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EDUC.6584
"Computer as a Teacher's Aid"
Spring 2009AssignmentsAssignment One - FlyerAssignment One Reflection:
This flyer that I created is an advertisement for a made up extracurricular theater production for a high school. The school is not only putting on a production of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, it is coordinating with the school's food services department and a local Renaissance minstrel group to make a complete dinner theater experience. With productions such as this, it is important that an effort is put forward to advertise into the community. As a result, the intent behind this poster is to be eye-catching, while at the same time clearly communicating all essential information about the production to those whose only means of finding out about the production is this poster.
More importantly, this assignment demonstrates the versatility of Microsoft Word. As a pre-service teacher, the recent changes to the program are at first glance intimidating, as it is hard to relearn the navigational process of the 2007 Word. But with the changes comes a whole new degree of options that allow me as a teacher to organize many instructional tools for my students. Graphic organizers are easier to create, as well layout options that allow me to do more visually appealing tricks with my handouts and/or posters that make them stand out among the pack. I intend to expand on my knowledge of word in helping me from writing up a class syllabus, to getting the community to support the hard work that its students put forward.
Assignment Two - Newsletter
Assignment Two Reflection:
This newsletter that I created is a monthly newsletter that is given out to the class at the start of the month. My intent is to give my students some introductory thoughts towards the unit that we are about to start, and to make sure that they know up front some of the major due dates and projects that are coming up. One method taught in the Learning Focused School initiative that I have witnessed through multiple field observations is that of "previewing." By showing them terms, concepts, and essential questions in advance, it allows the class to store them on the back-burners so when that information does come up, there is a level of familiarity with it.
My other intent with this newsletter is to keep up on student activities, and use them as an extra-credit opportunity. By having kids attend other students' activities, their is a greater deal of class community, which is instrumental to furthering a Differentiated Classroom outside the school walls.
This assignment is also another demonstration of the versatility to Microsoft Word. The creation of this newsletter gives me a template, with column breaks already placed in for future newsletters. This helps me as a teacher to later edit the document, without ruining the format. This project is two fold: I come up with a fun and interesting way to preview and inform my students of upcoming activities both in and out of class, while keeping the format familiar and easy for me to reproduce from month to month.
Assignment Three - Educational Website EvaluationAssignment Three Reflection:
This excel file is an evaluation of ten websites that are available for use in a classroom. I put a lot of my focus in evaluating websites that had access to a lot of primary documents and to websites that are based off of popular educational (or maybe I should use the term "entertational"). The point was to give evaluate each site, assess its worth in a classroom, and put that information on an excel spreadsheet with working hyper links for easy access.
The point of this website was to learn how to use a rubric setup for Microsoft Excel. A lot of attention in this assignment was learning how to use borders, hyperlinks and use other formatting options to keep the document organized and easy to use. Like it or hate it, Microsoft Excel is a lot easier to use than Microsoft Word in creating rubrics and breakdowns, and it will make those handouts to students a lot easier of a task when I enter the classroom.
Assignment Four - Grade Book
Assignment Four Reflection:
This Excel file is fictional grade book for a class on 1980's Culture (see if you can get all the references). Grades are divided by type, and the final grade is calculated by a weighting graded system, which I have encountered more frequently through field placements across several school districts
While most schools now have an online database for putting in grades, it is important to have the knowledge of Excel to have a backup grade book. It's a lot less painful to enter in grades in an excel book than to have to recover all the grades from a paper copy should the inevitable network problems occur. Formulas make it easy to calculate grades, and to save time on entering in grades the old fashioned way (that, and it will be more accurate too).
Assignment Five - Article Review
Assignment Five Reflection:
As a teacher, it is important to read and build strategies based on those who are either more experienced or know better than you. Having access to journal articles is important, and based on how I've seen technology grow in schools over my time in college, it is an area I take a great interest to. This paper looks to two articles on Special Education, a subject near to me, and how technology has boosted teaching in this environment.
Online databases are useful for research both for students and teachers, and this assignment deals more with knowledge of how to use online databases as a means for finding articles. To accomplish this task, I needed to know how to narrow my searches, clue in on key journals, and limit searches to time, full text, and writers.
Assignment Six - Powerpoint Presentation
Assignment Six Reflection:
Absurdism is an interesting philosophical movement in the twentieth century. Yes, it's a darker subject to discuss (life is meaningless, as is the search for meaning in life), but Absurdism is the culmination of the adverse conditions of the first half of the twentieth century, and inspires a good portion of the art of the second half of the century. Because Absurdism is really an overview of historical perspective, this powerpoint is an aide in visually representing the times and aftermath of existentialist thought.
Powerpoint is probably the most useful program that there is in the classroom, because it allows a teacher to use combine all of the other Microsoft applications (Word, Excel and Explorer) and organize their data together. The challenge is finding the right blend of information and interesting, and that is the intent behind this powerpoint. Combined with lecture and handouts, the powerpoint is a supplement, which is my philosophy behind the use of this presentation program in the classroom.
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