Week 4

During this week’s class, we looked at different digital tools and their integration into the classroom. We considered the significance of adopting a multimodal approach to information delivery, emphasizing the need to incorporate diverse media forms for better learning. The more images associated with descriptive words, the easier the concept is to grasp. For instance, we discussed explaining how a bicycle pump works. With a written description of its processes and an image of the pump, it’s less effective than a written description and step by step images of the pump’s functions. Key media is necessary for better understanding overall.

Our class also highlighted PowerPoint as an often-underestimated tool with immense potential in the classroom. While other animation and video software can be costly and challenging to master, PowerPoint stands out as a cost-effective and accessible alternative. It has a capacity for animations and slide customization, which makes it appealing to me a future teacher as a way to engage my students. It can be used to create simple worksheets or printables.

We also discussed other graphic creation tools to use in teaching. For example, we highlighted the use of word clouds and distilling clouds into graphics to demonstrate and express big ideas in learning . This could be used to make your own Wordle which, as a language teacher, will be beneficial in my future classrooms. Having a more visually-engaging and multimodal tool to use with my students, or have them try out themselves to practice vocabulary, would stimulate classroom learning in a better way than traditional methods. Furthermore, using something like photoshop in teaching would also be beneficial as it could be used to embellish images, making them humorous or edited to be more relevant to class content. As a potential assignment, students could use photoshop in Spanish class to create a powerpoint slide of what to do in a Spanish-speaking country and photoshop themselves in various tourist destinations. This would engage them with technology in different ways than a classic PowerPoint.