Powerpoint Reflection

I really enjoyed this project. The previous Powerpoints that we've been assigned seemed to just be a wake-up call for me that I need to really put some more thought into them. I really tried to follow the guidelines that were provided and make something interesting and useful. I will definitely included some powerpoint presentations into my lessons. I think it is very useful for myself and also I think my students will get a kick out of it. I'll be sure to continually evaluate whether or not my presentations are effective. If I think they're great but its not translating to the student learning that I hope for, then I'll probably have to switch to some other methods.

I think after watching my classmates presentations, I use some more useful pictures like a big map. My logo of Havard was somewhat pointless to that particular slide. Also, I think I need to make sure I focus on the subject matter. Throughout my planning, I wanted to continue the theme of having the Theodore Roosevelt presentation be somewhat like opening a private personal file. However, by creating this theme, I might steer the lesson towards something that fails to focus on the main subject. I should be aware of this and maybe stay closer to a more traditional method.

I really like the animation in Anna's presentation. Showing the two symbols add up to the grand scale was really effective. Something like that could really help a visual learning and I should figure out a way to add something like that to my slides. I also liked the pictures in the background of Jackies' slides. The use of these pictures, combined with the different fonts, reminded me of a movie poster. They helped to create interesting slides. I also enjoyed the use of Smart-Art in lots of peoples slides, like: Kate, Jackie, and Everett.

In terms of things that could use improvement, I think some slides needed better contrast of colors. I had a very hard time reading the text on Davids' slides. The grey background vs. the yellow text is hard to read. While I enjoyed the pictures in Jackie's presentation, background pictures have lots of various colors that could make part of the text harder to read. That is why I put solid colored boxes behind my text. Another thing that could be improved was the lack of variety in backgrounds. Everett just used one template for all of the slides, which made everything seem somewhat bland. However, I enjoyed all the presentations! Good Job!