Dealing With Limited Access

How am I going to deal with limited access in my classroom? I understand and fully realize that, while most students are overly technologically savvy, some students do not have continuous and limitless access to the Internet. I understand this is a realistic hurdle, and will become a problem more in some schools than in others. This is something I need to understand and deal with.

I think I will deal with the lack of access to technology progressively. I will gauge which students have outside access and which students do not and I will adjust accordingly. As far as I am concerned, I will be teaching Language Arts and access to technology and the Internet is critical. I will expect my students to find means of working on their writing projects outside of class.

I feel using in the classroom where outside access is a problem, but an easily surmountable one. Work outside of the classroom is vital for success, and if I am going to prepare my students for college and life after high school, outside work will be necessary for success. I will do whatever I can in my power to provide students with access after school and suggest opportunities. The computer labs on campus are often open and I will provide students with access during class.

I feel if I abandon the use of technology in the classroom because of access issues I will be doing all of my students a disservice. We are living in a technologically advanced world and we are advancing daily. I believe abandoning the use of technology will handicap my students. Although some students might not have outside access, I can't dissuade my students from using technology. What I can do is create new and different opportunities for students who do not have outside access to technology, and I will provide students with in-class work time to afford them ample and additional time with technology.

The ups and downs of powerpoint

I, for one, love Microsoft's Power Point. Not only is the software easy to use, it is a widely universal and beneficial tool for the classroom. As my fellow MAT students and I demonstrated in our final week of MAT 533 at Concordia University, Power Point can be utilized as an educational tool, and as a personal one.

I thought a prime example of this how I used sound and video in my Power Point presentation. Throughout this entire program we have been asked to create lesson plans, unit plans, projects, assessments and what not detailing specific assignments we anticipate teaching in the future. It was nice to work through an assignment that demonstrated a little but of who we were.

I loved my Power Point on "Jaws." The music to start the Power Point was beneficial because if caught the audience's attention, and I was able to implement my favorite scene from the movie to fulfill my video requirement. Additionally, I thought Jeromy's videos were awesome. Jeromy's Power Point detailed his trip to Laos, and it really gave me a sense of what the country is actually like. At one point he said something regarding the fact that if you thought you knew what the middle of nowhere looked like, you were wrong. And then he showed pictures detailing it.

While these are examples of why I think Power Point is a beneficial educational tool in the classroom, it needs to be used sparingly. It needs to be used minimally and with some restraint. When I was in high school, my classmates and I would create a Power Point presentation and use every bell and whistle we could find to try and enhance our Power Point. We only managed to make the slides as confusing and ridiculous as possible.