Reliable Internet Resources

Today, our students rely solely on the Internet to provide them with all the information they need, especially when they have an assignment to complete such as a research paper.  But how reliable is the information that students are receiving over the Internet? When it comes to students doing research papers most of our students just type in the topic into a search engine like Bing, Yahoo, or Google, click on the first result and use the information provided from the first web link. Our students should not only be provided with a topic, a due date and a rubric; students should also be provided with a listing of online and text resources that would aide them in completing their assignment.

Below I have listed a few resources that students can use to to find valuable and reliable information:

• Federal Resources for Education Excellence
• EBSCO Host
• Points of View Reference
• New York Public Library - Digital Gallery
• Library Spot
• ERIC-Educational Resource Information Center
• Washington Post

Most of the above websites are appropriate for Middles School age students and older to use independently

Assuming A Student is Computer Literate

At this point of the school year I should not be surprised when a student does not understand how to properly use the computer; but I must admit at this point of the school year I am still taken back buy how much students don't know about computers.

I recently received a new student to my class and I assumed that the student understood terms such as font, bold, italicise, table, and clip art. I even assumed that when I said "open a word document", the student knew exactly what I was talking about. Well, I was sadly mistaken. I realized that I needed to give that student a one-on-one tour of the Microsoft Office applications as well as an overview of the home screen.

What I am noticing is many children do not know how to use the computer at all, they are not even familiar with the word processing and presentation tools. And when it comes to the internet, I have also noticed many children know how to search for information they "want" but not information they "need".

My goal as a Business Education teacher is not only to educate my students about how the business world functions and all the factors involved but to also have my students prepared to compete in a world of constant emerging technologies. I want my students know and understand all functions and applications of the computer.

Teaching 6th grade how to make a PowerPoint

I found a very useful resource to teach my 6th graders how to make a PowerPoint presentation I have used this to create a PowerPoint and guided notes. It breaks down every aspect of how to make a PowerPoint using Microsoft Office 2007; which is the version of software that is currently on my computers now. This pdf file includes detailed instructiion accompanied by screenshots.


http://www.sfg.uvic.ca/tutorials/powerpoint-handout07.pdf