The greatest wisdom I’ve heard in my career was from my Master Teacher, Anthony Tebelskis:
The secret of good teaching is taking kids from the concrete to the abstract.
In other words: Making the hard stuff easy.
Since then, over 10 years have passed and I’ve learned several ways to make that happen. Along with with crucial strategies, I use several “tech toys” in my fourth grade classroom, specifically:
- PowerPoint
- A platform visual presenter
- Blogs for students
- Moodle software
This is the first in a series of four articles sharing how I’ve used technology to take my students farther than traditional means. I will be including actual samples of my work which you are free to download and use, or make your own.
PowerPoint in the Classroom
Microsoft’s PowerPoint is a powerful tool to use within the classroom. It makes abstract concepts more comprehensible than traditional teaching tools.
- Applies real life photos and videos to the concepts being taught, better imprinting memory.
- Animation and video help show importance and relevance of what is being taught.
- Vivid colorful slides as opposed to traditional black and white handouts.
- Digital slides replace the chalkboard or white-board with something much more exciting.
- Templates are easy to develop and can be changed quickly with each new lesson objective.
- Easy references for children to refer back to the slide.
- Frees the teacher from the front of the classroom, moving and engaging learners around the room.
Recently in my fourth grade class in the subject of Language Arts, I first introduced the students to the objective of the lesson with a PowerPoint slide that states clearly what we are about to learn:
Today, we will apply knowledge of synonyms, and antonyms to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
The slide features the words, with definition of key terminology, and incorporates visual images that represent the symbolism of the terms. The two images represent “electricity” which visually introduces background knowledge of dams and electrical towers. These images will later help illustrate synonyms and antonyms in the slide show.
I use the Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) strategy in my classes, a technique that was developed by Dr. Sylvia Ybarra and a company called Data Works. 
It has revolutionized my class’ scores and it works seamlessly with PowerPoint. It is similar to to the traditional lesson plan steps but some other key elements are added. Each part of the lesson is distinct step, like a slide:
- Learning Objective
- Activate Prior Knowledge
- Importance
- Concept Development
- Skill Development
- Guided Practice
- Closure
- Independent Practice
The next slide shows how the students already know something about the material. This is referred to in EDI as “Activate Prior Knowledge.” The students show they understand what “drought” means based on the idea of a dam in a desert. From here we can teach the students that there are other ways to determine the meaning of unknown words through understanding synonyms and antonyms. This step uses the concept of “scaffolding” or connecting what is known with what is unknown.
Students appreciate the ability to refer back to the slide when asked a question. In addition, they remember the visuals and make connections for more quickly through the presentation than they ever did with traditional “teach from the front” methods. As a teacher, I like the visual engagement as well as the way I can travel throughout the room with a remote. This keeps all the kids on their toes and paying attention.
Integrating PowerPoint Into the Classroom
To incorporate Microsoft’s PowerPoint or a similar slide show program into your classroom, you require a laptop or computer with the software installed and a printer and/or digital projector for displaying the image on a screen from your computer.
PowerPoint includes the ability to print out Notes, pages that feature the slide image with spaces for teacher notes and instructions or left blank for the student to take notes. These can be printed in black and white or color as hand-outs.
In addition to Microsoft’s PowerPoint, you can use the following presentation and slide programs:
- Corel’s WordPerfect Presentation
- Open Office Impress (Open Source)
- Scala
- Smilebox
Links for more tips and information on using Presentation software in the classroom such as PowerPoint here:
- A K-12 Staff Development PowerPoint Tutorial
- Effective Teaching with PowerPoint
- Teach-Nology Tutorial
- How to Keynote in Presentations
- Office XP Tutorial for Educators
My PowerPoint Lesson is available for download: Synonyms and Antonyms with Electricity 4 PPT (1.27 MB)
20 responses so far ↓
1
dogtrax
// Feb 3, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Hi Damien
I agree that PP has value for teachers but I kind of hoped you might expand your piece into how your students can use it as a learning tool, too.
In my classroom, we use Powerpoint as a platform for creating digital picture books, with embedded media in the books (ie, audio, video, animation). The students go as deep as they can into the software, trying out new things and pushing the possibilities of this very basic technology. (One parent — a realtor — came to me one day and said her daughter had come home and made a complete PP show of the houses that the mom sells and, together, they put the powerpoint on the mom’s website — cool)
I think the more we can put the tools into the creative hands our students, the better off they will be and more interesting our classrooms will become.
Thanks for the links and ideas.
Peace
Kevin
2
Damien Riley
// Feb 3, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I really like that notion Kevin. Do you mind if I contact you to get some more direction if I tackle that issue? Thanks for your excellent comment.
3
PowerPoint is a great tool! Want a Stumble?
// Feb 3, 2008 at 4:07 pm
[...] Powerpoint as Teaching Tool I encourage you to read it and leave your comments over there. We’re trying to create buzz for this new magazine. even if you aren’t in education as a profession, your comments and opinions are valuable there and very welcomed to building a community! If you do comment there, I will stumble-review a post on your blog by way of thanks. This will bring you some nice traffic stats. [...]
4
Weekly Digest: Starting Edublogs Magazine, Blogging Big and Small, and More « Lorelle on WordPress
// Feb 3, 2008 at 7:41 pm
[...] Teaching Technology Takes Kids Farther: PowerPoint by Damien Riley looks at how he uses PowerPoint in his classroom. [...]
5
Debbie
// Feb 4, 2008 at 5:08 am
I have used PowerPoint for my college presentations but I didn’t know about Smilebox and realted sites. Thanks for sharing! Now I can share with my students a way to get pictures without sruggling over finding free clip art for the presentations and games they made for their K-12 students.
6
Jessica The Rock Chick
// Feb 4, 2008 at 5:48 am
Hey Damien-
Very cool article! I personally have never used Power Point for anything, but my hubby uses it to make training presentations when they make IT changes at work. He agrees with you 100%. People seem to learn and retain information when it’s presented in this manner and not just on a printout.
My kids have had to do reports in Power Point. They love it and really enjoy seeing the other kids’ work, too.
I think it’s great!
Jessica
7
Terry Reeves
// Feb 4, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I learned Power Point from my daughter who was 10 at the time. She learned Power Point in school from her art teacher. I was able to use her interest in Power Point to build an interest in web design and eventually blogging. She is 16 now and still an active blogger.
You never know what will cause the spark of learning to take place.
8
Damien Riley
// Feb 4, 2008 at 2:00 pm
@Terry: Thanks for your comment. That is great about your daughter. Isn’t it amazing how much the kids love blogging? I am just starting to use it in my classroom and my son at home (10) absolutely loves it. He asks all the time if he can use the computer and when I ask him if why he always says “Work on my blog.” I’d show you the link but my wife and I are keeping it private for now. He’s a natural!
9
Damien Riley
// Feb 4, 2008 at 2:04 pm
@Debbie: I love the clip art function in PP. Are you saying it isn’t a good thing? Many sites like flickr and Google Images are blocked at my school so the internal clip art engine works great sometimes. You know how it can be, sometimes you have to just use the tools as they can work for you.
10
Derek
// Feb 4, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Damien, very nice article! From my experience I completely agree that the visual references help with retention and I am sure the ability for you to walk the classroom helps as well.
As others have mentioned, PP is a very useful tool in the corporate world as well so introducing the tool to your students is a great thing.
11
dogtrax
// Feb 4, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Re: clip art
In the classroom, I avoid my kids using clip art. I would rather have them create their own art (in MS Paint, for example) and let them have ownership all around.
Good conversations here
Kevin
12
Jonty
// Feb 5, 2008 at 10:24 am
I agree it is a very powerful tool. Last year I wrote an interesting article of our loacal school and how they are using PowerPoint.
http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/innovative-use-of-powerpoint-in-education-5.htm
13
Damien Riley
// Feb 5, 2008 at 6:23 pm
@Kevin: That’s an amazing concept. It sounds like a lot of work though tbh. I’d love to see an example.
@Jonty: Thank you for that interesting article. I Stumbled it!
14
Teaching on The Finance World For News and Information Around The World On Finance » Teaching Technology Takes Kids Farther: PowerPoint
// Feb 13, 2008 at 2:14 am
[...] Teaching Technology Takes Kids Farther: PowerPoint The secret of good teaching is taking kids from the concrete to the abstract. In other words: Making the hard stuff easy. Since then, over 10 years have passed and I’ve learned several ways to make that happen. … [...]
15
Dean Groom
// Feb 19, 2008 at 4:33 am
I love Moodle. We are using Zoho.com to create slideshows and slideshare to blog them. PPT is the incumbent presenter, but I think it is important to show students that they can get off the desktop and online, so we encourage zoho et al. Moodle holds it all together! Nice post.
16
http://magazine.edublogs.org/2008/02/03/teaching-technology-takes-kids-farther-powerpoint/
// Mar 20, 2008 at 11:25 pm
[...] writing a post about this entry http://magazine.edublogs.org/2008/02/03/teaching-technology-takes-kids-farther-powerpoint/ Stay [...]
17
p plan powerpoint
// May 15, 2008 at 5:42 pm
[...] Technology Takes Kids FartherUsing powerpoint to create Dynamite Lesson Planshttp://magazine.edublogs.org/2008/02/03/teaching-technology-takes-kids-farther-powerpoint/Microsoft PowerPoint - Linear-plan.pptFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLSuboptimal Plans. [...]
18
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[...] Daily Kos: State of the Nation wrote an interesting post today on Comment on Teaching Technology Takes Kids Farther: PowerPoint by…Here’s a quick excerpt…a quick excerpt[…] Technology Takes Kids FartherUsing powerpoint to create Dynamite Lesson Planshttp://magazine.edublogs.org/2008/… [...]
20
academhack » Blog Archive » Blogs for Course Management
// May 28, 2008 at 12:31 pm
[...] also because they have a large collection of tutorials etc., to help newcomers. You should though skip this post which recommends using a horrible piece of software. If I had my way the inventors of this program [...]
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