I had a love/hate relationship with the assignment this week.
In a way, it was so much fun to create a fun slideshow. To play with the colors, the fonts, the pictures and everything else to create something that was simultaneously educational and enjoyable to look at and to read.
At the same time, it was extremely time consuming to make all the small changes and alterations to turn the slides into exactly what I wanted them to be. Even still, I keep catching small things every time I look at it that I think I want to change slightly. Then, the next time, I change it back to how it was before. It is not perfect, but I think that it was a good first attempt.
I did have some thoughts while I was creating my Google Slides presentation though. When I first started exploring Google Slides, I saw that there was an add-on for PearDeck which I promptly tried to download and use. I have seen PearDeck used in practice by a teacher whose classroom I observed. She was kind enough to take the time to show me the basics of what can be done with the program and let me work with it a little as they were using it in class. So, I had filed away the words PearDeck both in my head and my Teacher Toolkit and was excited to try it out, but I could not get it to work. I am not sure if the add-on is not available with the free option. I plan to look into it more later. I am actually hoping that our next assignment might be to go further into Google Slides.
Also, I really realized how terrible I am at simplicity. It really is something that I need to work on. I chose a very basic, easy topic purposefully (I originally had a more expansive one and scrapped it). I planned to add a short video in the end to keep myself from going really in depth. I still went to in-depth. My 5 planned slides turned into 12 slides (including title and sources) and I managed to cut it down to 8, but it was really hard for me.
Overall, I think that using slides would be a great way to present independent lessons. I also think it would be a great addition to teacher directed instruction, when that instruction seems necessary. I really think it will be an especially great addition when I learn how to add ways for immediate feedback and participation to the slides. I plan to make slideshows for a variety of topics over time just to have. I may not always use them, but, especially if I design them to be independent lessons, they would be great to have on days where planned lessons might fall through or I wake up sick and need a sub and a plan for students to learn and not lose a valuable day of instruction.
My second attempt at Google slides: Who was Gregor Mendel?
In a way, it was so much fun to create a fun slideshow. To play with the colors, the fonts, the pictures and everything else to create something that was simultaneously educational and enjoyable to look at and to read.
At the same time, it was extremely time consuming to make all the small changes and alterations to turn the slides into exactly what I wanted them to be. Even still, I keep catching small things every time I look at it that I think I want to change slightly. Then, the next time, I change it back to how it was before. It is not perfect, but I think that it was a good first attempt.
I did have some thoughts while I was creating my Google Slides presentation though. When I first started exploring Google Slides, I saw that there was an add-on for PearDeck which I promptly tried to download and use. I have seen PearDeck used in practice by a teacher whose classroom I observed. She was kind enough to take the time to show me the basics of what can be done with the program and let me work with it a little as they were using it in class. So, I had filed away the words PearDeck both in my head and my Teacher Toolkit and was excited to try it out, but I could not get it to work. I am not sure if the add-on is not available with the free option. I plan to look into it more later. I am actually hoping that our next assignment might be to go further into Google Slides.
Also, I really realized how terrible I am at simplicity. It really is something that I need to work on. I chose a very basic, easy topic purposefully (I originally had a more expansive one and scrapped it). I planned to add a short video in the end to keep myself from going really in depth. I still went to in-depth. My 5 planned slides turned into 12 slides (including title and sources) and I managed to cut it down to 8, but it was really hard for me.
Overall, I think that using slides would be a great way to present independent lessons. I also think it would be a great addition to teacher directed instruction, when that instruction seems necessary. I really think it will be an especially great addition when I learn how to add ways for immediate feedback and participation to the slides. I plan to make slideshows for a variety of topics over time just to have. I may not always use them, but, especially if I design them to be independent lessons, they would be great to have on days where planned lessons might fall through or I wake up sick and need a sub and a plan for students to learn and not lose a valuable day of instruction.
My second attempt at Google slides: Who was Gregor Mendel?
Glad to see you remembered the labels/tags for you blog post.
ReplyDeleteDon't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It is difficult to keep it simple and you almost always see the flaws, most of the time others won't so don't sweat the small stuff.
I think your presentation turned out just fine.