By Sarah McMillen

Why use PowerPoint Presentations…

PowerPoint is an interactive tool that helps students understand the lesson plan being taught.

It helps students focus by looking at short slides instead of listening to a teacher speak at the board.

They are fun to create! You can make the PowerPoint Presentation fun for the students which will help them engage in the lesson plan!

Tips on making PowerPoint interesting…

Use the design tool on the PowerPoint program. The design tool helps the PowerPoint

presentation look organized and more pleasant to the eye.

○ To Access PowerPoint’s design…Go to the toolbar on the top of the screen.Choose between the different design in the toolbar. If you scroll through over the design you can sample

what the layout will look like on your presentation.Click on the design to change the design of the

presentation.

What makes PowerPoint work… Use Contrasting Colors and make fonts

largeNever use colors that are hard on the eyes

and won’t strain the eyes. Use fonts that can be seen in a large classroom

setting and will be seen with people with weak eyes.

○ Example:This is hard to read for a PowerPoint Presentations

Using Media Art is a great way to keep attention to students…

When you use images in PowerPoint you keep attention to the students. You need to make sure that the image relates to the PowerPoint

While presenting the PowerPoint turn off the pointer… When you have the pointer on during

the presentation it becomes a distraction and may even block the view of some things being presented.

After the slideshow starts press Ctrl-H at the same time to eliminate seeing the pointer. If you need to bring the pointer on screen after this press the A key.

Be able to jump to any slide at anytime

Being able to jump to any slide during the presentation will help you during any questions that are being asked during the presentation.

To skip to a slide you need to know the slide numbers. The easiest way to do this is to print a list of the slide numbers and the title that go with it. Then print the view. To jump to any slide, just enter the slide number on the keyboard and press the Enter key. This will move you directly to that slide.

Suggestions for use in the classroom… Giving a brief outline on what the lesson

plan. This will help students know what they are going to talk about in the lesson.

Giving step by step instruction. When you show how things can be explained step by step students will understand it better.