PowerPoint in the Classroom

I remember using PowerPoint in school starting at the beginning of high school. Most teachers did not use it, but all students were encouraged to use it for presentations. I do not remember being taught how to use PowerPoint but by seeing other people presenting with it, I became more interested. I am a crafty person, so I would have rather done a poster and presented that way. Once I started using PowerPoint, I could not imagine using anything else. My roommate freshman year in college had never used PowerPoint until sophomore or junior year in college. This was surprising to me but I guess it depends on the money available to schools for technology and exposure to the program. I definitely see the educational merit of PowerPoint because I have experienced it as a student and a “teacher-in-training”. I have used PowerPoint numerous times to do presentations in high school, college, and graduate school. There are so many possibilities for the presenter to organize the information and for the audience to pay attention to the presentation. The article I found focused on exactly what I was searching for: using PowerPoint for instruction with students with disabilities. The studies discussed using PowerPoint for: letter-sound recognition using color and narration, reading decoding, social stories, and books. I like how the article provided a lot of useful information and practical applications for PowerPoint. Also, there were examples of slides created during the study for each use. This program gives students a way to interact with new information and have a “tech-savvy”, hands-on approach to learning. I really enjoyed this article since it gives reliable, teacher tested information, practical applications, examples, and step-by-step directions. Coleman, M.B. (2009). "powerpoint" is not just for business presentations and college lectures: using "powerpoint" to enhance instruction for students with disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children PLUS, 6. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.baypath.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ875424&site=ehost-live