Not So Silly Software Skills

The software skills we learned in class are very useful for not only projects and assignments for education classes, but also for life. I would have never known how to write a formal newsletter using a program other than Microsoft Word. I loved the Microsoft Publisher program because it had templates that helped to organize all of the ideas I wanted to include on my newsletter. I will definitely be using that in my classroom one day! I also enjoyed exploring Microsoft Word deeper. Although I knew much of the information we used in class, I did not know how to create the fill in the blank form and that will definitely be useful when I student teach. I even created one for one of my other classes this semester so that I can easily complete the homework assignments. The inspiration program was also awesome. I am a very visual learner so I cannot wait to use it again for another lesson or unit that I will need to create.

I believe that the lessons on the software skills were extremely beneficial to take the time to learn. I wish that I had this class earlier in college because not only could I have used it in my education classes with lesson plans and units that I created, but also in other areas of study such as general education classes. I feel that every freshman, regardless of his or her major, should take this course, or at least this section of the course.

For myself, I feel that both the Word and Publisher were beneficial. These programs are commonly on computers and, now that I learned many new tricks and functions that I can do on them, they will definitely help when I organize and plan for my future classroom lessons, units, and important handouts that I will give to parents. I hope that the school district that I teach in one day will have the inspiration program as well. This software is very beneficial in my opinion. The fact that I can create visual aids makes me very excited because I am a visual learner and I feel that visuals help the younger-elementary levels, which is where I wish to teach. It will also help me to organize my thoughts on the lessons and units I want to teach.

By having the software programs that we discussed and explored in class, I will be a very organized teacher who will be taken seriously by parents. I can use the programs in any area of study. I can create quizzes, tests, create flyers and newsletters for parents, and provide my students with visual aids to hang around the room for any subject area including reading, writing, spelling words, and science and social studies cycles.