Digital Blog Post #H

This Chapter did some comparison of Noncomputer technology classrooms and Computer technology classrooms. Clearly, classrooms without any computers are something of the past, but even now there are many teachers who still don't use all of the awesome technology we currently have available to us! A lot of this chapter includes information on the benefits of using PowerPoint presentations and videos/video clips in the classroom. While doing some of my observation hours for Introduction to Teaching class last semester, I witnessed pretty much every single teacher using PowerPoint in their classrooms. Even though virtually every teacher used this tool, in my opinion, it seemed like almost every single teacher didn't use PowerPoint to its full potential. The PowerPoints I saw in their classrooms were pretty basic, not a lot of colors, images or video clips. It was mostly just bullet-points, paragraphs, and pretty plain backgrounds. I'm not all that technologically savvy, but I know that I could certainly make a more interactive and interesting PowerPoint than most of the ones I saw. I think the reason most of these PowerPoints were so plain was because most of the teachers I observed didn't seem to be all that comfortable using this program. It seemed like a lot of the teachers, especially the older teachers,  just lacked the skill necessary to make a successful PowerPoint. It's a fairly easy program to use, and I think if you incorporate colorful, fun slides, embed some videos and even games, students would be much more interested in the lesson, unlike the bored students I witnessed in many of the classrooms I observed.


Don't get me wrong, PowerPoint is great. You can do a lot with it, I'm comfortable using it (which is why many people don't explore other presentation tools, myself included), but there are other, much more relevant tools out there now! Next-generation presentation tools use multimedia to expand the ways that information is shared in classrooms (Page 224). Of the three mentioned in the book, my personal favorite is Prezi. I was introduced to this tool by my Introduction to Teaching professor and have been using it ever since. It's free, it's easy to use, and you don't need to download it into your computer, which means students can access it at no cost from home or any other computer. It's like PowerPoint for the modern world!


The last concept in this chapter that caught my attention was alphabet books. This concept appealed to me because I would like to teacher kindergarten or first grade, and alphabet books  area fun way to have kindergarten through second graders illustrate their own alphabet books as a way to practice spelling, letter sounds, vocabulary words, and reading skills. Concept books are another great way to help teach words or concepts through digital photography, especially for English language learners or beginning readers. When I become a teacher, I am absolutely going to create my own alphabet books and concept books with my classroom because not only would it be efficient for students at that grade level, but fun, too. :)



Resources
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.