Visual Teaching Strategies and Use of the Internet in the Classroom

Students today are exposed to so many tech gadgets. Most of them have cell phones, Ipods, Ipads, and play video games. They are reading on these devices or their laptops and PCs and rarely pick up a magazine or book. How do I or any other teacher keep the attention of these digital age learners? It isn't easy! We have to "jazz" up our lesson plans and classroom projects. A simple way to add some spice to your curriculum is to incorporate visuals. This can be done several ways. When students are working in groups, allow them to organize their ideas using graphic organizers. Inspiration is a great program for students to develop graphic organizers using text and graphics. If possible, set up learning centers in your classroom. Learning centers can address student diversity and multiple learning styles. Use posters and pictures to describe the task at each center. Provide visual examples of projects whether it be photos or videos or both. If you have access to a Smart board in your room, use it to demonstrate and project videos and images. Also, use the Internet! The information available to us is endless. We can find pictures, interviews, and videos of just about anything we need. I am working on a Masters in Technology through Grand Canyon University. One of our discussion forums involved sharing ways we use visuals in our classroom. One post discussed using videos and pictures as writing topics. They would show a clip of a video or post a picture and the students would do a journal entry or write a short essay describing what they think is taking place. I would like to try this in my classroom. I don't teach writing but I think our students need every opportunity to work on writing skills. I could use this as a class opening to a topic or maybe do one every Friday. I haven't figured it out yet. I've learned so many things in my courses at GCU that I plan to completely rewrite all my lesson plans so I can incorporate my new knowledge. Hopefully, I can use the summer to get organized and maybe my students will be more excited about learning next year.

The Internet provides a teacher and classroom with endless information. It is definitely a learning tool that needs to be put to use when appropriate. The Internet allows teachers to move away from the traditional classroom where they are always the "giver" of information. The Internet allows the students to be highly engaged in the learning process. Students also become teachers. I for one can say I have learned lots of techno stuff from my students, especially when it comes to using my cell phone! They know everything. They have grown up with it and aren't afraid to "play around" with technology and the Internet. I am an old dog that has to be pushed to learn new tricks. I enjoy learning from them and I think it helps open up class discussions and communication in general with my students. If students know they are going to get to use the Internet for a project, they become much more excited than if you took them to the library to check out periodicals. The challenge is to teach them how to find and sort through all the information. Thus, the teacher still serves as the guide and it's not total chaos. The Internet also allows students to connect with students in other states and countries. This is one way I plan to use the Internet in my classroom next year. I want to incorporate epals and communicate with another classroom hopefully in another country. I think this would be awesome and the students would love it and learn at the same time. I think the Internet will continue to impact education for a long time to come!

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."   Blaise Pascal

I found this video interesting and wanted to post it for you to view. I don't know how budgets are in your district but ours is very tight. There is even talk of cutting teacher salaries, coaching supplements, and possibly positions. Hope you enjoy this "sarcastic" take on teacher salaries!