6) Visual Learners

Going through school, I was always a visual learner.  I had a hard time understanding directions given that were more than two steps, and as a result I was always looking around the room to see what everyone else was doing.  That is how I got most of my instructions.  When it came to work, I could answer questions about a picture, movie, graph, timeline, map, political cartoon, etc., but if you asked me to read and then answer questions it was a completely different story.  These are key characteristics of a visual learner.  Over the years I have worked with many visual learners and since I am one of them, it is simpler for me to accommodate to their needs.

Some strategies for teaching visual learners include:

1. Provide students with a general outline of the material to be covered before a lesson.
2. Oral directions with more than two steps should be displayed somewhere on the board.
   
3. If class notes are extensive, hand out a copy of the notes.
   
4. Use any of the following with each lesson: flip boards, photos, diagrams, laminated pictures that can be used with group assignments, power point presentations, charts, maps, movies, filmstrips, timelines, YouTube clips, etc.
   
5. Have students construct their own flashcards and illustrate them.
6. Create lessons where students can utilize computers.  WebQuests, brochures, interactive lessons, online games, online textbooks, etc. to provide greater visual exposure and practice.
   
7. Use the computer in the classroom to construct mind maps or webbing of the material. The student can see the material and manipulate it at the same time.
   
8. Use concepts maps with key points, boxes, circles, and arrows showing the connections of information such as Inspiration 9.1. Webbing provides the connections that visual learners must have.
9. Give a face to a name and an illustration to an event.
10. When doing oral questions and answers in the classroom, allow adequate wait time before calling on students. This is very important for the visual learner who must retrieve visual images before formulating an answer. If you give them time to determine what you are asking, they will have greater success.

All of these strategies can be used when working with visual learners.  Not only does making your lessons visually appealing aid visual learners, but it can be fun and engaging for the entire class!  However, like anything else in education, repetition of the same visual aids can make things boring.  Therefore, these strategies can be successful, but only if you use them properly!

5) WebQuests

I have used WebQuests a few times before in the past with mostly success.  A WebQuest is an inquiry-orientated activity/lesson format that uses links to essential resources on the internet and an authentic learning task to motivate students to investigate of a series of central, open ended questions.  A well designed WebQuest uses the power of the internet and a scaffolding learning process to turn research based theories into learning centered practices.

In my personal experience, I have had both negative and positive outcomes while working with WebQuests.  First off, the negative.  WebQuests can take a considerable amount of class time, especially when students can’t get access from home.  Students can get bored doing the same thing with the content, especially if they are just reading it and then writing answers down in a packet.  Also, students can get very easily distracted using the web.

However, when it comes to any sort of technology in the classroom, the positives generally out-weigh the negatives.  For example, WebQuests are a good educational tool because they are not simply research tasks. They allow the development of individual knowledge and develop it more into a more sophisticated knowledge, helped by the online delivery.  It improves their knowledge of the content as they construct their own knowledge by researching the topic themselves.  In some cases some students just weren’t interested, but if the students were doing a good, well-developed, and engaging WebQuest, it is much more beneficial.  Good WebQuests pose open-ended questions. The process is well explained to the students and everything is explained in step format, so students understand what they’re to do and what’s required of them.  Students assume a role that allows them to investigate an issue through their views, which makes the students more responsible for their own learning and therefore allows them to construct a deeper understanding of the content.  Plus, it’s something different. Students get to use technology, which they LOVE, and they can go at their own pace.

It really doesn't matter what topic we discuss, as long as it is technology related it has the chance to fail or succeed in the classroom.  However, technology is the greatest tool at our disposal.  Whether it be Word, PowerPoint, WebQuests, Podcasts, etc. as long as you know how to you them properly and effectively, your lessons can always be fresh and engaging!

4) Using PowerPoint in the Classroom

In today’s classroom, Microsoft PowerPoint has become one of the most popular tools of choice for giving presentations.  If you have ever used Microsoft PowerPoint, it is easy to tell that it was developed with ease of use in mind.  All of the templates and tools are right at your fingertips and pictures and media files are easy to add in order to help you construct your presentation and make it more engaging.  However, there are many advantages and disadvantages to using PowerPoint.

Many students love visual aides because it helps them put an image to an idea. If you are standing in front of a class describing your thoughts, showing a picture or photo or maybe a short video with the highlighted points helps get your point across and your listeners are likely to sit up and take notice.  By PROPERLY utilizing a tool such as PowerPoint, you can effectively capture your student's attention.

Still, if PowerPoint is NOT used properly, it can become extremely ineffective.  Some teachers assume their PowerPoint presentation will lead the show, but this assumption is a terrible mistake because the program is designed to accentuate your presentation, not replace it.  Slides are best designed to be simple and direct in nature.  It’s also not a good idea to include too many slides because your students will tire of them if they are forced to sit through slide after slide.  The point of the slideshow is to enhance your presentation, not replace your words.  Another downfall of PowerPoint is that some teachers tend to focus too much on the slideshow during their lesson instead of focusing their attention on the class.  Students are not going to be engaged by watching a teacher pay more attention to their slides than them.

Overall, PowerPoint is an effective tool to use in the classroom if you are looking for a technique which will captivate and help engage your students during an otherwise boring lecture.  BUT THIS WILL ONLY WORK IF YOU KNOW HOW TO EFFECTIVLY USE POWERPOINT!  A PowerPoint slideshow may be good bait to use in order to get students to notice your presentation, but it is ultimately your words and your personable approach to the lesson which will be the necessary hook to actually catch their attention and hold on to it.  REMEMBER, POWERPOINT IS MEANT TO BE A VISUAL TO ENHANCE YOUR LESSON, NOT TO REPLACE IT!!!!!

3) Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word offers a number of benefits to any classroom.  It is free, easy to use, and technologically engaging as opposed to the pen and paper.  It also offers as a helpful resource to students who may suffer from learning disabilities relating to fine motor skills.  Plus, features in Microsoft Word can transform a simple work sheet into a fun and engaging activity for all.

Teachers who use notebooks and other paper-based materials for lesson plans may find something as simple as a snow day or a new student can wreak havoc on their written instructions. Instead, Microsoft Word offers a simple way to update instruction plans by simply copying, pasting, overwriting and adding text. Teachers may even reuse instructions and materials from year to year, just changing the date on exams, syllabi and notes, saving themselves the effort of re-creating the materials.

Learning and using Microsoft Word in the classroom doesn't just give students the ability to operate the word processing program. Teachers may take advantage of the fact that a great deal of Word's features, menus and tools are exactly the same in some of the other Microsoft Office suite programs such as Exel, PowerPoint, or Publisher. Using Word in a classroom during one period of time may make instruction of another program easier at a later date. In many cases, students who know Word already know how to perform the basic tasks in most of the other Microsoft Office products.

Therefore, Microsoft Word offers numerous benefits to any classroom.  Not only is it easy to use, it can be fun, engaging, cut costs and time for educators, aid students with disabilities, and help build a knowledge of other Microsoft programs.  Microsoft Word is already a common feature in every classroom.  I use it with my students as well as have them use it at home.  It is a great tool for education and I don't see that changing anytime in the near future.

2) Web 2.0 and Social Media in Today's Classroom

Web 2.0 is a term used to describe web sites that use technology beyond the static pages of earlier HTML web sites. A Web 2.0 site may allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where people are limited to the passive viewing of content. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites such as Facebook, video sharing sites such as YouTube, blogs, and wikis.

Some critics may argue that Web 2.0 may be harmful in a school environment.  This can be true.  Web 2.0 has many privacy issues involved with it.  Putting personal information about yourself online can always have consequences such as stolen identity and allowing strangers, classmates, even employers to access things, photos, and much more about you that you may not want everyone to see, but they can.  It could also be argued that cyber bullying is on the rise with social media as well.  However, although I have a zero tolerence policy when it comes to bullying, as do schools,  I believe that bullying would have continued to take place in person if it were not for the social media, although it is easier to moniter and recognize outside of social media.

Dispite many of the problems that may come from Web 2.0 in the classroom.  I TRULY believe that the benefits drastically outway the consequences.  To name some, it allows for more authentic assessments based on student's skills, it is cost efficient, it stimulates new modes of inquiry, it creates new opportunities for collaborative learning, it allows students to engage in new literacies, it allows students to engage in new media, it encourages proficiency in publication of content and creates a sense of ownership, audience engagement, peer assessment, and informal learning.  But most of all, in an educational environment that can sometimes be very dry, Web 2.0 and the use of social media in the classroom increase student engagment and participation and help connect content to the lives of students and the world around us.  It is a great tool and skill to use and it helps prepare students for life outside of the classroom as well.

We live in a technological age!  Technology is here to stay and it is all around us!  Every type of educational tool has a chance for problems to occur, but this is worth that risk!  The benefits outway the issues and I say bring on Web 2.0 and social media in schools and you won't regret the tremendous outcomes that will follow!  Not only for your students, but for the future of education as well!