"Basic Three"

Word Processing Software

Word Processing (or WP) is used in a variety of ways in education. It seems to be one of the most common of the "basic three" software that teachers use. WP can be used to create welcome letters to students and parents, create a schedule for your classroom, and even handouts or assignments for class. While it can be a great help to minimize effort spent to create documents, it can be a hassle to learn all the tricks to help minimize your time. 

Spreadsheet Software

Spreadsheet software is a great resource to enhance your students mathematical lessons. You can also use it to categorize student data ranging from address to grades. Spreadsheets offer a variety of ways to enhance your classroom and give visual aids for your students to understand hard to grasp math concepts. One of the only cons with using spreadsheet software is understanding all the different tools to create a great spreadsheet. 

Presentation Software

Presentation software is a pretty common software used in classrooms. PowerPoint is the most commonly used version of presentation software. This type of software allows you to create visual aids and visual assignments to help with a lesson. Presentation software can hinder your classroom teaching though. A teacher can become so dependent on presentation software that it becomes the only thing they use to teach with. Students do complain that teachers will "teach to the PowerPoint" rather than limiting what is on the slides and lecturing to add the additional information needed to understand the concept. With the proper use of presentations, you can enhance your students learning and help many different types of learners with one software. 

Classroom Use

For me personally, I consistently use a WP software, specifically Microsoft Word. This software to me allows for many different creations. When I am in my practicum and begin lesson plans, I immediately think of ways that I can create meaningful assignments, handouts, and assessments with Word. I also use it to create visual aids, including the use of an ASL font, for my students. Being  a DHH teacher, I see how well visual aids and stimulation helps my students grasp the concepts better. Recently for a pumpkin thematic unit, I created a letter introducing the unit and the plans for the week to parents. Word helped me create a very colorful and productive letter that not only the parents enjoyed, but also the students.