PowerPoint for Teachers: Dynamic Presentations and Interactive Classroom Projects (Grades K-12) (Jossey-Bass Teacher),   ISBN:9780787997175

Customer Rating: 

I found this book to be a very helpful reference tool. I work in two elementary schools as a Literacy Coach. My days consist of presenting reading ideas in faculty meetings, teaching reading objectives and reviewing test taking strategies in grades 3-5. I was already familiar with PowerPoint basics. I have put together several presentations for faculty meetings using a standard PowerPoint format. This book refreshed my memory on how to enhance my presentations by adding video clips, sound, etc... It also showed me step by step how to create PowerPoints to use with students in the classroom for building background knowledge, test reviews, etc... In order to get the attention of today's students, technology is a must. This book helps the teacher stay current.

Customer Rating: 

I am a 10-12 educator with experience in PowerPoint and computers, so it seemed like it was time to expand my ideas and my experience. This book did that. I skipped the chapters for the "newbies" but noticed that the presentation was easy to follow; I appreciated this when I got into the programing part!

I went right to linked slides--making slides with answer buttons that give you a "well done" or "do over" slide. I made a fun presentation on the primary colors of light for my Desktop Publishing class. The students had to pick the primary and secondary colors, read explanations, and see examples. They told me that they liked it. One boy (a WOW gamer) commented, "I get to guess the colors! Cool!" They all liked the independence it gave them--being able to go through the presentation on their own.

My next project was the graded test. Ms. Finkelstein says to give this chapter a generous amount of time; I support that view. However, I liked this part the best. It was a very one-thing-at-a-time explanation. Thank goodness. Lots of titles and subtitles for easy back and forth reading. So I made my multiple choice test on American Transcendentalism! The students liked that, too.

The authors have good chapters on interactive presentations and non-linear organization; these ideas transfer to all lesson-planning. My next dive will be into menu-based projects. I look forward to that!