Hi everybody,
This was a real brainstorming activity.
Many teachers I work with find the use of Power Point activities wonderful but they do not analyze the impact they have on students. As mentioned in some of the reading materials, the use of technology can be really productive but what is important is how it is used.
This week, I had a good experience of the wrong use of technology. One of our teachers asked for an overhead projector for his class. He was given the material but when checked over the activity he was developing in his class, I was puzzled. First the teacher asked for the overhead projector in order to play a movie.
The movie was more than the class time. When asked (during the class) about his lesson plan, he could not present any because he had not clear objective for his class, except passing an hour an an half watching a movie, eating popcorn and drinking softdrinks. The movie had nothing to see with any topics studied during the month. It was subtitled and for a basic level group (6 months of English).
First more than an hour and an half of video is unconceivable.
I try to find videos of three to four minutes maximum.
If you play a video, it is to reach the target language not to play it with subtitles (students just read in their language).
If you do not have post activities with a specific objevtive as for example to check their comprehension by asking specific questions, or by asking a summary (in this case a 6-month English group with a one and an half hour of video seems an impossible mission), or by asking about opinions, etc.
I do not overuse the PPT in class but when I feel it will be worth and have a good impact on my students then I use it. My PPT sessions do not last for hours. Ten minutes or maximum fifteen. After that, I know that I do not get my full student's attention.
I you use technology like PPT, first think abou the goal or objevtive, relate it to what is seen in class and try to mix different learning styles in the same activity.
Waiting for your comments
Raphaël
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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About Me
- Raphaël
- I am an ex- master mariner. I worked for 12 years in the merchant marine. I quit in 1999 and started teaching French and English in Cusco (Peru) where I moved with my Peruvian wife. I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I love animals and plants I have presently 15 pets home and more than 400 plants.
Raphael,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points about using video and PowerPoint. Have you considered using PowerPoint in an interactive way. For example, for vocabulary acquisition, I have had students create 10 slides for 10 words; each slide has a picture that represents the meaning of the vocabulary word and maybe a close sentence where they can fill-in the missing word or the definition and they must guess the word, etc. Then they can set up the answers with custom animation and, with a group, play the presentation and their group members guess the words.
I do it first as a whole class example and then set them off to make a presentaiton themselves. These kinds of interactive uses of PowerPoint work very well with large classes and bring in different lerning styles, etc.
Try it.
Sandra