Tech Skills: Word Processor # 4

How many times have you used a word processing document in the past week without even realizing that you were using it? Word processing has become such an integral part of our lives that we often fail to realize how much of an impact it has made in our lives! We use word processing to create our lesson plans, write letters home to parents, and even to insert pictures, graphics, and tables to organize data. How can such a simple tool like word processing be integrated into the classroom so that our future teachers, doctors, writers, entrepreneurs, etc. can also begin learning how to use this valuable tool?

First of all we need to understand why word processing is such an important tool in education. The biggest advantage to using word processing in education is being able to save time by creating and saving documents to use over and over again. Having a copy of last year’s lesson plan or welcome letter to use again for the following year allows teachers to be able to spend the extra time they need on refining the lesson. It takes out some of the tedious “first year planning” that all teachers must do when they begin their teaching career. All of our planning from the previous years of teaching is stored in a nice series of documents that we can open at anytime we need. Having a word processing tool not only allows us to save time from our planning it also gives us the ability to revise and edit and change any document that we need to and have it ready to print and publish at a moment’s notice.

As a special education teacher I have found that word processing truly benefits my students who have learning disabilities. Some of my students struggle with fine motor tasks such as writing with a pen or pencil. They also struggle with the spacing and spelling of words. A simple task of note taking can be made less painful for my students if they have access to a word document on Microsoft Office. It also cuts the time in which they would need to write, in half. If they misspell a word they can easily right click on the word to locate a correct spelling. If they do not know the meaning of a word they have access to a dictionary or thesaurus to help them understand it.

All students in the classroom benefit from the enhanced appearance of the document that they are creating. The materials they are creating look more professional and are easier to read. Students can also share documents with each other and collaborate on what they are learning. My favorite part about teaching kids to write on a word processor is the fact that they can revisit their writing and see how much they have improved since the beginning of the year. They can even take a favorite piece of their writing and change it up and make it better!