Teaching With Smartboards

CC-NC-SA photo by BES Photos

I have seen the use of Smartboards in many of the classrooms I have observed in. It has seemed like a very beneficial tool for all ages. I have heard of many different uses ranging from PreSchool to middle school. The school I used to work at had a Smartboard in each classroom. Many of the lessons were based around the use of their Smartboard. They even used it for attendance. After looking over a few different websites, I was able to learn more about what Smartboards have to offer.

According to Smarttech.com, Smartboards are a combined use of a whiteboard with a computer. The surface of the board is touch sensitive and allows lessons to come alive. Students are able to physically interact with the lessons by moving objects around and clicking on pictures and words. A major benefit to using a Smartboard is that it targets both visual and kinesthetic learners. Students in this era of technology need more than one text book way of learning material. By being able to get up and interact, not only stimulates their brain but gives them a hands on experience to be involved with the material. With Smartboards you are able to write with your hand or a pen and erase with your hand. The touch recognition allows you to use these tools without changing any settings or delaying your lesson. When you pick up the pen tool you can begin writing on the board or erasing different text. The digital ink will appear on the board when you choose to write.

The Smart notebook allows you to organize and manage your lessons. You can save any notes you add during the lesson and use that with your students later on. A screenshot can be taken also.

Along with the Smartboards there are Smart response devices that allow students to submit answers, work, or ideas from their own seats. These target many different needs for all kinds of students such as those with special needs, advanced placement, and early education.

When searching for teacher reviews on SMART boards, I found many positive ways to use them. There are many teachers who post their lessons and share with others what they have come up with to actively engage their class in lessons. There were little disadvantages but the main ones were that it is a large object and can be hard to fit into a small classroom. Another big limitation is that they are expensive.

According to a website I found, SMART boards can range anywhere from $3,450 - $10,050.

Overall, I think SMART boards seems like a great tool to have in your classroom. I would be very interested in gaining money if the school does not provide me with one for my own room use. I think today's students need interaction like this and seeing students use it first hand has really opened my eyes to all of the opportunities SMART boards can provide.

Teaching For The Future

CC-NC-SA video by mwesh

I was shown this video in my one of my Teacher Education courses on technology. I was so blown away by this that I shared it with my family. I got in a discussion with my Dad about technology and what it is doing to our students today. It has definitely changed the way children are living their lives, but what isn't constantly changing? My Dad was anti-technology in the classroom when we had this discussion, but I brought up the fact that how he was raised and how I was raised is very different and I didn't have much technology compared to students now. I see that students these days are looking for fast ways to obtain information. They are used to the fast paced lifestyle many of us have grown accustomed to. But that is the reality of life today. We have to keep things constantly changing and updating because so much of our future depends on it. With the way technology is advancing, these students we will be teaching will be working with technology that is not even out yet. We must prepare them for jobs that do not exist today, because our world is moving at a quick pace. So I ask you this question, is using as much technology as possible in our classrooms a bad thing when many of these students are guaranteed to be working with some aspect of it in their future? Why not prepare them now so that they are the best they can be in the following years?

Laptops in Classrooms: Helpful or Distracting?

CC-NC-SA photo by Kathy Cassidy

I came across a debate on Helium about the use of laptops in the classroom. When I was still in high school over 4 years ago, we had classroom sets of laptops that could be checked out from the library. We mainly used these for research projects or typing up papers for English. I found the laptops very useful because my home computer was slow and I enjoyed being able to work on my assignments during class. Although there were a few students who had trouble keeping on task, the majority of the class was busy at work using that time to their advantage. When I came across this debate, I found it very interesting to see what people had to say about the advantages and disadvantages.

65% of the voters said that laptops in the classroom were beneficial.

One post on the debate stated that she felt students potential to learn was taken away by the use of laptops in the classroom. She felt that the Internet is just too fun for students to handle all of that freedom on their own personal computer. Having that freedom causes too much distractions and they are taken to sites that leave the learning goal previously set. Although her argument focused on the Internet another post focused on the idea of being able to take notes in class. Now this was never an option when I was in high school, but in today's world it makes sense. Our brains are having to process to much these days with the fast pace of our world that it is very easy to get lost by other distractions when taking notes by pen and paper. If you have your laptop you are able to type quickly and jot down the notes while maintaining focus on the class material being taught. I find it much easy to take notes on a computer now and wish we could have had that option in class. If the Internet is such a distraction maybe the schools should disable those options and have certain laptops strictly for taking notes.

Among the many advantages of having laptops in the classroom, one post described the ability to have fast access and immediate feedback. Like many of the technologies and useful ways to integrate webpages in our own classrooms the idea of having that all in the click of a button is fascinating and efficient. I feel as though this course has already taught us about many of the advantages in having Internet access and the use of Internet sites in our classroom is very helpful.

How would you prevent distractions if you had laptops in your classrooms and would you find this useful?

Frustration With Communication

In the past couple of weeks I have been experiencing a lack of communication with teachers. There was a complication with one of my lesson plans and I tried contacting one of the teachers through email. After no response over the next couple of days, I started realizing that maybe she did not check her email daily. So I decided to call and leave her a voicemail, but again did not receive anything back for days. Finally when it was too late she responded back to me a week later.

I got to thinking that we have the ability to communicate so quickly and there are still people who do not take advantage of this. With busy schedules and hectic work lives these days you would think that this is a way to make things easier.

Does anyone else experience these complications or find it frustrating? When do you think this will change and people will realize that quick responses and fast technology makes it easier to communicate and organize, especially with teaching where you are in constant collaboration with others.

Integrating Google Docs in the Classroom

Working with Google Docs was a new experience for me. I found it interesting that you can do this and have it be so accessible from anywhere using the internet. This is very useful for future knowledge inside the classroom because students are able to share their work easily. This could be very helpful when doing peer edits. Peer editing is a great way for students to look at their other classmates work and give them helpful feedback. Using Google Docs makes it easy to do this on their own time. They can take this home as an assignment and spend time really thinking about how to help their peers improve their work. 

Developing my PLN

My Personal Learning Network has been quit an experience for me. I have felt very overwhelmed this semester and I have had a hard time finding time to keep up with the reading of others blogs and my bookmarking websites. I think that it would be a great tool when I am actually in the classroom and am looking for that extra advice and others ideas or experiences, but for now I have a lot to focus on in each of my classes to just get through each week. I am still learning a lot of new material in prepping for my internship year next year and it is hard to read outside material and focus on that as well right now.

I do however, love the blogging assignments. I think blogging is a great tool for teachers and am learning the benefits for students and parents as well. I really enjoy writing in my blog each week and find it very helpful to keep everything in one area. I think my problem with the other areas such as bookmarking and Twitter is that I am too busy to put them to use right now. I am very glad that I am learning how to use them though, because I know I will find it beneficial in the future.

I also would like more feedback on my PLN. I say this because whether it be good or bad, I am not sure what I need to improve on, what I am doing right, or what direction I am headed in at all. If I had some guidance through these new learning experiences I think I would find it easier to maintain and develop a broader PLN.

Lights, Camera, Action!

 CC-NC-SA photo by dettbarn

During my science classroom observations this week, the students were assigned either the sun, the moon, or the Earth. Their task was to create a presentation with their group and share facts, size, shape, and more about each object. They did their research through books and other paper articles that their teacher gave them, but they were also given the option to use the internet at home if need be.

Once they gathered all of their information they were able to record their presentations using the Flip camera and download their projects onto a mini laptop. The students were all very excited about this opportunity and almost all of the groups wanted to be able to record their projects. Their teacher gave them a short lesson on what would happen to them if they messed around or inappropraitely handled the equipment and the kids paid very close attention. Once they gathered their facts from the book resources, I took them into the hallway where we recorded their projects.

I was unfamiliar with how to specifically use the Flip camera, but it was pretty easy to figure out. The disadvantage to not knowing much about the equipment was that I was unaware if they were able to piece together certain takes on the computer after they were finished. It took each group a while after each mess up, where we started to record all over again. They did not quit grasp the idea that they needed to speak loudly in order to hear themselves, but they were pleased with their outcomes.

I found this way of presenting their projects very interesting and although I was unable to see each of the presentations, I think they turned out very well. I would have enjoyed editing each video for the groups if there was time, but the teacher did not present that option. I would like to try this out in my future classrooms and hope my school district is able to provide me with equipment like this.

Ring Ring! Using Cell phones In Our Classrooms

 

Screen Shot of Geograffiti

Using cell phones for educational purposes is becoming increasingly popular in K-8 classrooms. Students are able to use cell phones for many different purposes and there are many websites that allows them to call or text in and leave audio recordings. Some of these websites include; Google Voice, iPadio, Yodi, Tumblr, Geograffiti, UhaveAudio, and Phonecasting.

            One specific website that I took a closer look at was Geograffiti. They recently lowered their age limit from 13 years old to K-12 classrooms. It is a tool for students to call in and record their voice to appear on a map, pin pointing their location. According to a blog post by Liz Kolb, there are many different ways to use Geograffiti in a K-12 classroom:

1)    Center Time (K-3)
Students can work on fluency, oral presentation skills, reading, creating an argument, reasoning, inquiry, questioning, by calling in to Geograffiti.
2) Homework, Field Trips, Spring Break
Students can work with their parents over spring break or summer break and leave voicemarks about their experiences, vacations, and what they learned over the break. Students on a field trip could record their observations (such as a trip to the zoo or a science museum).
3) Language Study
Students learning a new language can call in voicemarks and practice their new language skills
4) Social Studies
Students can ask others (friends and family) to call in from different parts of the country to give their perspective on local, national, and international social and cultural issues.
5) Oral Histories
Students could document oral or local histories by conducting interviews that would be placed on the map.
6) Real time Math
Students could call in to Geograffiti when they recognize that they are doing algebra, geometry or physics in their real life, they could describe the situation and put it into mathematical terms.

Some of the advantages to using cell phones in education is that it is something kids can take ownership in and have very quick responses or collection of data appear right in front of them through the use of technology. A major disadvantage teachers think about is that students will use their cell phones for personal use in the classroom or perhaps cheat on tests or assignment.