent, and scheduled communication.  As the single mother of three, I have to plan in order to organize all of our necessary activities.  There is nothing worse than not receiving a weekly newsletter and then discovering an event at the last minute.  It is also important to inform parents what organizations and policies are available.  In addition to class newsletters, the teacher should supply PTO/PTA newsletters, school websites, email addresses, and school homework websites to students and parents.  Parents and students alike need to understand how and where to get their questions answered.

It is critical to develop documents with the receiver of the information in mind.  Communication skills, knowledge level, attitudes, and culture need to be considered when determining the type of correspondence to employ. The credibility of the speaker is also key in ensuring that the message is conveyed and understood in the way it was meant to be.  The teacher needs to be able to relate to both students and parents in a professional manner, while keeping the recipient of that information at the forefront of planning documents.

Revised ENews

And this is the revised October ENews.  Enjoy!

Original ENews - Prior to Revision

This is the original ENews sent last October from my children's elementary school.  I will post the new updated version in the next post.

Comprehensive Assignment 2 - Databases & Spreadsheets

While searching the internet for spreadsheets and databases in the classroom, I came across this one:

http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/excel.html

I found it extremely helpful in that it contained links to numerous other sites that provided a lot of useful information and tools, and those led to even more links to other sites!  I could have spent all day just clicking from one site to the next.  The only downside to the site was that some of the links appeared to be outdated in that the page could not be found.  Some of these were easily fixed by just conducting a search and then you were redirected to the correct page.

During my studies this week, I was really surprised at what a young age students were exposed to spreadsheets.  As an Accountant, I had always viewed spreadsheets as a means to an end.  While mathematics seemed a reasonable concept to use in this arena, it was very insightful to see everything from Art to Science lessons being taught through the use of spreadsheets.  Teachers can adapt or modify any subject with the help of a spreadsheet to make it provide useful information and learning opportunities for their students.  This gives students who learn through either auditory, visual, or kinesthetic styles a way to be able to see and use the information to gain an understanding of a concrete concept.

Not having worked much with databases in the past, it was insightful to see the abundance of information that can be stored and easily accessed through various queries.  It would be immensely time-saving for an educator to use these tools to compile student attendance, grades, contact information, etc.  Instead of the traditional way of writing everything down, then having to compute attendance and grade percentages manually, it can be provided at the click of a mouse.

As stated, I have not worked much with databases in the past.  The closest thing to a database that I worked with in a regular capacity was the analyzing of prior year worksheet tabs in a spreadsheet when conducting audits.  Our firm was small, so almost all compilation work was done through the use of spreadsheets.  As such, I do have a lot of experience with spreadsheets in relation to input of data, predictions and forecasts, financial information presentation, analysis of trends, ratio computation and comparisons, charting and graphing, and critical analysis.

I will use my new insights into the educational possibilities of spreadsheets, as well as my past experience, to show students that there is no end to how raw data can be used to provide valuable information for all forms of decision-making.  One example of this is to have students perform a task a set number of times while noting the number of correct responses of each student in a spreadsheet.   Depending on the grade level, the students could then be taught how to (1) create graphs or charts of the information, (2) create formulas to determine the mean, standard deviation and mode of each set, or (3) use the information to predict outcomes based on how often a task is performed (i.e., how does repitition of a task, or practice, increase scores).  Everything from basic visual representation of the data to providing a critical thinking tool for students could be created using the same raw data.

Lesson One - Comprehensive Assignment

This week began as I took my first class as a Graduate student: Educational Technology.  I went into this class believing that I was a fairly tech-savvy person.  After reading Chapter One, I started to realize that my first step was to redefine my thoughts of technology from visions of computers, the internet, and webcasts.  As a portion of the textbook states: "Technology for those educators includes any media that can be used in instruction".

After studying the NETS*T, I began to differentiate between the technologies (in this sense, the ways to do something) to how teachers can shape, direct, exhibit, and demonstrate these technologies to teach students more than just the subject at hand.  Instead of just “handing out” the knowledge, teachers directly impact students by providing a model upon which they can rely.  It is our job to ensure that students leave the classroom with a firm foundation in meeting their own NETS student standards.

Although I do not teach at this time, I know that each child’s unique learning style will command the use of many different teaching styles. From volunteering, I have observed that everything from simple manipulative tools and rote memorization can be made more interesting with the use of technology.  It has been insightful to watch each teacher in action, and the collaborative efforts between classes, when it comes to reaching their students.

By understanding the different ways in which people think, their cognitive styles, I plan to design instruction which consider student preferences and enhance their experiences in the classroom.  Another factor to consider are personal filters.  Filters such as cultural differences can affect not just how a person thinks, but how they learn as well.   In attempting to teach the same subject in a variety of ways, I hope to touch upon and reach the many different learning styles of the students.  I will incorporate audio, visual and manipulative (kinesthetic) tools into my classroom while using both modern and traditional teaching technologies.

In order to implement these tools into my classroom, I will actively learn which lend themselves to the lesson at hand.  When faced with a technology that I am not familiar with, I will take classes and practice using that information.  I will search the internet and related educational avenues for auditory and videos related to the subject, as well as develop hands-on learning activities so the students can learn as they perform tasks.  Since the abstract understanding of a subject can make sense but have little impact on the reality of completing the task, I will help students both understand and conduct the assignment.  I consider the art of teaching as a lifelong learning experience that continually evolves as the technology around us evolves.