YellowCard

In doing some preparation for my journal presentation I came across a couple of interesting articles on the problems with PowerPoint.  By the way, my journal article is about whether”PowerPoint is Evil”?  A professor at the University of Saskatchewan says that PowerPoint is a poor teaching tool and leads to lazy teachers, lazy students and not much learning.  The article also quotes Ed Tufte, from Wired magazine (sept. 2003)as saying “students would be better off if schools simply closed down on those days [when there was a powerpoint presentation] and everyone went to the Exploratorium or wrote an illustrated essay explaining something.”  I used powerpoint in class last week and had fun with it, but I don’t know if it was worth the time I spent preparing it.

Balancing technology and traditional teaching methods are effective way to teach our students today.  I feel students learn in a variety ways so we shouldn’t use just one style or method.  One activity may be better suited to technology.  For instance, in a high school history class when we are studyingng the harsh labor conditions of the 1900’s, I may have them create a presentation using some Lewis Hines photos of child labor during this time.  I think small group activities are good also, were students kind of become teachers themselves as they discuss, share, problem solve and write out their combined thoughts.  One could combine technology and writing effectively by having students create and write out interviews with people/situations in history.  After they have created a dialogue or script they could present in to the class and have it video taped and then shown as a newscast.  I think variety and balance is the key to keeping students interested and inspired.  I know within technology there is a lot of room for variety but I still feel there is value in training our students to develop the traditional skills of listening to someone speak for 15 minutes and being able to write coherently about it.