Alabama Virtual Library as a Teaching Tool

I think it is absolutely necessary to begin teaching students at a young age how to research on the internet, and Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is a wonderful and safe way for the students to learn this process. Today in school we are expected to research for writing papers or doing projects, but most of us had to figure out the process by ourselves, and I think that if we begin teaching children how to do this early, and on a safe website, they will be more efficent when they actually have to start doing it. Alabama Virtual library is a website that connects everyone in the state of Alabama to a website that is loaded with information for everyone from Elementary to College level, and also has search engines that will give you accurate information.

Powerpoint Presentation as a Teaching Tool

I believe that powerpoint presentation is a wonderful tool for teaching both younger and older children. I believe that powerpoint presentation is a great way to emphasize the important information of a lesson, and at the same time cut out some of the information that is not so important. I really think that students learn more from a powerpoint presentation than they learn from just reading the chapter in their book. Some subjects have so much information that its hard to remember all of it, so by doing a presentation they focus on what is important in the chapter and are more likely to remember more information. It is just a huge help when teaching subjects like Social studies, or science.

Google Documents as Teaching Tools

Google documents is a great teaching tool for sudents and teachers. Google has many different advantages. I truly believe that once you reach High School, you are definately going to need microsoft office, but while in elementary school, you will probably not use the computer too often. If you are not going to use it very much, why would you buy Microsoft office, which is expensive and will most likely be out of date by the time they need it, then you would have to buy it a newer version. Google Documents, on the other hand, are absolutely free, all you need is a gmail account. Google documents doesn't have all the features of Microsoft office, but it has the basic functions that are necessary for what you need to do. Also, Google documents is web based, which means that it is saved on the google website instead of your computer, so if your computer crashes your work will still be there with google docs, where as it may or may not be if you are using Microsoft office. Finally, my favorite function, is the autosave function. Google docs automatically saves your work for you, unlike microsoft office. With googles autosave function, if you forget to save the information and your interent dies, all work up to the last time it saved will be there, but with microsoft office, you have to manually save your information every so often or it will be completely gone if something happens. Google docs also has all the same things as Microsoft office, such as, word processor, powerpoint, spreadsheet, etc.. Google docs is just a wonderful tool, and really, who doesn't like free stuff?

Podcasts as Teaching Tools

I believe that podcast are also wonderful teaching tools. Podcast can be used to make announcements for parents. I'm sure that even though you tell the students what to tell their parents when they get home, it most likely is repeated wrong when they get there. The technology that is available to us today is a wonderful way to keep parents informed, so why wouldn't you use it. I also believe that anything you do to get the parents interested in helping the children, will only help the students achieve their academic goals. Podcast can be used for multiple uses such as, announcements, homework, teaching parents the basics on a lesson they went over that day, etc. Technology is making communication between parents, students, and teachers easier and more open.

Blogs as Teaching Tools

I believe that blogs are an excellent teaching tool. Blogs are an excellent way to keep the parents informed about what is going on in the school and classroom. Blogs can be used to post class newsletters, homework assignments, test dates, important announcements, and also materials that were used in class that day. Blogs would be very helpful and informative for parents. Knowing exactly what their children are supposed to be doing, and also being able to see for themselves materials used by teachers or read for themselves announcements from the teacher would take a lot of stress away from the parents. I also think that by allowing parents insight into the classroom would, most likely, increase the students academic performance.