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In what ways could an English teacher more effectively utilize spreadsheets? That is, other than the ideas I used.

Chapter 6 In relation to my teaching

As an English Major, honestly, I don't know how I would use spreadsheets. Maybe I could use them, personally, to grade my students. By putting them in a spreadsheet format, each individual student could view their grades, from unit to unit, and realize their strong points and weak points. I suppose I could also create a spreadsheet that recorded the average amount of pages my students read a day, which would result in an academic reward. This, of course, would depend on the outcome of the average. The reward would be something like they would be allowed to create five of the test questions on the next test, or something simple like that.

Chapter 6

Objective: Show how spreadsheets can be used as problem solving and decision-making tools.

Spreadsheets lay information out in a readable, comprehensible fashion, which the students can use to make informed decisions and use as a problem solving tool. Sets of information can be used in math class for equations, they can be used to solve missing variables, such as the example in the book which deals with wind patterns in a city. The students have to study the wind patterns and decide what city the spreadsheet is referring to. This example includes problem solving and decision making. By using the information in the spreadsheet, the students solve the problem and also decide which city the info is about.

Question

As a teacher, if these multimedia tools aren't readily available, will I be penalized for not reaching my technology standards?

In relation to teaching

These authoring tools will be very handy in the classroom. My students will be creating final projects and they will also be using video tools for such projects. Brainstorming, for students in an English class, is also very important. With the use of technology, brainstorming will become hopefully more interesting for my class. Power Point, I beleive, is a very important tool in some instances. Although I think that some teachers overuse Power Point, I also beleive that it can be used very effectively in some instances. For example, when doing a brief overview on a unit to be covered, a teacher can outline the basic topics, filling the students in on what they are to learn.

Objective: Identify authoring tools that offer a multimedia environment for students to express and communicate their ideas.

The first tool talked about, the Concept Map Communications Tool, is very interesting and geared towards every learner. I say this because, whether the student has a visual/spatial learning style or a learning style centered more around listening, this tool allows for both. This tool also creates a map for the students, letting them brainstorm thier ideas, and lay them out in a comprehensive, orderly fashion. The second tool, Slide-based Communications, allows the students to express their creativity while they convey their information in an organized fashion. Specific tools, such as Microsoft Power Point, are easy to use and they have several settings that add to the creativity of the project. The third tool, Clip-based Communications, allows the students to stream audio and visual clips together. Rather than creating a video including both audio and visual elements, they can just video thier project, adding background music or any other sounds they find fitting.

Question

As teachers will we be required to assess our students with and through technology?