Back-up Plan Needed in Classroom Using Technology

I just got back from an observation at SLU high in which a teacher (which I will remain nameless) brought in a tape of Othello to play for the class. For one reason or another, the tape would not play in the VCR and left a blue screen when the teacher pushed the play button. After ten minutes of struggling with this VCR with some of his technologically gifted students with no results, the teacher decided to just give them a reading day and the rest of the 35 minutes was spent in quiet study time.

I thought this was a good example of what not to do in the classroom. We get told time and time again to have a back-up plan in education classes in case the PowerPoint, video, or other multimedia device does not function properly. This seems logical; however, with teachers as strapped for time as possible, two lesson plans can be really taxing. It can thwart use of technology in the classroom. As such, I have decided to have back up lesson plans that I can pull if something goes awry that's useful. It does not necessarily have to do with the novel that we are reading and this can certainly be a nice change if the students are having trouble getting into a novel or other body of work. That's my new plan. It incoporates time efficiency and smart-thinking with a back-up plan in one!

Font Fanatics!

I had absolutely no idea how much goes into creating a font. Carter, and other font inventors, must have a sharp eye for the detail that goes into font making. Particularly interesting to me was the description of how to start creating a font and what to keep in mind when doing so. This includes spacing, serif features (how broad and how thick to make these features), and countless other elements. The article went a little over my head when it started assigning adjectives to the letters, such as "robust, proud R's." I have never thought about the R letter, in any font, being robust, but it is an interesting assignment that I would have liked the article to further explain.

I was unaware that font-makers like Carter created specific fonts for the phone book or magazines. This seems a huge task now that I have read the article and now all that goes into the creation of a new font, such as trying out different combinations like "ab" and "ac" to get an idea of how these letters fit together for attractive readability.

This article is very useful for professionals. Since writing to co-workers is an element in almost every job, it is helpful to know that the absence of serifs illicits modernity. The "emotional content of type" that Carter discusses is a really interesting idea that makes sense to me now. I suppose I subconsciously think about that when I am creating PowerPoint presentations. When I choose a type, I know what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, but I have never known why. This article sheds light on these oversights on my part and I thought it was well written and engaging.

PowerPoint to the People

PowerPoint is a piece of software that I have used since high school to present information to my peers. Throughout these years, I have learned how to make slides pleasing to the eye, add images and sound clips, and add different transitions in to make the presentation engaging. Most recently in this class, the ability to create a Jeopardy game in PowerPoint really got me excited.

PowerPoint is not only easy to use, but it really helps out presentations for both parties. The speaker does not feel as intimidated because the audience has another place to look and he/she has something to revert back to if necessary to help jog memory. Though must of us have used and feel very comfortable using PowerPoint, there are so many practical applications for it in the classroom that I feel it is worth going over again and again because there's always something else to learn.

I'm going to use PowerPoint in my teaching, and I will have my students use it as well. I need to be familiar with this software before teaching students how to be familiar with it. I'm glad I was able to go over some old and new things in class with an expert so that I can apply what I've learned into my daily life as a professional.

I CAN DO IT ALL!

Ok, so that actually didn't turn out to be as challenging as I thought. I just wanted to test out publishing a post that's a picture. I googled technology in the classroom and did an image search, saved it to my desktop, and clicked add image.

I think I've figured out how to add everything now and it's exceptionally easy. I really hope that I can use a blog in my English classroom to make formulating thoughts from the text and responding to comments a lot easier. With adding URLs and photos, there is an opportunity to get creative with the blogs.

Palm Handheld Devices

http://thejournal.com/articles/17865

We talked about this site in one of my classes discussing assessment. Essentially, teachers have now found a quick way to assess students and get immediate results by using palm handheld devices. Teachers test the students individidually and point to or write on the palm device. The scores are quickly computed and allow for immediate feedback. These devices allow teachers to set benchmarks along the way and ajust instruction as they see fit, responding to the formative assessments tabulated by computerization. Larry Berger, a CEO of the Wireless Generation, says, "When you get data to teachers in real-time, the entire learning process becomes more responsive in a way that motivates kids to get to the next goal. "

I have trouble seeing applications for this type of assessment in my secondary English classroom. I can see applications for this in elementary schools as a quick way to gauge if students are understanding fundamentals like spelling or computation. At the secondary level, assignments get a bit more complex and most of the assessment in many classrooms is writing samples. With writing as subjective as it is, a teacher needs to work on the papers by hand, seeing where the student went awry, etc. This is not even mentioning the cost of such devices, which is astronomical, and the cost to fix them if broken. Other teachers can spend half a semester's paycheck on these handheld devices, but I'll stick to grading with my red pen I think.