Smartboards Everywhere!

In classrooms these days, interactive whiteboards are all over the place. They present a new way to teach and a new way to convey information. Smartboards and are other technologies enhance teaching because now teachers can utilize many different manipulatives and mediums all on one technology. The interactive whiteboard allows teachers to combine the elements of the internet, Word, Excel and even aspects of Publisher all at the same time. However, although this technology is great, it is not always easy to learn to use. There are many specifics of it that I myself found challenging at times. It takes diligence and patience to succeed with the Smartboard. Not everyone wants to have that patience but I believe proficiency with an interactive whiteboard is essential to being a truly effective teacher.

Students nowadays need to be motivated to learn from external sources and the interactive whiteboard allows them to remain engaged and be a part of the lesson. The pros are numerous for one of these in the classroom: student participation, a multiple amount and a wide variety of materials at one's hand to use to teach and the ability to bring content from all over the place to one individual notebook page on the Smart software. Some cons, however are that the lesson can lose its importance if there are too many Smartboard gadgets and the like or that the students may expect there to always be something interactive and pressure is placed on the teacher to deliver. Just like Powerpoint, the Smartboard can create bad tendencies for a teacher such as looking at the screen rather than focusing on the class. If his back is turned to play with the Smartboard, he will miss waht is going on behind him, whether it be learning or not.

For myself, I wish I had known how to use this in the past. I would definitely had worked on creating Smartboard elements and the lesson activity toolkit specifically to use as class assessments each day. I think it is always a matter of balance between how much interaction to have versus straight up instruction. Every teacher must face that but there is no doubt that interactive whiteboards are an extremely valuable tool for classroom instruction.

Software Skills and Productivity

Throughout class over the last week, we have explored many different software applications and programs. I learned how to use Word in news ways, Publisher for the first time extensively and Inspiration.

It took a lot of time to learn the various skills associated with these programs, but I believe it was also very beneficial. I have now learned and practiced using the software effectively for both classroom instruction and teacher preparation. The most beneficial to me in the future I think will be learning how to organize tables better on word and Publisher skills. I plan to use a lot of table and text boxes when creating assessments in the future and I certainly think now that I know how to keep things organized now when I create something. I believe it is extremely crucial as a teacher to make sure everything handed out looks professional and well done. I knew how to do some things before, but now with the acquisition of these software skills, I can be even more proficient with my work.

Publisher also allows me to create works and make things interactive for both students and parents. I can have students create a newsletter to send to their parents or post things on the class web site that were created in publisher or word. These software programs make the lives of teachers that much easier and innovative both in and out of the classroom. Just as most things in the course have been valuable for the future, having these skills I believe makes me a better teacher already.