As I work my way
through another eye-opening module, I am becoming more and more of a “technology
believer.” I will first start with my reflections on SMART Boards and how they
can really engage and motivate my students. In my school division, almost every classroom is
equipped with an interactive whiteboard. Coming into this position, I had never
used one myself. I know I am not old enough to say “back in the day,” but back
in the day, my high school had (and still has) chalkboards, overhead projectors
(the ones that require transparencies), and maybe a LCD projector on the cart,
which the teacher had to sign out. When my school acquired an interactive
whiteboard, the students became interested. Just like the COWs (computers on
wheels), teachers had to sign out the SMART Board, which was shared between all
the teachers in the school. We were amazed at what this magical board could do,
and our interest in the lessons peaked. Coming back to the present day, a mere
6 years later, I am now using this technology in my classroom every day. In
fact, I don’t even have a regular whiteboard to speak of. My SMART Board is the
center of my lessons for giving notes. However, when I ask myself if I am using
it in the best way to engage my students, I am disappointed to say that I am
not. Part of this is the learning curve and getting used to the technology and
discovering myself its capabilities. When I am up at the SMART Board, I use it
as if it were a regular whiteboard. There are certainly some advantages of the
interactive whiteboard that the regular chalkboard does not have, even without
using many of its features. I realize, however, that I am not reaching the
potential that the board has to offer for myself and for my students.
In creating an
interactive SMART lesson that is student focused, I explored more of the
features of the software used for these interactive whiteboards. I centered the
lesson on getting the kids up, moving, and excited to come write on the SMART
Board. Despite the fact that technology is all around them, this is a piece of
technology that they often do not get to control and use. I designed my lesson
to have students explore the features of the SMART board software while also
exploring concepts in my content area. While my lesson was simplistic, I am
excited to explore new features of the board that will get my students active
and engaged with the material.
Some additional benefits of using a SMART Board are listed in this website.
Another concept
covered in this module was the use of polling. I have seen and used some
different polling websites before, but I had never thought to design a warm up
or exit activity around a poll. What a fun and exciting way to collect data! I
could design polls that will allow me to track student growth and to design
better formative assessments. SMART Boards have similar capabilities with the
SMART response technology. During an in class lesson, I personally would prefer
to use SMART response as opposed to an online poll that would require students
to pull out cell phones and smart phones to answer the poll. While it seems
that every student has a phone, I do not want to run into the problem of
excluding a student whose parents might not be able to afford a cell phone for
their child. Of course, these polls can be completed through a computer as
well, but I do not have computers for student use in my classroom. I would have
to sign them out, which could be a hassle if I decide to use polls as a regular
activity. With SMART response, the poll is created through the SMART notebook
software. Students get to operate a small, individual input device, and the
answers are anonymous to their peers. It presents the results, which I could
then use as data for my own purposes. Once again, this approach could be
difficult due to the fact that the school only has so many sets of the SMART
response controllers. Signing them out regularly for use in my own lessons
would keep other teachers from having access to them. However, I love the
concept of polling.
The other
technology that caught my attention was the online flashcards. While I admit to
not being a “flashcard person,” many students do well with this system of
studying and reinforcing concepts. With geometry in particular, students have a
lot of terms and concepts that they have to know. Creating flashcards online
could be a really effective tool to get them working with and studying the
material.
As always, I am
amazed at all the tools that are available (often free of charge) and can be
used in the classroom. When integrated properly into a lesson, technology can
be a great way to get students engaged and thinking at a higher level.
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