Tag Archives: microsoft office

Why Students Should Use Presenter View in PowerPoint 2

In my previous post, I explained how to use Presenter View in PowerPoint 2016. It’s a nifty feature that, if you have a projection system, allows a presenter to see the current slide, next slide, speaker notes, and presenter tools on a separate screen. The audience sees only the slide.

Benefits to Presenter View

Speaker Notes

Teaching students how to give a presentation that is informative while captivating the attention of the audience is a valuable skill. An essential part of a presentation is the preparation of speaker notes. These notes provide structure to a presentation and encourage the audience to listen as well as view the screen. Speaker notes can include reminders of what to say and additional information or facts that do not appear on the screen. If a second screen is not available, speaker notes can be printed as Notes Pages or as an Outline. But if you have a projection device and can see the computer screen while presenting, Presentation View allows you to see your notes and reminders on your computer screen during the presentation. The projector only shows the slide to the audience.

Practice Practice Practicepresenter view
Any presentation should include a number of rehearsals, either privately or with peer coaching, before it’s ready to unveil to an audience. Using Presenter View, the speaker can rehearse with the navigation tools, see the current and upcoming slides, practice using his notes, and become proficient using the pointer tools.

Control the Flow of Information
If the text on a slide is contained in bulleted points, set the animation so each one appears upon a mouse click. That way, you can limit the amount of words the audience can read and expand on the information as you speak. The audience will focus on both the slide as well as the speaker.
If there are pictures, you may want to control when they appear. Set the animation so images or diagrams show upon a mouse click. The viewers will focus on the picture only when you cause it to appear.
Presenter View allows you to preview what will happen when you press ‘next’ in advance of the audience seeing it.

Tools
The laser pointer, pen, highlighter, and eraser allow you to annotate, draw, or direct the eyes of the audience to particular words or images on the slide. Used sparingly, these tools help to attract and hold the attention of the audience. You can even black or white out the screen should you want to stop or pause the slide show.

presenter view

Use the laser pointer, pen, or highlighter to direct the viewers’ attention.

See All Slides
During the question period at the end of the presentation, or at any time during the presentation, you may want to go to a particular slide. If you click See All Slides, a thumbnail of all slides appears on the presenter’s screen only. Click on the desired slide and it will appear on the audience’s projected screen.

Timer
The stopwatch at the top corner of Presenter View is handy if there is a time limit for the presentation. It’s also useful when practicing – are you speeding up each time you present? Be careful not to talk too fast when you become familiar with the slide show. Remember that the audience is watching it for the first time.

Teach Presentation Skills

technopresenterTeach essential research skills, power up a presentation, and build public speaking techniques with TechnoPresenter. Integrate this technology project into a curriculum area using any topic of study. This project is suitable for student in junior and middle school grades. Learn more about TechnoPresenter here.

New Biography Technology Project

biography technology project
TechnoBiography is an all-new technology project just released by TechnoKids. Elementary and middle school students select a remarkable person and write a biography. The activities, written for Google Docs and Microsoft Office, have students:

  • Analyze life events and artifacts

  • Summarize personal history using heading styles to organize facts

  • Create a graphic organizer of important contributions

  • Connect artifacts to additional information using links and a table

Write a Biography about a Remarkable Person

In the TechnoBiography technology project, students become biographers writing about a person’s life story using Google Docs or Microsoft Office. To start, they research a notable figure who has made a difference in the world. A brainstorming activity, guiding questions, and research organizer are provided to support learning.

Once familiar with events and achievements, students summarize a personal history using heading styles to organize events logically. Sample files provide inspiration. In addition, phrases are provided to help students join ideas when writing.

Detailed instructions help students to highlight contributions using a graphic organizer and showcase artifacts in a table with links. Sources of information are cited using a bibliography. Tips are included to assist students. Upon completion, the biography is shared with readers.

Integrate TechnoBiography into any Curriculum Unit

The activities in TechnoBiography integrate into curriculum and can be included into language arts, history, social studies, science, art, or computer studies. Students can celebrate a historical figure, acknowledge a hero, investigate scientific discoveries, or appreciate the arts while developing word processing skills.

  • conduct research using a variety of sources
  • collect artifacts and interpret their meaning
  • organize notes in a logical order
  • analyze life events to draw conclusions
  • explain the importance of a person
  • cite sources in a bibliography
  • use styles to layout document structure
  • highlight contributions in a graphic organizer
  • connect artifacts with links using a table
  • share biography and reflect on the person’s life
  • apply word processing skills to write a biography
biography technology project

Select a remarkable person. Learn how to research and write a biography. Share the biography as an Ebook.

How to Add Research Options Services in Office 2010 or 2007

In Microsoft Word 2010 or 2007, your students should be able to access a dictionary or the Bing search engine, when they click the Research command on the Review tab. If this feature is not working follow these ten steps to manually add Research Options in Microsoft Word.

UPDATE 3/27/2018: TechnoKids continues to develop technology projects for the 2013 and 2016 versions of Microsoft Office. To find a TechnoKids project right for your students view the Project Matrix or visit the TechnoKids website.

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. If your computer does not display the Encarta dictionary, from the Review tab, click Research.

    3. research command microsoft word 2010 or 2007

  3. At the bottom of the Research pane, click Research options.

    4. Microsoft Word Research Options

  4. If you see, Encarta Dictionary, select it, then click OK.
    5. word research options

    If you see Encarta Dictionary select it. If not, move to the next step.

  5. If you do not see it, click Add Services.

    6. Word Research Option Services

  6. In the Address bar, type http://office.microsoft.com/Research/query.asmx and click Add.
  7. Click Install.

    8. Install the Encarta Dictionary in Microsoft Word.

  8. Click OK.
  9. You will now see the Encarta Dictionary in the list. Click OK again.
  10. To test it out, type the word pelage in your document. Select the word. Now click the Research command on the Review tab. Does it automatically show the definition? If not, click the Reference arrow and select Encarta Dictionary. Does it work now?
    11. research pane in Word 2010 or 2007

    Select the Reference arrow. Click on the research option you would like to use.

    Need another suggestion? Read this solution from the Microsoft forum that explains how to set Research Options in the Trust Center.

Fun with Fonts

Are you looking for a quick language arts activity your students can do in one or two class periods in the computer lab? Why not have fun with fonts?

Have your students create a picture using words. This activity is a great way to encourage your students to use descriptive language. It can be done for a novel study unit, Family Day activity, or school year book page.


PowerPoint Activity

How to Create a Word Picture using PowerPoint

  1. Open PowerPoint.
  2. Change the layout of the slide to blank. If using a newer version of PowerPoint, click the Layout arrow on the Home tab and select Blank.
  3. Adjust the slide layout to landscape or portrait.
    1. If using PowerPoint 2007 or 2010, click the Design tab. Use the Slide Orientation command.
    2. If using PowerPoint 2013, click Slide Size on the Design tab, click Custom Slide Size, and make a selection from the options (TIP: You might want to type in the dimensions for the slide such as 8 x 10″).
  4. Draw a text box on the slide and type a word.
  5. Select the word and set the font and font size.
  6. Arrange the text box on the page.
  7. (OPTIONAL) Save the slide as a picture.
    1. If using PowerPoint 2007 or 2010, click the File tab. Click Save & Send and select Change File Type. Select PNG from the file types and click Save As.
    2. If using PowerPoint 2013, click the File tab. Click Export and select Change File Type. Select PNG from the file types and click Save As.

TIPS

  • Make the Word Look Meaningful: Use a font that suits the meaning of the word. For example, use a font that has squiggly lines for the word silly.
  • Vertically Stack Letters: Press ENTER after each letter in a word to make the text vertical.
  • Bigger is Better: The larger the font size, the easier it will be to read. The smallest font size you should use is 20 pts. If you make the letters smaller, the text will be difficult to read when it is printed.
  • Save as Picture: Text that has a unique font applied will not be readable on a different computer that does not have the font installed. Instead, a substitution will be used or the text will appear as random symbols. If you want to print the file from a different computer, it is a good idea to save it as a picture. Now it can be printed anywhere.

How to Download and Install Fonts

Your computer only comes with basic fonts. To make this activity really fun, you might want to use the Internet to download free fonts onto each computer. The fancier, the better!

  1. To find reliable websites type free fonts into the search engine. Some of my favorite places to go for fonts are:
    http://www.1001freefonts.com
    http://www.fontspace.com
  2. Each site is a bit different. Typically, you need to download the font version that is right for your computer (Windows/Mac)
  3. Save the font to your computer. TIP: Save it to a place that you will be able to find it, such as Desktop or Documents.
  4. When you download the font, it will be zipped. You must right click on the compressed folder, and select Extract All. Click Extract.
  5. Now you will see an open folder with TrueType fonts. If there is a text file, it will contain information from the author of the font and will often offer a preview of the letter shapes. It is always a good idea to preview the file.
  6. To install a font, right click on it and from the menu select Install.

NOTE: Fonts are stored in the following location C:\Windows\Fonts