EIFFEL CLUSTER WORKSHOP AGENDA:

Thursday, March 1, 2001
4-6 pm

Teachers College:

50 Thorndike

Reconnecting

We'll take some time to review the lesson strategies that emerged from our last meeting; and respond to any questions or issues that have been raised in the time since we last met.

Next, we'll turn to an exploration of the potential of Power Point and Hyperstudio as an instructional tool. Since these are multimedia tools, they will be a good way to look at the uses of scanning pictures and using the digital camera as an integral part of your lessons. For this project you may wish to bring along some of the resources you have used in the past for a presentation-type lesson which you normally would teach later in the school year, especially if you have images. This will assure that the work you do will have very practical classroom applications.

Tasks and Process

4:00: Log on to the Eiffel Website and locate the agenda from last meeting. Do you have any questions or items that we need to review? Once again think ahead to the development of a final classroom project... Do you have any solid ideas yet?

4:15-4:30:

Using Digital Cameras and Scanner - adding your own images to your documents.
"Cheat Sheet" on How to Insert Images in Word

Demonstration of Power Point

NOTE: Consider bringing along materials that you would normally use to introduce or present one of your fourth marking period topics, themes or units. You might find an opportunity to use these resources as you create the slides you will use in your Power Point presentation

An Introduction for Novice Users
- Introduce yourself using Power Point

As you participate in the activities related to developing an Introduction using a PowerPoint presentation, consider your own work and possible lesson strategies that might make sense for you to explore further

An Activity for the Old Pro's
- If you would prefer to move ahead, use the Resources that you have brought along as well as any sources from the web to create a presentation that you can make in your class later in the school year. If you need a refresher you can consult The Power Point Tutorial.

Using Hyperstudio: A Graphical Tutorial

In this activity, we will be using Hyperstudio as a means of showing how such software tools can be used in the classroom. One very powerful use is to present materials in an exciting and motivating way to your students, challenging them to do so as well (modeling presentation skills). Today we will only practice how to use it, making only three slides. But later you can use this with the materials you are preparing for class, to see how your students react.

Use the Tutorial as your guide. Your task is to make the following three cards:

Cover: should be something attractive, eye-catching, to get students excited about the topic. Your choice of title and graphics will be very important here. After finishing the first card, show it to others in the group to get more ideas.
Table of Contents: this card is actually a menu. This will give an overall picture of what will be covered in the lesson. Each topic can be linked to a specific card that covers that topic more in depth.
Content: this card should cover the topic more in depth. You can use graphics, text, links to URLs... whatever will give your students the information they need.

Your lesson doesn't have to include the information that can be found in a textbook. You can use the cards as a way of presenting your notes, a way of publicizing a project with explanations of student roles - here the Hyperstudio stack would serve as an organizational tool. After you feel comfortable with this software, you can have your students using it as well, producing exciting reports, research, challenges, and much more. Students love using it. It can become their digital portfolio as well.

There are many uses for Hyperstudio. In your logbooks, answer the following and we will discuss this together:

What can Hyperstudio offer me as a tool? What can the students use it for?
Why should I use Hyperstudio instead of pen and paper?
What types of lessons could be enriched with Hyperstudio? Why?
What teaching strategy would be most appropriate to use when using Hyperstudio?

5:45: Logbook Entries/ Reflection/ Application

Evaluate Yourself and Your Progress

How did it go? Do you have a firm project idea yet? Is there a strategy that you might use Power Point to create a demonstration for one of your lessons?
For next time, review the PowerPoint Tutorial and create a series of 5 or more slides relating to a presentation that you would like to make to students later in the year.

6:00 pm Adjourn