UMM Sketch Comedy - Powerpoint
Image courtesy of Scott Adams
A huge part of being a teacher is presenting information. Thankfully I have so many resources that can help me with this huge task. Students need dynamic and engaging presentations so they don’t fall asleep while I tell them all about the wonders of Science. Things like PowerPoint and other presentation software sometimes get a bad rep because they can be boring and dry. But I challenge this and I say behind every bad PowerPoint is just someone who doesn’t know how to use it. There are so many options and accessories that can make even the most boring PowerPoint seem like a rock and roll concert (or at least somewhat cool).
Using it in the Classroom[]
I want to be sure that my students don’t resent the monotony that can become a classroom that relies on PowerPoint lectures. Lecturing is so important to opening the doors to a concept that it would be unreasonable to eliminate it from the classroom. Instead I think my focus needs to shift to taking the lectures further and making them more dynamic and interactive, a task that I feel more comfortable achieving now after my work with PowerPoint. There’s many ways to take the traditional lecture to the next level using presentation software, you just have to know where to begin.
One way I would like to use PowerPoint is to provide my students with the skills needed to take organized notes from a lecture. Being a high school teacher means I need to prepare my students for college and beyond and the ability to transcribe information from a presentation will be crucial to their future success. Referencing my wiki page regarding word processors (http://laurenthesciencegal.wikia.com/wiki/Word_Processing_Software), I think I would like to provide my students with a template to take guided notes. This template could include images of the slide as well as space to take notes on what information I present during the slide. I think this would be really helpful and beneficial for the students in so many ways. Learning to take organized notes and gaining confidence in absorbing information are just some of the benefits to a lecture model like this one.
I also really want my students to have the tools to create their own awesome presentations. I think student presentations are vital to any classroom. It’s one thing for a student to be able to compile research and present it in the form of a paper but it’s an entirely different thing to be able to clearly present the information to their peers in a succinct manner. To succeed in the world beyond education many professionals must present their work, their beliefs, or their findings to their colleagues. These presentations have to be done professionally or no one will take your work seriously, no matter how good it is. I want my students to be confident when creating presentations so they can learn to present themselves and their information professionally. I will definitely incorporate student presentations in most, if not all, of my student’s projects. I will give them guidelines and helpful hints along the way in the form of handouts and workshops to ensure they have what it takes to do some serious PowerPointing.