Today was the last day of my Professional Development class on using desktop publishing in the classroom. So over-all, how was it? The instructor was a bit disorganized, and on occasion not prepared. Today, she spent about an hour typing up the "final project" for the class. The assignment was to make two newsletters. I spent the first 10 or 15 minutes teaching the Russian lady next to me, how to check her e-mail. Despite the statements above, I enjoyed the class. I kind of got the impression that the instructor's "teaching style" was knowledge through repetition. For example, over the course of the week, the students were asked to make about 6 or 7 different kinds of flyers that a teacher might send home to parents. Although her format is a bit "wordy" (in my opinion), I did learn several things that I really would like to try out for my students next school year. I believe that we could have been taught a lot more. The instructor's definition of desktop publishing is the inserting (and organization of) text and graphics. I think there is more to it than that, Today (the last day), the instructor mentioned a couple of things that probably are interesting, but was not covered. For example, creating a data base using Microsoft Access so that a teacher would not have to retype the students date over, and over. Despite the negatives, I enjoyed the class. I liked that even though I had the feeling of mostly doing "busy work", the instructor did have a nice air of professionalism that was nice. She drilled the basics over and over. She also remained friendly and patient during the "low end" questions. I also liked the class for another reason. It helped to give me a "student's view" of the learning process. I saw things that I would not do, and things that I would. The instructor spoke a bit too quickly, and made assumptions of students' understanding. On the other hand, she was (relatively) patient, and drilled the basics. The instructor seemed knowledgeable about computers, but also had room for improvement. Monday thru Wednesday, most of the instructions were verbal, by Thursday afternoon, she finally used a visual aid. She linked her computer to the overhead so that we could see what she was saying. Unfortunately, she had a smartboard, but did not use it. I suspect that most of the instructor's computer knowledge came from an interest in computers, not from formal training. I don't think she knew how to use a smartboard.

All in all, I enjoyed the class for what I could take and apply to improve my own teaching skills, and that was my main reason for taking the class. Next school year, I want to do a class newsletter, improve my progress reports etc...

I left class about 1:30pm. I arrived at the Bronx Metro-North about 3pm. I took the express train to Yonkers and walked home from there(about 30 minutes). At home a planned to jump on the rowing machine while I was soaked with sweat, but I ended up falling asleep. I woke up about 5:30pm. I did get on my rowing machine for an hour. I soaked in the bath for about 30 minutes. For dinner, I ate the last of the baked chicken I made a few days ago, and ate a couple of slices of wheat bread. I watched a bit of TV (Brit Coms).

Well, that's it for today.

200.4lbs. / 30.0BMI / 172.4CalB.

Post Date - Friday, July 20, 2007 11:55pm