Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Another Way to Use PPT

In response to Mark and Christine - using PowerPoint in a different way.

This is so true guys. And Mark - you mentioned that boys love this type of writing - and so do girls. And better yet, they all love READING this type of writing. Some call it cartoons, some call it graphic stories, others refer to it as comics. Whatever you call it - the kids love it, and it's a great way to get them to read. If you've ever heard of the "Bone" books by Jeff Smith, you'll know how popular this type of writing/reading is! During any given week, at leave five of my students will sign out a Bone book from the library. Excellent!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Assignment 5 - Rationale

Assignment 5 – Presentation Software
PowerPoint Presentation – Julia Borrelli
O’Siem – by Susan Aglukark


Rationale:

Every month at the Catholic school where I teach, we have a “Community Celebration” – a school-wide assembly, honouring students who have volunteered, helped out, or stood out in some way over the month. Each month it is the responsibility of one class to ‘direct’ this assembly – putting together all the thank you announcements and awards of recognition. For the month of March, it is my turn (along with my class) to organize the Community Assembly. Since it will take place during Race Relations week in Sioux Lookout, I thought it would be appropriate to present a slideshow to the entire school that represents anti-racism, togetherness, and cultural diversity.

The following PowerPoint presentation uses a song and lyrics by Susan Aglukark – a Canadian singer/song writer who infuses her music with Aboriginal culture and the Iniktitut language. The phrase “O’Siem” is a shout for joy in Inuktitut, and it’s a song that attempts to break down the barriers felt by many Native people. This presentation is something that I will show to the entire school during our Race Relations week in March; a week where we have different activities that will help break down the walls of racism and bring awareness to students and community members. Some activities that take place during Race Relations week at our school include bannock baking, Pow Wows, Smudge Ceremonies, and bringing Elders in from the community to talk about their experiences with Residential schools and the prejudices they feel.

Information about the Artist and Song:

“(Susan) Aglukark's lyrics have included personal stories and social commentary on issues such as child abuse, alcoholism and suicide that have plagued many First Nations communities. Her album This Child combined contemporary melodies, traditional Inuk chants, modern lyrics and Inuit culture and folklore. The song "O Siem" described some of the racism and prejudice in her community, and "Shamaya" combined folklore and personal observations to describe a traditional Inuit hunt. "Hina Na Ho" drew a striking analogy between the harsh Arctic winter and the challenges experienced by many people in northern Canada.”

(http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0003989)

Notes about the PowerPoint Presentation:

¤ At the time of submission, the song “O’Siem” plays through the entire slide show
¤ The slide transitions match with the lyrics (text) on each slide
¤ I am really hoping this works – and that you see what I see!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

More on Spec. Ed.

In response to David...Isn't it difficult/frustrating to know where your students are at and to try to help them when they are often being withdrawn and 'dealt with' in the spec. ed. department only? I can only imagine how you feel about your students trying to make it in highschool. I'm sure you're doing a great job at preparing them for what's coming - huge changes ahead!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Plethora of PowerPoint

Wow, Shane - this definitely is a HUGE amount of slideshows to view. This site gave me some great ideas for the presentation assignment coming up. It's definitely a website that gives great examples of the many things PowerPoint can do! Thanks for sharing this, I added it to my favourites so I can show my class powerpoint presentations when they relate to what we are doing in class. Thank yoU!

Ebooks...

David, this website looks like a great place where people can learn about the benefits to using Ebooks. Going through the site and your summative posting, it is easy to see that every teacher can use ebooks within their classrooms and expect great results. I'm not sure how things are in your school, but in my school, the special education programming takes place pretty well completely within the spec. ed. department. Meaning that the students are often removed from the classroom in order to have their special ed. programming take place. So I think it's easy for teachers to forget how easy it can be to provide accommodated or moderated programming for students who are struggling - especially if the onus has been taken off them in the past. But this site makes things very clear as to what we can do with ebooks, and why they are important for students who learn differently. Thanks for the share!

Benetton - Flipbook

In response to Keethai's discovery of Benetoon's "Flipbook" website.

Keethai - I have never heard of this website, and I think this has very much to do with our current topic. It seems like a great place for students to be able to express themselves through creative images and in a sense, presentations. From what I can see, children are able to create their own drawings and pictures and then use those to establish their own flipbook - which is most definitely a visual presentation. The only thing that would make it even better is if students could import sound bites. From what I could tell, this is something that hasn't been established on the site yet - but I could be wrong. I just think adding sound would make things even more creative. And you're right, Keethai, this does match completely with the curriculum expectations and even goes along with much of the literacy curriculum as well.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Inspiration

This is a posting I created in response to Patricia's find about Inspiration presentation software.

Patricia - thanks for letting us know about another presentation software. To be quite honest, I know no other presentation software programs other than Microsoft PowerPoint or MovieMaker, so to have another one brought to my attention is a great thing. I especially enjoy how the link discusses the different types of presentations you could create using Inspiration. It actually takes you through step-by-step, the different types of presentations, and the reasons and different contexts for which to use each one. I think this link is very helpful for people who want to broaden their horizons and move beyond the PowerPoint mind frame. Great find - thanks!