Friday, June 17, 2011

Workshop three post

What software applications do you use regularly in your teaching practice?
 I currently use PowerPoint, excel, Microsoft word, and an electronic grade book (STI).  In addition to these applications, I have also implemented blogging as a part of my students’ journal writing when we are studying a novel.  I have also found that the 21st century student is visually oriented.  Therefore, youtube.com has been a treasure trove for finding clips/songs/pictures that I can use to activate my students’ prior knowledge before exploring a new concept.

Students are also required to spend at least 20 minutes a day on the Read 180 software.  The software allows the students the opportunity to work on reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, and fluency.

What other software skills would you like to improve to increase your professional efficacy?
This week I attended a literacy conference and saw two speakers use prezi.com.  I thought the presentations were fresh and unique because they had a different look and feel compared to more traditional PowerPoint presentation.  This has sparked my interest, and I am going to spend the summer learning more about prezi.

In addition to prezi, I have also become interested in podcasts.  One of my colleague suggested that podcasts could be a great way to do book talks.  I think that is a great idea.  My job as a Read 180 teacher is to motivate the unmotivated reader.  Effective book talks can be a wonderful springboard to getting a student interested in a certain text.


Propose an action plan to improve these skills.
Part of the reason I feel that I am so behind in technology skills is that I took an eight year break from teaching.  I thought that teaching was not for me and tried to work in the business world.  After an eight year hiatus, the Lord called me back to the world of education.  Unfortunately the job I had did not use the technology required in teaching, so I have become a bit rusty.
 I am taking three workshops this summer that are being offered through our school district.   The first is on Microsoft Word.  The second is on PowerPoint.  The third is on moodle. 
In addition to these classes, I am also going to commit to learning more about podcasts and prezi.  I want to have several podcast book talks ready when August rolls around.  I am also going to create several prezi presentations that will focus on some of my reading strategy mini lessons.

1 comment:

  1. Once you spend some time with prezi, it's hard to go back to power point. The only issue with prezi is you can't save to your hard drive, it's stored through the prezi site.
    Podcasts are a great way to learn material through audio. I think your idea for reading sounds great!

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