Week 4- Material Generators

Before reading the text for this week's blog assignment, I wondered what a "material generator" was exactly. Now that I've read the assignment, I see that I have used a number of "material generators" before in my class.

Three types material generators that I have enjoyed using are desktop publishing software, test generators, and worksheet and puzzle generators.

My favorite desktop publishing software is Microsoft Publisher. I love all the cool things that can be done using Publisher. It is a great tool for making posters, fliers and brochures. It is easy to use and the finished products always look great. Unfortunately, my students are now using MacBooks,  and I haven't found a comparable tool yet. They have completed work in class using Pages, but I haven't found it to be as user friendly as Publisher. I may just need more practice  and time to get used to it, but I miss Publisher!

I am so grateful for test generator software. I use ExamView Test Generator  to help create tests and exams for my classes and the test banks provided definitely make my life a lot easier. It is great to have so many different options for questions that are already referenced to the standards and include great graphics as well. When I started out teaching I made all my tests by hand, and it would take me forever to do it, so I appreciate how easy it is now to create tests using test generator software.

Another material generator that I have used is the worksheet and puzzle generator mentioned in our text.  I have specifically used the Puzzlemaker provided at www.discoveryeducation.com. Again, this material generator makes it so easy to create crossword, word search, and hidden message puzzles. My students enjoy completing the puzzles since they definitely help make vocabulary a little more interesting. Again, the amount of time it would take me to create one of these puzzles from "scratch" would not make it very feasible to use them very often. The amount of time this material generator saves is very beneficial.

I just received a promethean board in my classroom (as in-- yesterday!) so that will be the next material generator software that I will be exploring! Hopefully it will be as helpful as the material generators that I have used in the past.