One Computer as a Presentation Tool

Electronic Chalkboard/Overhead

• Instead of making overheads or writing on the board, type your outline and/or notes for the day into Microsoft Word or Claris Works and project them onto your screen.  You can even print out copies when absent students ask what they have missed.
• Use images from Web sites as examples.
  • Make science come alive by showing great slides of cells.
  • Check out Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs.
  • Check out ThinkQuest Library of Entries for sites amazing sites created by students.

PowerPoint

• Introduce a topic of study by presenting a PowerPoint to your students.  You can add an extra dimension to an otherwise great lecture!
• Use PowerPoint like a slide show--collect paintings from great artists and create your own classroom art gallery or give students a visual tour of the animal kingdom.
• Here are some examples of other teachers' PowerPoint presentations. We won't get the full effect of their presentations because we can't hear what the teachers say; however, we can get some good ideas.
• Tips and tutorials for creating great PowerPoint presentations:
  • PowerPoint in the Classroom
  • ED596 - PowerPoint Tutorial Home
  • Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Slide Shows for Learning and Training 

Modeling Use of Applications

• Before taking your students to the lab to work with a program or to complete a research assignment, use a projector and your One Computer to model what they will be doing.  This will allow students to ask questions before they reach the lab, which will make things much easier for you.
• Use the following sites for ideas on how to implement Microsoft Office into your classroom.  Many students will appreciate it when you take them step by step through the process before they start on their own.
  • Microsoft in Education Home Page
  • How-to articles from Microsoft

Exploring Books and Sites through Books and Bytes

• Pat Romance and Rita Gyires offer Books and Bytes PDA classes each semester.  Check out the Books and Bytes links in the PDA resources. 

Exploring Resources

• One of the best ways to introduce students to the Web is to find a few great sites that go along with your subject matter and explore them together as a class.  Or, you can give students a brief introduction to the sites and let them explore on their own in the lab on the next day.
  • Unit5 Hotlists
  • Chiddix Junior High School's Curriculum Hotlists
  • Gander Academy's Theme-Related Resources on the World Wide Web
  • Educational Hotlists @ The Franklin Institute
• You can make your own hotlist of appropriate sites using Netscape Composer or Microsoft Front Page.  Download Front Page Express. You may ask us to add it to Unit 5 's site--or just save the file to your desktop or the shared drive and tell students to explore from there.