Useful websites for an Educator

For me, the best 2 useful websites for teaching are the following:

1. http://www.edutopia.org

• A good website for all educators because I can merely see the vision of powerful teaching and learning. It's actually applying an innovate teaching to students wherein they are visualizing the real world in education with the use of technology.It empowered education to change for the better in a high tech form of teaching. Looking at the overview, there are 6 core concepts that will help students to be more motivated to learn, and reach the level of high learning and for the teachers, it helps them to be more energized and assertive to teach.Through the core concepts, it will help students to increase their capacity to learn online.It helps the students to gain knowledge in a truly interdisciplinary fashion; explore real world problems and challenges; they re more likely to stay engaged and on task, reducing behavioral problems in the classroom; develop the skills to manage their emotions, resolve conflict nonviolently, and make responsible decisions. Thus, this kind of tool will bring both the teachers and students into a better learning compared the traditional form of teaching. It is a student-centered activity. All the works, projects and activities are done by the students instead by the teachers. Students learn more through exploration like the way they are doing their project wherein they have the knowledge and skill to create a project with the use of their different multiple intelligences. At the same time, teachers are becoming effective to use this kind of tool that will help them to expand the boundaries of their creativity and the students' creativity, beyond the walls of the classroom.
• Therefore, this website helps make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun, and ultimately move them toward greater and higher learning.

2. http://www.iknowthat.com/com

• This is a good website for kids because you will find here full of fun and interesting learning activities in different subjects. As a Grade school teacher, I would encourage my co-teachers to supplement their lesson plans with activities and games from this website or use this tool in their teaching because it helps students to be more attentive, excited, interested and motivated. They would understand the concepts/lessons clearly if it is presented to them in a way of game activity because they interact and learn together. It is somewhat a game but students learn a lot through interacting in a certain game. This will be a good tool for grade school students to develop a mastery skill in a certain subject.
  

How to improve your teaching practices using MS PowerPoint

PowerPoint is really a big help especially in presenting your lessons because it helps you to create, organize, illustrate and deliver your ideas formally and professionally. It simply allows you to produce web presentations, overhead transparencies and more creative and comprehensive presentations. Using PowerPoint in common classroom tasks improves the teachers' teaching, as well as, it makes instruction more dynamic and interesting to today's computer-savvy students.

The following ways can be improved your teaching practices using PowerPoint:

• Put your opening activity or warm-up on PowerPoint instead of the overhead. As students share their responses, add them to the next slide that teach them new ideas and concepts to students. (Presentation the flow of lessons/ activities)
• Presenting lessons through the use of PowerPoint can be in many ways such as presenting the concepts, pictures and activities. It enables you to prepare quality visual aids using computer technology. it can be used to display diagrams, graphs, charts, tables and photographs.
• Prepare lectures in PowerPoint. Adding pictures and short video clips makes the presentation truly multimedia and more fully engages students in the material. Instructional goals will be met while multiple learning styles are addressed.
• Use the website links that can also be added to presentations. For example: Take a virtual tour inZamboanga City or browsing an online biography of an author will be a click away. Post links so that they are available to students who want to explore the sites more deeply.
• Post all PowerPoint presentations on a class website. Students can revisit material from home or in the library. Absent students can also access the class presentation while they are at home or sick.
• Create your own games to review and practice the concepts to students beacause students love team competitions and more visual students can easily see the questions and answers.
• PowerPoint presentations are great for reviewing ideas which have already been taught. After the students have learned and practiced something, it is good to see a presentation. Not only do students find this interesting, but it is also a good way to check and see if they have mastered a concept. Thus, PowerPoint presentations are also good ways to review before a test.
• Design any types of tests or evaluation through the use of PowerPoint.
• Design a tutorial or activity on any topics.

Therefore, through the help of PowerPoint, it builds the self-esteem and confidence of the teachers in tecahing the concepts/lessons to their students. It has a big impact to stduents because it arouses their attention to learn and understand more.