...so much to do, so little time!

I was away this weekend and did have my laptop, but no Internet connection. This was a good thing because it forced me to plan and create a storyboard template of what I would like to do for my PowerPoint presentation instead of doing more research. It also gave me a chance to read all of the materials that I had on hand.
Tomorrow I will create a few pages to use as my background templates. I know exactly what I would like to do and the materials are at work. I will then scan those pages and start creating. This has been a real weekend of planning and organizing my ideas. I hope everything comes together the way I am hoping it will, but the one thing we all know about technology is we must always have a back up plan just in case.
When I got back I was reading the forum and thinking about what I would like to do next in the classroom. I am hoping to create a digital story book using PowerPoint this week too. I think that would be great for a read aloud on the SMART board.
As far as PowerPoint goes, I haven't used it very much with my students because I did not use the program too much myself. Instead I have done storyboards using kid pix and then created slide shows with them. Now I see where this would be a great transition to PowerPoint through the year. Also our lab is acting up a lot these days as we wait for our new computers and KID PIX crashes a lot. I am interested to see how PowerPoint works in the lab. Perhaps I will move the Grade 4s on to PowerPoint second term instead of using Kid pix.
This blog has been good for me to record reflections as well as next steps. Even when I am not blogging now I am reflecting and looking ahead and thinking about how I will blog these thoughts. This has been a very good project for me as the reflection helps me think about how to improve and that is ALWAYS a good thing.

This week...

... has been a thinking and preparation week. I keep thinking of ways power point can be used in the classroom and then I brainstorm ideas that can be used. Now it is time to pull it all together. I am away from the Internet for the weekend, but will have my laptop with me and be putting all of the ideas and files I have together. I have a storyboard of sorts set up with sites and sound and visuals, so it should come together easily.

I am excited to see how this will work in my classroom as prior to this year I have limited time for preplanning things like power point lessons.

Let's hope for a GREAT weekend for everyone:)

..another fork in the road

Okay, tonight I have spent a lot of time researching ideas and sites for a presentation about nouns. Then I reread some of the PPP pdf files and realized that the idea had come to me from them. OH MY! So now I am looking at another direction.

I really am wanting something that will work with this grade 4 class. They are a true test as to whether it works or not. After brainstorming with a nursing friend on msn I came up with a few other ideas: she suggested adding and I switched that one to division and then I also keep coming back to the Social Studies Canada Unit. There is lots that can be done there. The only problem is there are already a lot of Canada ppps out there.

So, what I have decided is that I will perhaps try a Canada one for fun and play around with it, and then create a division one. If the Canada one is going well I may stick with it. If I do both then that works well for the Grade 4s, so it is a win win:)

I am excited about the division because I can take digital photos of classroom items and then use the SMART board software to divide the items into groupings. This actually fits in well with the division with remainder unit we do second term.

Since my friend and I brainstormed I have bookmarked some other sites and am ready to go with the other ideas.

..heading in a new direction!

Wow, I must say I really am getting a lot from the forum and others input. Someone the other day said to make sure that when creating our first PowerPoint presentations that we choose a topic that we are already confident with. This was a GREAT learning for me. I know I should have realized this, but I was off and running with several ideas that would be whole new units. Really this is not a good idea. So with this advice I changed the direction that I was heading in and feel so much better.

Then I read about someone who is trying out in class presentations. Another very thoughtful idea, especially for someone who has not used PowerPoint very much.

A special thanks to those who put their thoughts into words in the forum or on their blogs. You have been VERY helpful!

I was not near a computer much to write on my blog over the weekend but I did a lot of thinking yesterday about simplifying my plan. I think I will take a topic as simple as "nouns" and create a PowerPoint presentation about it. Since thinking along these lines I have found several sites that would support this. I could include a podcast and a podcast game: which one of these is not a noun? I could also include a video from learn360 and some digital photos. This brings in the learning we have done throughout this course and would help students learn what nouns are using different modalities.

Now that I have a topic and am ready to add things I will "play" with PowerPoint for the rest of the week and see what I can achieve.

Thinking ahead about topics

I know I must play around with some PowerPoint ideas and templates but my problem is where to begin. I have a few ideas that I am playing around with, some I have researched a bit about, some I will look into.
Here they are:
- a webquest: the quest would be from the Social Studies curriculum: Canada
- how to create a jeopardy game on the SMART board: content would be curriculum based and show staff how simple it is to change the game to suit the student's needs
- something literacy based from the inservice I am going to on Tuesday
- staff development: a current hot topic: aka HWDSB proposal to change the "rules"; how to use FIRST class, particularly how to find specific subject material in a conference

Lack of ideas is not my problem as you can see. I must narrow my ideas down and then stick with ONE of them.
I also must play around with PowerPoint and test some of the do's and don't's.

PowerPoint Presentations ..templates??

I like the points you are making about the templates. I was thinking along the same lines. Some templates are very helpful but many are dull and boring, so I guess the big question is how do you take a template and individualize it?

I agree with you about errors on the presentations. A few of the sites that I have been to talk about rehearsing or at least having someone edit your slides to make sure there are no errors. Of course every once in a while there is one that escapes the eye, BUT if that does happen then it should be fixed as soon as it is caught.

I think I need to just play with some Power Point templates and see what happens.

Power Point Presentations

Right now my mind is whirling with all of the possibilities for the last presentation as well as all of the presentations I have seen with and without technology and what makes them GOOD, what makes them bad.
I have recorded a few of my thoughts here:
Good ones grab me. They have at least one thing that I see or hear that leaves me thinking. The sound, pictures, and movement all work together and flow. If there is a speaker they are clear and concise with passion in their voices. The transitions gently carry your eye from one slide to the next instead of leaving you on the verge of a migraine. The font is large enough to read and legible without moving too quickly so I don't get a chance to read what is written.
Bad ones leave me yawning, the backgrounds are repetitive and monotonous or too busy, and overall it lacks a flow. Sometimes the slide transitions are choppy, sometimes the colours clash, and sometimes the sound does not match the overall theme.

Then I went online and found a few sights that support my own thoughts but also give me more to think about. I checked out: Gleez! How to make a GREAT PowerPoint presentation, Death by PowerPoint, and The Seven Deadly Sins of Powerpoint Presentations.

Death by PowerPoint is very clear and concise. It tends to deal more with business presentations but really does give clear information. I particularly thought Slide 47 was a great one after our last assignment. It says, "Less text, more imagery, wild imagery." The Gleez site is well laid out and has great ideas and the Seven Deadly Sins site has good ideas but is very boring to look at and read.

This research and what has already been on the forum gives me a starting point as to what to do and not to do when creating a PowerPoint presentation.