G-Rated Tips for OS X

Tech Goes Western

When considering tech topics that we offer to our students, the title of a certain spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood comes to mind.

The Good

A good lesson relates to the technology needs of the student. Teachers can incorporate word processing skills into PowerPoint notes pages, teach skills to edit digital photographs or scanned images, explore Excel to generate data charts that are merged into Word documents and more.

The Bad

When teachers underestimate the needs or skill levels of their students and spend too much valuable time reviewing basic computer skills, the bad lesson plan appears. Teachers should review their lesson content at the end of the day and note what worked, what could be combined and shortened and what changes should be made to the lesson for the next time.

The Ugly

The ugly shows up in our thoughts when teachers realize the content depth, instruction steps or application use just completely missed the needs of the students. All teachers have these nightmares occasionally; it comes with the territory. First, determine specifically what areas to revamp — ask for student input too. Second, realize a bad presentation can be fixed and everyone will survive. Finally, accept the challenge to make the next lesson the best one possible.

To help prevent the ugly from occurring, try the following Web sites:     

wneo.org/staff/mariaweb1.htm

www.kidzonline.org/LessonPlans

www.education-world.com 

www.pbs.org/teachersource

www.teach-nology.com

www.coollessons.org/coolunits.htm

www.4teachers.org

www.teachnet.com/lesson

ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/index.html

www.loc.gov/folklife/vets

www.electricteacher.com/newteacher