This week I finally created my first PowerPoint presentation - a lesson on writing summaries - and I tried to make it interactive with the things I have been learning in this course. It's nothing so fancy or filled with gadgets, but for me it's a big step. I used ConceptTest and Think-Pair-Share to involve my students in the lesson and at the end a question to go away with to post on their blog or it could be a QuickWrite to hand to me before they go out the door.
It never really occurred to me to use PowerPoint in the classroom so I was rather surprised that students on US college campuses are already speaking of "Death by PowerPoint." In contrast, my classrooms don't even have a way to shade or block out the bright sunlight that floods in from the windows, so I can't imagine when I'll use PowerPoint very much. Since our course materials are very drab photocopies, I'm sure that a bit of color would be attractive to my students and they would find a presentation on PP new and different and therefore interesting if I could manage to find one of the classrooms that they use for movies or media etc. I was also thinking on the lines of uploading review lessons, quizzes or games and/or linking to a class blog site so that students could check out something that they missed in class.
One of the things that seems to keep coming back in the readings is the idea of student-centered classes. So if we want to see our students engaged in their own learning, we need to take the attention off the teacher. This is problematic with PP presentations unless we consciously make an effort to involve the learners. I like this idea of the MinutePaper or QuickWrite to assess student learning; this technique after the PP or after any lesson would be beneficial for helping the student review and think through the concepts learned, and also beneficial for the teacher's understanding and analysis of what her students do or do not catch from the lesson. And the information she elicits from the students can help to plan the next lesson and/or could be addressed on the blog before the next lesson even begins (since for example in my case I have a week before I see them again).
"So what's the most important point you learned today?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear Ellen,
ReplyDeletethe idea of "Death by Powerpoint" is not new and is not entirely false. Just think about all the ppt presentations you have seen so far and how much you remember from them. If they are not interactive, if the colors (mainly the background) are too bright, if the sounds are too loud and too many... the statement is true. Interactivity is the key and there are so many possibilities to make it a valuable presentation.
Yours,
Nadina
Hi Ellen
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I am touched by "Death by PowerPoint". Of course, we should be cautious about the use of PPT. I always arue that technology itself is not a big thing. We have to know how to handle it in line with learning styles, level and objectives of the lesson.
Regards
Prem