PowerPoints

PowerPoint’s are an easy and organised way to display information to a certain audience. I have seen PowerPoint’s used for presentations at university, TAFE, school, group assignment presentations and in workshops. They have all been displayed in different ways and a variety of animation tools have been added along the way. When designing a PowerPoint extras can be added to each slide including animation tools, music, videos or pictures. When the PowerPoint is being designed these ‘little extras’ can be added to the PowerPoint to cater for all learners, to hook them back into the lesson and just make the presentation interesting rather than blocks of information on each slide for the students to read.

Using PowerPoint would be an effective tool to use in my classroom as I would use a variety of animations to make sure all learners are able to understand the information. Video clips can also be added into the presentation to show examples or explain it in further detail. PowerPoint’s cater for the learners with multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) and also the digital learners who are becoming more common in classrooms today.

I have not yet created a PowerPoint to be used in the classroom, however earlier in the year I assisted my Mentor Teacher in creating a PowerPoint for Mothers Day. It included taking photos of the children in the class and asking them what they loved about their mother. This was then compiled into a PowerPoint with the child’s photo and their comments about their mother on the same slide. Relaxing music was added to the PowerPoint to create an impact upon the Mothers. It was important that the music was not too loud or overpowering so conversation could still continue. The children also were included in the PowerPoint process and they got to choose which animation tool would start off their slide (Words and picture bouncing on screen or moving on slowly). This would be displayed on the Mothers Day afternoon in the classroom for the mothers to view.

This is one I created to show an example of what it looked like. The PowerPoint was very successful and from comments made by Mothers they said they felt very ‘valued’ and ‘special’.

During my research I found a very useful resource which I have added to my collection about tips to use when creating a PowerPoint, it is called PowerPoint Tips and Tricks. I suggest you go and have a look when creating your next PowerPoint Presentation.

I should also add that the PowerPoint music was created by the Senior School Concert band. All legal issues were covered!

- Natalie

Reference List
A Bit Better. (n.d.) PowerPoint Tips & Tricks. Retrieved August 8, 2009, from http://www.bitbetter.com/powertips.htm

Gardner, H. (1983). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved August 8, 2009, from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm