Microsoft Word has been a part of my life beginning with my younger elementary school years. I started using Microsoft Word to type things such as “spelling test” study guides, daily journals, or any other elementary task required of me. As I advanced from grade to grade and entered my middle school and high school years, I began using Microsoft Word for more advanced things, such as book reports, biographies, or papers in general. I have yet to discover all the things Microsoft Word has to offer and I’m pleased to already have learned a few new techniques in this class. Throughout my years as a student, my teachers never really used Microsoft Word for anything more than what their students used it for. My teachers were never more technologically advanced than the students. I hope to advance my technological skills so that my students can refer to me as the teacher who is “technological savvy.”
One example that Chapter 9 gives to creatively use Microsoft Word in the classroom is the ability to create a school newspaper. I was intrigued that one could do such a complicated task on a program I thought to be so basic. The school newspapers at my school were always so intricate and advanced; I would have never guessed that they were made from Microsoft Word. When I become a teacher I hope to teach my students to construct their very own newspaper discussing topics from class or even assign them a research project using MS word to create a newspaper covering details from their research topic.
I have already learned so many new techniques that I can use in the teaching world with Microsoft Word. One skill that stuck out to me personally was the ability to capture things from the internet and paste them in word or paint. This way, if I see a cool excerpt from a website or a cool picture, I can capture it and then add my own teaching twist to it. I can draw arrows on the picture labeling things, I can write little footnotes inside the picture. I’ve always wanted to do that as a student conducting student presentations, but I never knew how. Now that I know, I will definitely put that skill to good use in the future!
It's interesting that you bring up the ability to do newspaper design. I was just reading on one of our fellow classmate's blogs and he mentioned he has done that. I was unaware you could do that. I used to work on the student newspaper at my community college, but I didn't know you could do something so complicated on a program like MS word.
ReplyDelete