Using Powerpoint To Enhance Teaching & Learning

Using Powerpoint To Enhance Teaching & Learning James George Garden International School

Rationale: Powerpoint is a useful visual tool for imparting information. However, it was clearly designed for business rather than educational use. If used in the manner for which it was designed it becomes very passive for pupils: they watch & listen whilst the teacher talks through each slide – in the way in which they might do if the teacher had written notes on the board. In effect, chalk & talk (only the teacher doesn’t do any writing). Therefore teachers without interactive whiteboards have to be a little more inventive in the way they use powerpoint to get pupils to interact with what is being projected, and not let the information flow over them while they sit back and relax / switch off.

This session is NOT about learning how to make slide presentations but rather to give some ideas in using powerpoint in a more interactive way. It should be remembered that Powerpoint (and indeed all ICT) should be used as a tool to assist us in our teaching and should not be employed for the sake of it. • none of the ideas are particularly innovative, they are the sorts of tasks that good teachers will use in normal day-to-day lessons. • many of the ideas are the sorts of things that interactive whiteboards do or could be done using an OHT. • they should save time in the long run, avoid giving out photocopies / textbooks & are a durable resource that can be easily shared / distributed to others etc. • they should hopefully be visually stimulating than photocopies • they can (should?) often be very short – I tend to use them in the majority of lessons but usually only for a small segment therefore most of this session will focus on small powerpoints for particular parts of a lesson e.g. starters. They can be constructed very quickly.

Starters • Powerpoints are particularly useful for ISMs: visual or audio and can be used in a variety of ways • Can also help access and reinforce prior knowledge e.g. bingo, splat, odd ones out

What questions would we ask about this picture? A simple picture; the pupils think of questions they would like answered. In a plenary at the end of the lesson they can see which they have found out.

What is happening in this picture? • This is a picture of students going to Central School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 • The Governor and many of the people of Arkansas did not want black & white children mixing at schools • Nine black students tried to attend the school but were threatened by whites • They had to be protected by soldiers for a year Similar to previous, only questions are answered straight away leading into the main topic of the lesson, in this case, civil rights

What is happening in the pictures? What does that suggest? Berlin London

Who is this? Using shapes, you can ‘hide’ elements of a picture, scene or text until they are ready to be revealed, prompting discussion.

Establishing a range of possible interpretations: the pupils use their current knowledge to select the most appropriate and see if this changes by the end of the lesson. What was Mussolini’s role in the Fascist State? Which of these three models was most likely to develop?

A short clip can be included instead of pictures. Pupils can be asked to work out what they think is happening. This could also be repeated as a plenary with pupils adding commentary to the clip.

Hitler’s Germany • A simple grid can be used in a variety of ways: • For bingo – pupils select 10 answers, teacher reads descriptions, pupils cross off corresponding answers • To play ‘splat’ – two pupils stand near the board, teacher reads out description first to put their hand on the correct answer wins • To play ‘sticky ball’ – teacher throws ball to student and asks question, if pupil knows answer they throw the ball to hit the correct answer square, or pass to another pupils to ‘challenge’ them. • This can also be used as a plenary and / or revision

Discussing visual and / or textual sources: • Pupils can be asked to discuss topics in pairs / small groups then report back to the class. In this way powerpoint can act like an OHT

Medieval explanations for the spread of the Black Death • Source A: Guy de Chauliac, a French doctor • The cause was the close position of the three planets Saturn Jupiter and Mars. … Such coming together of planets is always a sign of wonderful, terrible or violent things to come. • Source B: de Smet • It was thought that the whole area was infected through the foul blast of wind that came from the south. • Source C: A monk living in Flanders • In the East, near India there were horrors and storms for three days. On the first day, frogs, snakes, lizards and scorpions fell from the sky. On the second day there was thunder and lightning. On the third day, fire and stinking smoke came down from heaven. This killed all the remaining men and animals. • Source D: Matthew of Neuenberg. • A person rose and read a letter out loud. In it, the angel said that Christ was displeased by the wickedness of the world, and named many sins; not observing Sunday, not fasting on Friday, blasphemy, usury (money-lending, adultery. • Source E: Jean de Venette. • The plague spread because of contagion: if a healthy man visited a plague victim , he usually died himself. It spread invisibly from house to house and finally from person to person. A simple task in which the pupils work out the different things Medieval people thought caused the Black Death. If projected on a white board, they can be called out to highlight the evidence for their suggestions with a board pen in a similar way to an interactive board.

Air Raids – source work I remember hearing something I’d never heard before — the sound of my mother crying, somewhere in the distance. Then, a little later, someone came in and said that I had to be a brave boy from now on and look after my mother, because my father was dead. I don’t recall it as being a shock. It was too soon, and I was perhaps too young, to feel any sense of grief. I went through to the other room and there was my mother, and she was crying, and she was alive. I sat down beside her, and she put her arms round me, and I suppose I tried to say whatever a boy of nine years who has just lost his father tries to say to his mother, who has just lost the man she loves. I didn’t cry. I thought it was important not to cry. Boys didn’t cry. My father had died, and he was a hero, but that wasn’t something to cry about. This all happened over forty five years ago as I type these lines, and things have changed. I haven’t struck a single letter without seeing the keys blinded by tears. (George MacBeth, writing in 1987) With a more complex source, pupils can highlight the clue and annotate the inference – in this case about the range of emotions felt about the war.

King Harold Godwinson What can you see in the picture that shows Harold is king and that he is powerful? (there are eight – can you find them all?) sceptre crown orb sword of justice For speed, the answers can already be included in the powerpoint – although you’re restricted to the order you originally programme. You can indicate some or all of the answers for the low ability groups. Support of noblemen (rich) throne Support of The Church (represented here by the Archbishop) Rich clothes

Modelling • Powerpoints are useful for making clear the step-by-step process of constructing an answer.

How does poster try to get men to join up? Eye catching - colourful Shows the glamour of war (contrasted sharply with the reality) Appeals to sense of patriotism Be part of something – you too can belong Appeals to sense of bravery Here the poster is deconstructed bit by bit so the pupils know what to look for. The following slides would show more posters that the pupils can attempt.

‘RICH FARE’, Punch, 1909. Bernard Partridge was a right-wing cartoonist. Who is this man? Why is he portrayed in this way? What does the bowl represent & why is it empty? What does the club represent? (It says ‘budget’ on it) Who is this man? Why is he hiding? “FEE, FI , FO FAT I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A PLUTOCRAT; BE HE ALIVE OR BE HE DEAD, I’LL GRIND HIS BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD” How accurate is this interpretation of the reform of the House of Lords? • Identify what the different parts of the cartoon represent (sometimes there are words to help you) & relate these to ‘real life’. • Are they fair or accurate? • What is the overall attitude of the cartoonist – critical or complimentary? • Are there any clues to suggest why (check the attribution). • Make your judgement Or, pupils can be given clues on what to look for.

Similarly, in this more complex task, pupils discuss the answers to the example given – the previous slide discussed the process of assessing reliability. Following a plenary to discuss results, they can attempt examples of their own. Check 4 – WHAT? This is a poem and therefore does not accurately record events, but rather gives a certain mood or feeling. Much of the content is accurate e.g. the rats and the smell. However, the overall tone is very dark and negative and even hints that the war was a waste – ‘Is it all going to happen again?’. This suggests a slightly reliable source. 00 Check 3 – WHEN? The poem was written just after the war not at the time. However, the events were still recent and it is not the sort of thing one is going to forget easily. This suggests a reliable source. An extract from the poem ‘Aftermath’ by Siegfried Sassoon, published in 1919. Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz – The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled on sandbags on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the stench Of corpses rotting in the front of the front-line trench – And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain? Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’ Sassoon was one of many war poets of the First World War. He enlisted in 1914, fought on the Western Front and won the Military Cross for bravery. However, as the war dragged on he became opposed to it. He made an official protest against the continuation of the war which, he argues, was unnecessary. Check 1 – WHO? Sassoon was a British soldier so he did spend time in the trenches. He is therefore an eyewitness and bound to know what it was like. This suggests a reliable source. DECISION TIME! In spite of the negative points (Sassoon’s view & it’s a poem), there is enough to suggest that is a reliable source – certainly for giving a feeling of trench life, if not a detailed description. Check 2 – WHY? Poems tend to produced for entertainment. However, we know Sassoon was very much against the war by the time he wrote this and he is obviously trying to convince his readers (with the tone) that the war was a terrible waste and that soldiers are still suffering. It is a political statement. This suggests an unreliable source.

Assessment for learning: An important part of the learning process is pupil reflection of their work. It is difficult for them to do this without seeing what is expected (this therefore is closely linked with modelling). Then comparing a ‘perfect’ answer to their own and looking for differences.

Medieval kings were expected to have certain qualities such as a warrior, a communicator, a judge, a law-maker and a protector of the Church. To find out if William was a good king therefore I am going to see if there is any evidence that suggests William had these particular qualities. Some evidence says that William was good, at least in some cases, for example being a good warrior. In source C, William of Poitiers wrote that he “excelled in bravery and soldier craft”. There is also evidence that he was a good communicator because William of Jumieges says in source D that “In speech he was fluent and persuasive, being skilled at all times in making clear his will”. As well as these two qualities that William had, he also threw himself into his work – source D tells us he “never allowed himself to be deterred from any enterprise because of the labour it entailed” meaning he was not afraid of hard work! William had other qualities although the evidence is less clear on these. In terms of being a protector of the Church, William of Jumieges (source D) clearly thought he was because he wrote “he followed the Christian discipline”. However, the Pope in source E is less positive as he said William was “not as religious as we would wish”. There is some evidence that William was a good judge because according to source B he punished people in the north for rebelling against him but the man who wrote this source, Ordericus Vitalis, thinks that this was not a fair punishment as William did it in his “anger”. On the other hand, there is evidence that William was not a good king at all. In terms of being a law-maker, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (source A) would have us believe that, rather than obeying the law, he often broke it! Source A says that he did not care if his men did illegal acts it also shows that William and his men were rather greedy. So the evidence shows us that in some respects William was very good king, in other points he was very bad, and there are some aspects in which the evidence suggests both points of view. This is hardly surprising as most of the evidence is very biased either written by Normans which show the good things, or the Saxons which show the nasty side to William. Only the Pope in source E who was not on either side appears to give a fair assessment of William. Here is my introduction. In it I have not only said what I intend to do, but also how I’m going to do it - by comparing what William was like with what a king was expected to be like. To make a judgement about something you have to have a standard to measure it against. In this paragraph I have outlined all the evidence that suggests William was good at being king. Notice how I start it off – it is very clear what this paragraph is going to be about. I also quote a small part of each source to ‘prove’ my point. When I thought about how I was going to answer this question I realised that the evidence didn’t always take one side or the other. Sometimes the evidence contradicted itself. I therefore decided to do an extra paragraph pointing out that William may have been neither good nor bad at certain things or that people had different opinions about him. The structure of this paragraph is the same as the one above. This paragraph simply shows the evidence that suggest William was bad. The structure is the same as the other two i.e. a statement showing what the paragraph is about, followed by the evidence that makes me think that particular way. Here’s my conclusion. In the first bit I have written my answer to the question. I’ve then made some brief comments about why I’ve reached this conclusion, commenting on the types of sources used. • This example can be used in several ways: • The teacher simply explains each part of the answer to the students • In small groups, the pupils assess what makes each paragraph good, the teacher reveals his/her comments in a plenary

Two (or more) answers are shown, the pupils discuss which is better and why.

Throughout Northern Europe lots of strange bodies have been found. I aim to put together all the evidence I have to suggest a theory about who they were, how they got there and why they have survived. I believe the people were sacrificed in some sort of ritual. Tacitus (source 5) says that certain tribes often sacrificed people to try to please the Goddess of Spring to send them more crops. This suggests that it was farming tribes that did this. More evidence of this is the fact that in the stomach of one body there were cultivated seeds. These people must have been given a special meal before they died because in the stomach, as well as cultivated seeds, were seeds difficult to find (source 2) so someone must have looked hard to find them for a special occasion just like a sacrifice. They were probably slaves, criminals or cowards as this is the type of person who was sacrificed according to Tacitus. The way in which they were killed seems to have varied. In source 1 the rope around the necks suggests they were hanged or strangled but in source 3 the person has had their throat slit. This was probably by a knife as the wound was smooth and they died in the Iron Age so people would have been able to make iron knives at that time. We know they died in the Iron Age about 2000 years ago because scientists discovered moss underneath them and did some tests on it. This was also about the time Tacitus described the sacrifices of the northern tribes. It is amazing that they have not rotted away but more evidence from source 4 tells us that a lack of oxygen and acid in the soil helps prevents decay. So, in conclusion, putting all the evidence together, we can say that these unfortunate people were most likely sacrificed to the Goddess of Spring.

Pupils are asked to find and note key words in a passage (in this case causal connectives), they can either come out to highlight on the board, or if time is short, the teacher can reveal all. Investigation into the death of Jane Cowling Filed By Inspector Le George of New Scotland Yard. I am about to re-investigate the death of Jane Cowling due to the incompetence of the previous officer on the case, Chief Wiggum who has now been sacked. Wiggum made a number of errors in his report. Firstly, the victim clearly did not die as a result of a burglary because valuable items such as the camera and handbag were not taken. The lack of glass on the carpet also indicates that the window was broken from the inside therefore Wiggum’s idea that the murderer entered this way must be wrong. Finally, both clocks in the room show a time of 7.30. This means that the clock on the floor must be working and therefore only tells us the time the photograph was taken NOT the time of Miss Cowling’s death. The true course of events is as follows: Miss Cowling was expecting a visit from Richard, we know this because the letter on the table told us he would be visiting on the night of the murder (26th April). Miss Cowling let him in (the fact that the latch on the door is not broken indicates that she willingly allowed him to enter and that it was not a burglar). They then sat and had a discussion whilst smoking a cigarette because they were later found unfinished in the ashtray. Richard presumably repeated the question to which he referred in his note. I believe that Miss Cowling refused Richard’s request again, at which point an argument broke out as revealed by the fact the neighbour heard shouting. Miss Cowling got up to pour them both a glass of wine, perhaps to calm Richard down. Whilst she was pouring the wine into the two glasses Richard hit her about the head with the poker, at which point the bottle fell over. During the struggle which followed (the neighbour heard crashing which tells us there was a struggle) the window was broken and the clock knocked from the shelf. After Miss Cowling collapsed on the floor, Richard panicked, dropped the poker and made his way out the front door as revealed by the bloody footprint.

Investigation into the death of Jane Cowling Filed By Inspector Le George of New Scotland Yard. I am about to re-investigate the death of Jane Cowling due to the incompetence of the previous officer on the case, Chief Wiggum who has now been sacked. Wiggum made a number of errors in his report. Firstly, the victim clearly did not die as a result of a burglary because valuable items such as the camera and handbag were not taken. The lack of glass on the carpet also indicates that the window was broken from the inside therefore Wiggum’s idea that the murderer entered this way must be wrong. Finally, both clocks in the room show a time of 7.30. This means that the clock on the floor must be working and therefore only tells us the time the photograph was taken NOT the time of Miss Cowling’s death. The true course of events is as follows: Miss Cowling was expecting a visit from Richard, we know this because the letter on the table told us he would be visiting on the night of the murder (26th April). Miss Cowling let him in (the fact that the latch on the door is not broken indicates that she willingly allowed him to enter and that it was not a burglar). They then sat and had a discussion whilst smoking a cigarette because they were later found unfinished in the ashtray. Richard presumably repeated the question to which he referred in his note. I believe that Miss Cowling refused Richard’s request again, at which point an argument broke out as revealed by the fact the neighbour heard shouting. Miss Cowling got up to pour them both a glass of wine, perhaps to calm Richard down. Whilst she was pouring the wine into the two glasses Richard hit her about the head with the poker, at which point the bottle fell over. During the struggle which followed (the neighbour heard crashing which tells us there was a struggle) the window was broken and the clock knocked from the shelf. After Miss Cowling collapsed on the floor, Richard panicked, dropped the poker and made his way out the front door as revealed by the bloody footprint.

Plenaries • Another useful aspect of powerpoint is the ability to reveal answers in plenaries / discussions. Pupils like to marl their work as the answers are ‘revealed’ one at a time, this can be accompanied by sound for added tension e.g. drum rolls. • Answers can be revealed on a timer – pupils can be given a set time to work out an answer and have to complete the task before the ‘buzzer’ sounds or the answer is revealed

Officer’s dugout Mine British Mills (shatter) grenade Gas Verrey Light (flare) Craters British Sopwith Camel Biplane Messenger dog Gas alarm bell Shell Support trench Parapet Rum The ‘Red Baron’ in his triplane Sniper tree Enfield rifle Mud Parados Artillery Tank with fascine Machine Gun Funk Hole British front line trench Rats German ‘potato masher’ grenade Barbed wire Firestep Pump Persicope Casualty Stretcher-bearers German Fokker plane with synchronised machine gun Communication trench (sap) Machine gun Gas mask A British ‘Tommy’ going ‘over the top’ Sandbags Duckboards Dugout Add the correct words to your diagram Answers can be blocked out and revealed as required – all at once as in this example, or one at a time (although again, they can only be revealed in the order they are programmed, in the order pupils work out the answers).

WILLIAM’S TACTICS FOR CONTROLLING ENGLAND E.G. 1.William destroyed the north of England because………..

Historical Rules: You will have thirty seconds to solve the anagram and write a definition. Each is a word you should know . Here the task is timed, the pupils have until the end of the music.

Using Powerpoint To Enhance Teaching & Learning