Smart Board

I found that working with the samrt board creates many different and new opportunities for a teacher to expand the classroom. I could see it being very useful for elementary ed teachers since it will be a very good way to keep the students attentive with all of the different creative tools which come with the smart board. It also has very useful games and simulators which could work from any variety of subject, from grammar games for english to virtual frog dissection in science. As a history major, the tool which I found to be most useful would be the interactive maps. It would clearly be a useful tool when teaching geography, but it will also be very helpful when discussing wars, or even ancient empires. One criticism I do have about the smart board from my breif experiences with them is that many of their tools and activities seem to be very geared toward elementary classrooms, and they don't seem to have many High School level activities. Hopefully with more time and more usage the smart board will become an essential for any level teacher.

Interactive Whiteboards and Learning response

I found the article to be interesting, however I think it is also biased. The article is from SMART Technologies Inc., so it is clearly in their best interest to publish the success of the interactive white board. While I was reading it, I couldn't help but think that everything was a little too positive and there was not even one small complaint. That being said, I do agree that interactive white boards can be a positive addition to any classroom. I also agree that they can pull students in and keep them engaged for a longer period of time. I think they can also increase the motivation of a student, who might be willing to put in a little extra effort for a chance to go up to the board. I would be interested, however, in seeing a study on how long students continue to put in that extra effort. Like anything new, there is definitely a "wow" factor, which the article talks about. However, the article doesn't address if/when this wow factor decreases, which I'm sure it does. I don't think a teacher can count on wowing her students with the interactive whiteboard, I think that is more of a short term benefit.

One problem that I do have with the Smart board is that only one student at a time can be using it. I think having more than one person at the board at a time is a vital part of at least my teaching. I have dozens of lesson plans that include various people at the board at the same time answering questions, filling in charts, brainstorming ideas, etc. For example, one lesson I taught involved reflecting on the different aspects of Day of the Dead. As a quick warm up activity, I wrote "El Día de los Muertos" at the top of the white board and had students come up and write anything they remembered about this holiday. I had about five markers, meaning that at any time there were multiple students writing. After this initial brainstorming, I used what was on the board to first review what we knew and then transition into the new lesson. Had only one student been able to be at the board at a time, I don't think I would have done this lesson. It would have been too time consuming and I feel like I would have lost the attention of certain students while they waited their turn to add something to the list.

A part of the article that I completely agree with is the benefits for teachers. While student teaching, my main source of technology was the overheard projector. After teaching a lesson, I kept the transparencies, however I can't explain how often I wanted to refer back to notes from the previous days/weeks. A lot of times I wanted to refer back to the notes/ activities to help clarify a random student question, which means I didn't always have the exact transparency at hand. I know a lot of time was wasted while I pulled out the stack of transparencies and started flipping through them, looking for the correct one. I would have loved to have been able to use the technology the Smart board offers in saving notes/activities and easily referring back to them at a later time.

Smart Board

Since I never used Smart Boards in school, it was interesting to learn about the impact they can have on the learning environment. I agree that Smart Boards would create streamline lessons. Teacher can incorporate many aspects into one lesson a Smart Board. Each lesson can include notes, manipulative, and other interactive aspects. The Smart Board is a tool that meets the needs of every student. Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners would all benefit from using a Smart Board. Since they current students are an increasingly technologically driven generation, it is important to connect them to the digital world in the classroom. Using technology motivates students to participation in the lessons. The interaction between the students and the lessons creates an interactive environment. I agree with the author that using a Smart Board keeps the teacher and students connected. Smart Boards do not separate teachers from the students as computers sometimes can.

I can’t wait to use Smart Board in my future classroom. I plan on using a Smart Board every day in the classroom, since it creates an interactive learning environment which motivates students to achieve in the classroom. I am excited to learn more about the Smart Board because I never had the opportunity to use on when I was in school.

Smart board reading

One section of the reading I connected to most was when the author talked about student engagement and how smart board plays in to it. I strongly believe that students who are put in a classroom with an active and engaging atmosphere, will learn more effectively. Having students work in groups, use computers, ask questions, express ideas, and many other things will result in students having a much more active learning experience. An active learning experience is something smart boards can help make happen in many classrooms. When the author talked about observations from the United States, one thing I found interesting was the students reaction just from the experience of touching the smart board. Many first graders said "it felt like magic!" The common responses from younger students toward the smart board showed how the smart board created an enthusiasm towards learning for many students. The smart board helps engage students in the learning experience, which I think is so awesome. This enthusiasm then brings about motivation in the classroom.

In conclusion, the smart board is a great new device that can help motivate and encourage students towards active learning. By allowing students to interact with the smart board, students feel in control and this helps the learning process in classrooms.

SMART board reading

I found the teacher preparation section of the reading to be especially interesting. In the section concerning the observations from the United Kingdom it was stated that teachers felt that lesson preparation was reduced when using the smart board technology. I can see this going both ways. On one hand, the smart board can save time when creating resources for a lesson such as the number card example given in the reading. It would also be easy to save and adjust smart board lessons for future use. However, at the same time, I feel that to create a truly effective lesson on a smart board it would be very time-consuming. There are so many choices and possibilities when adding multi-media and interactive aspects that I feel like it could take a long time to put everything together. I guess we will find out when we start creating our own smart board lessons next week!

Iwandlearning reading

First of all I had no idea that smart boards have been around since 1991.  That is crazy!  I feel like computers were still being worked on and people were already working with the idea of an interactive touch computer. 

Another thing I found very interesting was the amount of emphases the article placed on students being able to interact with the material they are learning.  When I stopped to think about it I realized that I really do learn better when I am engaged and able to physically do something with the material.  As the article says the smart board is a great way to have kids interact with the material.   

I also found the fact that the smart board is used in several countries very interesting.  Because the smart board is so successful in these other countries it seems that it truly is the technology that will soon be in every classroom. 

The fact that the smart board can be used to teach all children with different needs seems to me to be one of the biggest benefits of using it in the classroom.  The one example that the reading gives which really sticks out to me is how the smart board can be used to help visually impaired students.  When first looking at this problem it seems that the smart board will fail, however, upon further investigation of the smart boards properties we see that with its vast amount of tools the smart board has the ability to enlarge text and even read words for students who may need the extra help. 

All in all through this reading I have found much more evidence as to why the smart board seems to be the ultimate tool in teaching in the classroom.  It seems to me that the smart board can do countless things for every subject in school, and that is why I believe the smart board will be a very powerful tool.  

Readings

One thing I learned from this reading was that you can create acrostics in almost any application, including spreadhseets. I origianally would think that Word would be the best place to have students make an acrostic, and would have never even thought to use spreadsheets. Due to my experience in class working with Excel, I now would feel very comfortable having students create an acrostic in Excel with my guidance. I also learned that you can make timelines in spreadsheet software. I had no idea! Additionally, in class I learned how to make an interactive quiz using Excel. I learned how to make the quiz so that students would get immediate feedback as to whether or not their answers are correct. This also helps for assessment purposes because you as the teacher get to see how much your students understand the concept being taught.