While reading the “Educator Preparation and Development” section of Texas Long Range Plan for Technology I was reminded of an educational joke I heard about Rip Van Winkle. After a hundred years of sleeping, Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st Century. All things seem unfamiliar until he walks into a classroom, as he enter the classroom he states “This is a school”. This joke indicates to me that over the years; as things around us change the methods of classroom instruction have not, methods of instructional delivery seem to be frozen in time. Because students of today have grown up with technology which in one way or another touch every aspect of their lives, educators must take note of these changes and be prepared to adjust what we teach and how we teach it. To better prepare our students to flourish with knowledge and to help them acquire the skills required to become successful citizens, workers and leaders in today’s world, educators need a variety of tools to keep students engaged in learning.
To help all educators adjust or change their instructional procedures school districts should provide on-going professional development programs that include various ways to integrate technology into the curriculum. Institutions of higher education with teacher preparation programs should be required to encompass classes that provide opportunities’ to help student learn to create motivating instructional material that integrates technology. These programs should be geared toward helping the instructor enhance instructional procedures that provide new and innovating ways to integrate technology into their curriculum at all grade levels. The instructional technologist, on our campus provides continuous professional development opportunities that allow our staff to create and provide exciting instructional materials using technology. Also each teacher is asked to involve students in a minimum of three technology activities (projects) per school year to assure that all students are involved in accomplishing the technology TEKS for their grade level.
As it is our responsibility as educators to do our best to promote student learning, the Texas Long Range Plans for Technology can serve as a guideline to help in enhancing students’ acquisition of knowledge through technology.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Drill-and-Practice Software
In my reading of this chapter on Academic Software, I identified with the drill-and-practice portion. As an instructional strategy, drill & practice promotes the acquisition of knowledge or skill through repetitive practice. The purpose of a Drill and Practice activity is to help the learner master materials at their own pace. There has been a definite move away from paper-based drill and practice systems to computer-based systems. Drill and practice exercises with appropriate software can enhance the daily classroom experience.
At the start of my keyboarding class, when students are just beginning to learn keyboarding techniques, the students use this type of software a great deal. When students first enter the Keyboarding class they will have had some exposure to the computer system but lack the keyboarding skills needed to key proficiently. It is some times difficult to retrain them from using bad habits, because of this; I use a hand-keyboard cover along with Prentice Hall Keyboarding drill-and-practice software. Through the tutorials presented at the beginning of each lesson this software helps to reinforces objectives taught, and allows the students to practice each lesson at their own pace. It renders immediate feedback to the students and generates reports for student and teacher indicating performance level. At the end of each drill-and-practice lesson there are keyboarding games that are used for motivation. Since using this software the students enjoy learning to key.
Because of increased teacher accountability, more pressure has been put on them to meet curriculum outcomes and to ensure student performance. Tutorials and drill-and-practice software can be very helpful in this regard to help students master basic skills. Tutorials can provide instructions on how to complete a certain objective, for example a tutorial in a new software program. Drill-and-practice software can reinforce basic skills for example spelling words, development of reading vocabulary, or typing programs.
At the start of my keyboarding class, when students are just beginning to learn keyboarding techniques, the students use this type of software a great deal. When students first enter the Keyboarding class they will have had some exposure to the computer system but lack the keyboarding skills needed to key proficiently. It is some times difficult to retrain them from using bad habits, because of this; I use a hand-keyboard cover along with Prentice Hall Keyboarding drill-and-practice software. Through the tutorials presented at the beginning of each lesson this software helps to reinforces objectives taught, and allows the students to practice each lesson at their own pace. It renders immediate feedback to the students and generates reports for student and teacher indicating performance level. At the end of each drill-and-practice lesson there are keyboarding games that are used for motivation. Since using this software the students enjoy learning to key.
Because of increased teacher accountability, more pressure has been put on them to meet curriculum outcomes and to ensure student performance. Tutorials and drill-and-practice software can be very helpful in this regard to help students master basic skills. Tutorials can provide instructions on how to complete a certain objective, for example a tutorial in a new software program. Drill-and-practice software can reinforce basic skills for example spelling words, development of reading vocabulary, or typing programs.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Desktop Publishing Software
The Desktop Publishing Software section was something that was identifiable for me, while reading chapter 6. With this software the computer user can combine text and graphics to produce professionally looking documents such as newsletters, brochures, etc.
In my computer lab we have Microsoft Office Publisher, which is a DTP program. After the initial concepts taught on how to use this software, Publisher is some what easy for the students to use. It gives them the opportunity to be creative and to produce their own distinctive publications. The hardest thing for my students to understand is that a good design helps the reader understand the text.
I use Microsoft Publisher in my instructional area for creating various documents such as, greeting cards for student’s birthdays. My students think this is so cool to get a birthday card from their teacher (this saves me time and more importantly MONEY). I also use it to create class newsletters, awards certificates, and making classroom banners. It is so easy to use the templates provided and to modify them when and where needed.
Desktop Publishing software could be an additional teaching aid in all teaching areas, not just a computer lab class; in that it can help teachers create custom handout, classroom website, transparencies, etc. Because the publication is created and can be stored on the computer it can also be quickly and easily shared.
In my computer lab we have Microsoft Office Publisher, which is a DTP program. After the initial concepts taught on how to use this software, Publisher is some what easy for the students to use. It gives them the opportunity to be creative and to produce their own distinctive publications. The hardest thing for my students to understand is that a good design helps the reader understand the text.
I use Microsoft Publisher in my instructional area for creating various documents such as, greeting cards for student’s birthdays. My students think this is so cool to get a birthday card from their teacher (this saves me time and more importantly MONEY). I also use it to create class newsletters, awards certificates, and making classroom banners. It is so easy to use the templates provided and to modify them when and where needed.
Desktop Publishing software could be an additional teaching aid in all teaching areas, not just a computer lab class; in that it can help teachers create custom handout, classroom website, transparencies, etc. Because the publication is created and can be stored on the computer it can also be quickly and easily shared.
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