Tips for Using PowerPoint in the Classroom
You want your presentations to be engaging for your students. PowerPoint provides a lot of opportunities for realizing this.
1. Use different types of media.
This is one of the big benefits of using PowerPoint, why would you skip it? Whenever possible, include relevant images, videos, and audio clips. All these elements will make it easier for students to keep their attention on you and the material. We all know how hard it can be to stay focused throughout a lecture, let this be your (not-so) secret weapon to keep students attentive throughout the class.
2. Build in opportunities for class interaction.
Make sure your presentations aren’t just about you talking at your students. Slip in some slides with questions for them to answer, or activities for them to complete and participate in. Don’t treat passive learning as the default; let your PowerPoint use be an opportunity to encourage more active learning.
3. Try new techniques.
Be willing to experiment and see what your class likes. Pay attention to how they respond to different types of videos and activities. You can use what you learn to make your PowerPoint presentations consistently more effective over time.
4. Let your students take the helm sometimes.
Working with PowerPoint is a great skill for students to learn. The ability to bring in different types of media lets them stretch their creativity, and the practice of speaking in front of a classroom helps them develop those crucial communication skills that all people need in life.
5. Add some personality into the presentation.
You don’t have to stick to the dry facts in the textbook. Feel free to let some humor in, or include the occasional cute animal picture or video to keep students paying attention. Students will only get more out of lesson if they’re able to have some fun with the material.
What Not to Do While Using PowerPoint
Of course, not everyone loves PowerPoint. The tool has become a bit of a punch line in some circles for its association with boring meetings and insufferable presentations. That has less to do with the tool itself than how some people use it. To keep your PowerPoint presentations from falling into punchline territory, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Don’t just fill your slides with all the text you plan to say out loud in class.
Don’t forget to proof read – you don’t want to realize you skipped you made a mistake or skipped over something vital in the middle of the lesson.
Don’t overdo the use of images or colors. You don’t want the presentation to be unpleasant to look at.
Don’t use font types students may find hard to read.
Tools For Giving Presentations in the Classroom
We’ve been talking so far like Microsoft’s PowerPoint application is the only game in town, but you have other options that can accomplish something similar. Some of these tools can help you get more out of PowerPoint; others may serve you well as an alternative.
PhotoPeach
For teachers who want to get their students working with presentations more, PhotoPeach can be a useful tool. Anyone can sign up for a free account on their site, but the real benefit they provide for teachers is in the Class Premium account, which lets you have some centralized control over all the student accounts and track, view, and share the presentations, as appropriate. Class premium accounts start a $9 a month.
Slideshare.net
Slideshare.net is a free tool that allows you and your students to share your presentations, either publicly or with select people. If you want to make presentations available to parents, other educators, or give students a space where they can comment on each other’s work, Slideshare.net puts those options into your hands for free.
In Conclusion
Presentations can easily become something boring that students will dread, or they can become something so much more. You have access to the means to spice up your lectures and presentations to keep students more engaged in the classroom. It just takes a little bit of creativity and experimentation. Good luck!
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