INDEX Goals Purchasing Software Using Spreadsheets Engaged Learning Assessment PowerPoint Using a Design Team HTML Real Video File Management Discussion Boards

Goals My goals coming into the TTL academy were pretty simple. I wanted to pick up a few things about software that I work with during the school year and maybe learn one or two new programs. As the 4 weeks are progressing, I realize that these goals are not going to push my partner, nor myself the way we would expect to be pushed. This academy gives a person a great opportunity to increase their teaching skills by incorporating many teaching styles with many different forms of technology. Top Purchasing Software Purchasing software for a school district would be a lot different than purchasing a particular package for my own classroom. I feel it would be hard to make decisions for my fellow teachers on software that I think they would use. If I were previewing materials for myself, there would be a lot of factors that would need to be considered. The software needs to be compatible with the system that I am using and it also has to be easy to use. I feel that I need the software to be easy enough to run without getting too involved in the manual. There also has to be a relevancy towards my class and the subject that I am covering at the time. Top Using a Spreadsheet Using a spreadsheet in my classroom has always been put off in the past because I really haven’t felt a use for it. Now I can see where it would be helpful in a few cases throughout the year. In Madison we have a "State A Party" where the students plan a party and watch a State A basketball game on TV. The students could use a spreadsheet to keep track of their budget and compare it to how much they would spend using coupons out of the paper. We also have pizza parties throughout the year and students could use spreadsheets quickly if they were taught the background information. I can also see a use to teach students that are out for sporting activities or whatever to keep track of their own statistics and compare their best efforts. Top Engaged Learning I feel engaged learning is very crucial to the learning of my students. I still feel that worksheets and lecture do have a place in my classroom, however, the level of learning seems to change when the students are engaged. I have had the students working in groups on various projects and when the students have an opportunity to take charge of their own learning, the products always seem to be more enjoyable to construct and assess. Top Assessment Assessment will always be a topic of discussion and sometimes concern among educators.   The perfect assessment tool for one teacher may not fit into the toolbox of another.  With all kinds of different teaching styles, comes along with it, the same number of assessment styles.  As educators I feel when it comes to the end of a grading period we sometimes get caught up with how many grades we have in the grade book  and forget about what we are actually trying to teach the students. I wonder if some students wouldn't perform better if grades were not an issue.  On the other hand, some students need that form of competition among their peers to be motivated in the classroom.  Whatever are teaching styles are,  I feel we need to conform are assessments to the learning styles of all our students. Top PowerPoint(Click here for a step by step for PowerPoint) I feel too many bells and whistles distract from the presentation and I think you should work to use them to enhance rather than take away from the presentation. Black backgrounds are also harder to see on the big screen used for large group presentations.  The group liked how the farm presentation was geared for a younger audience. I feel the program is flexible enough to work across any age level and would work great for presenting to school, teachers, board, or community.    Even though Power Point is simple to use, it can look very professional by using a wide variety of effect including sounds, video clips, clip art. The ability to add music sets a mood to any presentation, however, many short music clips distract as opposed to single clip that runs all the way through. Top Design Teams During the four weeks at TTL we were put into design teams.  These teams were formed so teachers from around the state could share ideas with each other about their units.   I feel that these teams could be of great help as far as feedback from other teachers.  At the Madison Middle School, the teachers are already broken down into teams and have a common planning time with each other.  This common time is used for collaboration and unit planning and  I feel it is essential for the growth interdisciplinary units.  Keeping in touch with the TTL design team is a goal of mine because the collaboration and contact from outside teachers will be essential to my growth as an educator. Top HTML The software package of FrontPage makes web design a lot easier and less frustrating than the actual HTML programming.  Trying to make a web page from"scratch" takes more time than I am willing to spend.  I can see some real advantages of using the web for the students in my classroom, so FrontPage is a much needed item.  It is very exciting to know that people from all over the world can access information that I have made available. The students would be able to access my lessons and know exactly what was needed for a particular unit, and also such things as lunch schedule, school events, school calendar, etc. As far as a teacher is concerned,  I would be able to use web pages to share ideas with other teachers, units with my students, and also as a guide to other web sites that would go along with my unit that I want the students to visit.  This would keep the students from searching or wondering around the web without productivity. Top Real Video I have attempted to use real audio in my classroom with limited success.  The concept behind the real audio is good except I feel it is hard to prepare on a daily basis.  What might be found on one day may not be there the next day for use in a classroom. Top File Management File Management is essential to keeping track of many files.  It is very easy to lose files because of not knowing where they were saved or not having a place designated for them to be saved to. A suggestion that I would have is to create folders for all of the different subjects in a classroom and save the appropriate files into the appropriate folders. Discussion Boards The use of discussion boards has a definite value in a classroom.   One drawback that I can see is that they are kind of difficult to set up unless you are in the habit of using them a lot.  I had the opportunity to use a discussion board this year with the novel Number the Stars.  The students wrote back and forth to each other talking about different scenes within the book and the discussions seemed to be of considerable quality.  Any chance to get the students to talk back and forth about a controlled topic is always a plus and I think the newness of discussion boards creates this kind of environment.