I’m getting a lot of referrals from the Wall Street Journal (which I never thought that I would see) because they linked to my site as having mentioned their article in something I posted.

I would hate to not give visitors new content.

I am an 8th grade English teacher. I am currently teaching high school American Lit during summer school (I actually enjoyed teaching Huck Finn this time around). My take on PowerPoint is that it is a great tool for struggling writers, especially when used in conjunction with outlining software like Inspiration.

It is in no way a substitute for essay writing. Yet it is a great lesson in editing (and plagiarism). My students want to just copy and paste from websites. What is great is that it is graphically obvious when you have grabbed a huge chunk of someone else’s text. It is especially noticeable when you have the students present their slides. When the audience starts to put their heads on their desks, your slide is too long. The students figure out which information is pertinent and which can be shaved. There is a drastic jump from the first presentation to the next one that the students do.

Now grade-school children turn in book reports via PowerPoint. The men call that an abomination. Children, they emphatically agree, need to think and write in complete paragraphs.

I think that little stick figure that’s in all your clip art is an abomination.

That and clippy:

Did you guys actually intend that or is this how Microsoft has twisted your dream like the George Lucas clones that they are? (I take that back. I’m a George fan.)

I understand the printing press analogy through all of the bad fonts and pages layouts that I see in assignments that are turned in. YouTube is evidence that video editing software can be used horribly wrong. (My film school buddy watched a DVD that I had made and was amazed that the home user could do some of the stuff that used to be restricted to the elite.)

PowerPoint has made business-style software that is more than just word processing accessible to students who traditionally would not take business electives. Each one of my students became proficient in content-driven PowerPoint before they left my classroom.

Now, I can’t mention PowerPoint without the ultimate PowerPoint comedian, Don McMillan.

And while we’re on technology…thanks for messing up the iPhone with your greed, AT&T.

Izzy, Phevos, and Athena: Future Microsoft Help Mascots?

Semi-related posts:

1. Guitar Hero and the Wall Street Journal
2. PowerPoint Creators Lament
3. Street Fighter vs. Super Mario
4. Don McMillan
5. Open Source Software