Internet Learning Resources-Teaching Made Easier!

Like any teacher out there who loves using the Internet, I have been amazed at how much stuff there is that can be used in my classroom. This past week has been a great example of this.

For my 6th Grade computer class, we always end with a unit on Excel. Now, I never use Excel. Yah, yah, I get why it's great and useful, etc. but for my line of work I have not needed it. I tend to equate it with scrapbooking: it's a great thing to do, but who in the world has time for it? Anyway, so when it comes to teaching my 6th graders how to use Excel, I'm always very rusty, and since I don't take the time to dig deeply into it, I end up feeling very uneasy leading the class in creating spreadsheets. So as I got to thinking about our topic this week, I thought I would start surfing for tutorials. My challenge was finding one that was suitable for my young audience. Many of the tutorials I have discovered for Excel tend to lend themselves to those in the business world and thus are very technical and, worse, boring.

So, what Learning Resource tool did I find? As I have done for other topics, I'm finding that lately my best friend in Internet Learning Resources is Youtube. It seems if it's video I need for just about anything in my classroom, I can find it there. So I went to Youtube and searched, and by golly, I found an excellent 5 part series on the basics of Excel. The best part is that my school district is still stuck with MS Office 2000, and the series is conducted on 2000. Great! In addition, the narrator is a Brit, and as one of my students commented, has a "rather soothing voice." He's wonderful, and instead of listening to my droning jibberish, they are tuning in to his sessions and learning a ton. Hell, I'm learning a ton. And since he gives a wonderful example - a video rental spreadsheet - I am able to instruct my students on how to set it up and repeat his calculations. My students are, therefore, getting a double-dose of instruction; first, his up-close step-by-step process, followed by my reinforcement and extension. What a great combo! And now with the inclusion of RealPlayer download, I can download these wonderful videos and keep them in the folders for students to view year after year, not having to worry if the video will disappear.

I don't know what I would do if the Internet blew up tomorrow. Perhaps I depend too much on it, but the resources out there play a vital role in my keeping students up-to-date on the latest information. I would feel completely disconnected without it, and I really have no idea how teachers without access do it. In fact, I know several teachers who don't utilize the Internet very often, and I tend to feel that their students are not getting the full education they need to become savvy, problem-solving citizens. I spend a lot of time with my students teaching them how to surf and the dangers and benefits of doing so. I think we do our students a disservice if we don't carry this same message throughout the curriculum.

Preaching over...