Weird Richard News Update

Sent Date

03-16-02

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TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY UPDATE

A weekly newsletter for families and educators committed to
building brighter futures for kids in a technology-rich society.
THIS WEEK: Classroom Integration Strategies Continued!!

This week's sponsor message from Edventures Online, preparing
students for future success, today!

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TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY THIS WEEK

This is the third week in our series on integrating technology
into the classroom. Making the most of your time in an already
packed day is a challenge, but integration strategies help you
to accomplish your regular curriculum objectives and also
address necessary technology standards! This week we're
taking a look at presentation software, the last of the "Big
Three!"

THE BIG THREE Part 3 (Students Ages 8 and Older)

The formula for overall success is to first incorporate the
tools that students will be using all their life. These tools
become "enabling technologies" that help students acquire other
technical skills more easily. These "enabling technologies are
not mysterious -- they are the software typically used every
day: 1) word processors; 2) spreadsheets; and 3) presentation
packages. This week, we round out our look at these foundations
for success with a look at presentation software.

Important Note: If you are working with younger students (K-2),
your primary focus needs to be on basic computer literacy skills
including basic computer components, basic operating system
functions, and basic keyboarding. These foundation skills need
to be in place first! Our next series, beginning next week,
will introduce activities designed for K-2 students.

PRESENTATION SOFTWARE

Presentation software includes the ubiquitous Microsoft
Powerpoint, Sun's Star Office, and other packages and can also
include HTML authoring tools. The role of presentation
software is broad and it can be used to help streamline student
notetaking procedures, introduce more gripping visuals when
illustrating concepts, and to help students organize their
thoughts more clearly. Since the basic premise of presentation
software is to improve the quality of "presentation" it's a
perfect application to integrate into many of your regular
teaching activities. Through regular usage and exposure
students will become more familiar with the potential of the
software. They will begin to naturally apply this deeper
understanding to their own presentations.

TRY THIS IN YOUR CLASS OR HOME THIS WEEK!

Use these two basic strategies to get started with presentation
software in your teaching exercises. Once you get started
natural extensions and applications will quickly become
apparent to you!

1) Use a presentation software package and projection aid to
present one of your regular activities in math, science, etc.
Schedule this on a weekly basis so that students become used to
seeing you use the presentation software.

2) Modify this as necessary depending on your available
computer resources, but assign projects to be produced using a
presentation software package. These projects can be any of the
regular assignments you are already requiring of your students,
but embed the technical literacy element by integrating the use
of this software. These projects can range from book reports to
creative fiction to science demonstrations -- let your students
get creative!

Through this simple integration of presentation software into
your regular teaching regimen, you can accomplish a great deal
in terms of boltering technological literacy in your students.
It's easy and fun, so don't hesitate to try it soon!

NEXT WEEK K-2 INTEGRATION STRATEGIES!!

We hope that this week's newsletter has been useful to you in
your educational pursuits. In the coming weeks we will continue
this series on integration strategies that can help merge your
current lessons with technological applications. Together, we
can build a brighter future for students around the world by
preparing them to use technology as naturally as they use a
pencil and paper!

Until next week!

Technological Literacy Update

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