Area 3 Writing Project Blog

The five days have flown by…and what an amazing week it has been. Please jump in and share your thoughts on Telling Stories in a Digital Age.

I’m sitting in an A3WP tech workshop brainstorming with our summer institute teachers about what makes a PowerPoint presentation ineffective, boring, confusing and/or painful to sit through.

Here are some of our thoughts:

• Too much writing on a slide
• Horrid color combinations
• Background sounds
• Spelling and grammar errors
• Too many objects or words flying in

Don McMillan’s MySpace video does a great job of summing up bad PowerPoints –

Check out some excellent PowerPoint DOs and DON’Ts resources posted by Prairie Lands Writing Project’s Mark Henderson.  Check back soon for a link to Bee Foster’s handout of PowerPoint do’s and dont’s.

I’m posting the newest version of Karl Fisch’s wonderful – just keeps getting better – Did You Know video because it was probably the most uploaded video in today’s session.

Here’’s the slideshow I’ve been using to introduce WebQuests.

| View | Upload your own

I’m starting to gather my favorite websites for teachers and students. I’ll start with one of my favorites:

1. Library of Congress American Memory Project
2. Sharon King has annotated a list for elementary teachers
3. Ms. Dhanda’s  top 10 favorites
4. Lot 49’s top 10

How can blogs help students and teachers? What are some of your thoughts and ideas?Download Video: Posted by rachelboyd at TeacherTube.com.

Welcome to the A3WP Blog Community, a place to explore teaching, learning, and writing in the 21st century! Please take a moment to share some of your thoughts, hopes, or concerns about the use of technology in today’s classrooms.