PowerPoint

PowerPoint can be one of the most powerful tools for providing information in the classroom.  PowerPoint can accomdate all learning styles and needs.  PowerPoint can be fun for the students to watch when used in moderation.  You don't want to overload a students mind with too much information at once.

Even though I am not teaching yet, I did have the opportunity when I was in one of my teaching classes in EKU to make a powerpoint and present it to a kindergarten classroom while doing observations.  The powerpoint was over ABC's! Simple and fun for the kids!  The presentation was very bright, very animated and lost of colors to catch there eyes.  I did not use the simple A is for Apple and all that stuff.  What I decided to do was different.  For each letter, I used a photo that had been taken by me, either of a person, place, or object.  I came up with creative matches to a letter, something real life, something that they could be familiar with.  I also felt that this presentation was personal to me, it showed the students my life and some things that were importatnt to me.  One of the letters that I really had to be creative on was U.  I searched for something unsual and the only thing I could find that was different was U is for Upside down house.  I had taken a picture of the Wonder Works in Pigeon Forge, TN because it was so crazy and it was somehing that you didn't see everyday. The children loved it and said that they wanted to go see it.  I could see there little minds trying to figure out how this house was really upside down.  Also, on each page I had the option to add sound.  I decided to add how you say the letter and what the letters sound like.  At the end of the presentation I had a little game where I would randomly say a letter to see if they remember what picture went with the letter.  Some letters where harder for them to remember but some of the funnier pictures they would remember really well. 

One thing that I really like about powerpoint is that you can print it out and give it to the students so they can go back and look at it.  I think this presentation turned out really well, it placed a letter to a picture that had something in it that started with that letter, so when you say the letter the image will pop into there head; at least that is what I was going for.  I'm really proud of this, if I had it to do over I would just probably update some of the pictures and come up with some different memory games for them to play at the end.