How's Your Day? Archives

Sup everyone!

Rangers beat the evil empire (NY Yankees) last night after getting absolutely crushed the night before. Yea!

::sesel

 

Part of my job is doing presentations for upper mgmt and then also for supporting our field sales peeps. Everything has to be in power point!!!!!!!!!!!! Arrrgggghhhh!!!!
I'm talking putting spreadsheets into power point which is not user friendly and takes a lot of time to make it look good.

 

see, your argument actually proves what's been being discussed...technology is a tool that can benefit and heighten the education environment, but only when it is used appropriately, not when it is made to be the teacher (which is what I'm afraid the NEA wants....)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM

 

oooh, I knew there was a third point to my post!
thank you (weak minds alike and all...)

oh, and awesome!!
COME ON EVERYONE, LET'S GET ONE NUT shy TO #1!!!

 

that is a headache, I feel for you

 

happy102happy102happy102:happy102

EXACTLY!!!!

 

This guy gets it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXFi7AdhhGk&NR=1

 

we need to have a regional meeting with all the schools in the area, and that video be the central discussion.....:happy097

 

I will admit that I use powerpoint in my classroom and have for 14 years. However, I don't just use it to replace the overhead. I use embedded videos and interactive screens (where student's use remotes) to tailor my instruction as I go. However, one big problem with powerpoint is that everything has to be written in advance or it drags the class momentum to a snails pace... Of course that isn't the only technology that I use in my classroom. I use video imagers when there are small detailed objects that I want everyone to see equally or processes that I want them to observe. There are other pieces of technology I have available as well. However, it is like everything else, they are tools. When applied correctly they can aid a teacher in reaching the students or give the teacher better feedback on what the students know. When used improperly, I might as well be tossing monkey wrenches at the warp drive. Unfortunately, in many cases, technology is just a band-aid that a teacher is handed and told to use and they use it the same every day as if it were just an expensive overhead with constantly changing backgrounds and transitions...

There are also plenty of days when I don't use any of it at all. It all depends on what my needs and what are the appropriate tools will get me there.

And no, I don't hand kids a copy of my notes or powerpoint outline unless they have an IEP, GEI, or 504 plan which requires me to do so.

Edit: just to make it clear... I am agreeing with most of the points the rest of you made. I am not taking anything as a personal attack.

 

No kidding! I have a PowerPoint sort of like that. I use it when teaching kids about making powerpoints before they start working on them as part of a research project. However, I think he is a lot more affective getting the point across. Too bad I would have to edit the video before I could show it to students.

 

Poerpoint in the class room was before my time, had it in college but not before. I think it would have made it a lot more interesting.

I sent that video to my boss and asked him if i could send it to all users in the company. He said he liked the video but no!

 

I know. I wish there was a clean version of that floating around.

 

Technology has its place in the class room for certain. I got a degree in Electrical Engineering and it's rather telling to note which classes were chalkboard based and which ones were powerpoint. Math has no place on the projector (unless we're talking Maple or Matlab). Anything that is heavily math based needs to be done step by step on the chalkboard.

Powerpoint is very powerful when you're working with organized facts though. Theory (especially that which needs to be backed up with graphs and pictures) works wonderfully on the screen. I've seen a lot of really hard to read graphs on the chalkboard.

For the classrooms with loads of computers... we need more stuff like the awesome old Apple IIe games. Number Munchers, Oregon Trail, and Carmen Sandiego were awesome educational games. I haven't seen much in the way of good educational games in a long time.

 

Oregon trail is still around... just had to get that one for my daughter a few months back... I still have my Carmen Sandiego disks around someplace; however, I am not sure I still have a working mac to stick them in..


ever use Mathematica.. erg... just had shivers at those flashbacks....

BTW: I mounted an angled screen in my classroom above the blackboard so that I can use both simultaneously instead of having the built in screen covering 2/3 of the blackboard. So concepts are on the upper computer screen and then examples and problems are worked out on the chalkboard giving me the flexibility and spontaneity that I need.

 

Boy I really touched a nerve in here today.

 

Trust me... the nerve was already tender after a forced upgrade caused my specialized programs to all crash this week... during class.. at the worst moment....

back in the days of slate boards, the slate administrator didn't force an update of classroom crud in the middle of the class period costing ten minutes of downtime.... I was quite ready to pitch everything with a plug...

 

here's another kink in the "technology in the classroom" issue - it's a requirement. Teachers have to use some sort of technology through out the year, I figure it's mostly state requirements to justify technology grants and such, but even per district, most of the teachers around here clamor to get a powerpoint, digital interactive system, etc., going for when the principal or admins are going to observe the class. Yes, if you're going to want the tech, you need to use the tech, but for the ones that are more afraid of technology than they are of snakes, it's going to be hard for them to make effective use of the technology. Forcing them to do it isn't going to make it any better. you may get the numbers you need to be able to report, but overall it's detrimental to the students when that teacher is much more effective with wood-based implements (paper and pencil).
So, you force them to use the equipment, they make a shoddy presentation, or worse, they put hours of work into a 4 slide .ppt, and barely use it.
or, in the case of computers in the classroom, great potential, but it usually ends up being the younger sibling of old TV Babysitter

 

It's not the technology, it's the user of the technology. PowerPoint is a great tool if used properly, and it sounds as if you use it well, and wisely.

In the days before power point I had a teacher that kept his notes (same notes he used EVERY YEAR (hand written)) on a clear plastic roll that went on an overhead projector. Every day he rolled through the hand written notes, reading them to us word for word, as we hand wrote everything down. IMO, same thing as people putting every word on a PPT, only older technology. He used the technology of the time, and used it poorly.

For what it's worth, I use power point and agree too many people do not use it well, and not only people who are doing their first presentations, i'm talking executive VPs. Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

 

what the crap?