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Instructional use of smart boards

Description/Experience

• The technology that we learned about was interactive whiteboards (smart boards).  These are an interactive tool that allows the entire class to view the screen, come up and touch it, and engage in different activities on it.  You can find different websites on the internet to use on it, or you can use the original software that comes with it.  It is a very good tool for classrooms because all of the students are able to see what’s going on, and they can interact with it themselves.  Also, they can go to the same websites by themselves on their own computers after the teacher explains what to do on the smart boards.  We also learned about portaportal.com which is a free service which allows you to create your own collection of links that you like to use on your smart board, and have them all together in one place.  This is a very good tool because it allows teachers to categorize their different sites by subject or time, and it makes it easier to access them.  This is also a good thing because the teacher doesn’t have to be on random websites and search engines to find the site that they want, they can just click the link and it will take them right there.
  Application

My learners are first graders.  There are not really any students who need differentiated instruction, but some might like the opportunity to do something more creative.

Through this activity the students should gain knowledge on geometry and math skills.  The will use virtual manipulative’s to practice adding and subtracting.  They will also use the geometry website which allows them to turn and twist different shapes to figure out how to get a new shape.  This will help them to later understand what the names of shapes are, how they are made, and how to add up similar shapes.

After presenting the websites on the smart board, I will have several students come up and try it out.  After that I will have the students work on the same websites independently at the computers.  For an assessment, we will have groups of about 5 go up to the smart board and show us what they have learned.  They can make any shape they want and add or subtract how every many of that shape they want using the virtual manipulatives.  This will be a good assessment because they get to work on a shape that they enjoy, and I will be able to assess their math skills.  It is also good because they will be presenting it to the rest of the classroom which lets them teach to everyone else, so they will gain the knowledge of that shape also.

The lesson will begin with introducing the students to the smart board and the website that we will be using.  After going to my portaportal and clicking the link, I will demonstrate what to do on the websites.

I will then have volunteers come up to the smart board to try it out for about 15 minutes.

After that, I will have students go to the computers and work on the sites individually.

Once they feel comfortable with what they have done, they will show me one on one what they did on their website. (What they added and what shape they made.)

After that, I will have small groups come up to the front and demonstrate what they did to the rest of the class as a presentation, and will grade them on how well they used the websites, correctness of their answers, and on how they explained it to the class.

Reflection

The use of this technology will be very helpful to the students.  It allows them to see things in a different way and lets them have a different perspective.  They are also very good with technology and love getting to use it in the classroom.  I think this will be a good tool for math especially because they can have the virtual counters which are a good change of pace from regular counters that they see all the time.  It is also positive because they get to turn the different shapes into the new shape, which requires them to understand the mouse and how to fit the different pieces onto the new shape.  They get to use different colors and make it their own.

--Pedagogical-Content:

My strategies for teaching this lesson are to first demonstrate it to the class.   By demonstrating it, they will get to see what to do and how to achieve it for themselves.  I
 will also have volunteers come up and try it out in front of everyone, but if they aren’t comfortable doing that, they can just wait and do it by themselves on the regular computers.  My other strategy is to have them present it to the class.  By presenting, they are teaching the other students about what they know.  This allows them to have some freedom and to maybe discover different things that other students didn’t think of.  This could be a difficult task for some students that aren’t as familiar with computers, but I think that they will pick up on it rather quickly.  Not all of them can reach the smart board, but they have little hand held points that work on the smart boards so that they can reach the different buttons and areas.  My strategy for the students who maybe are not doing as well with the technology could be to work with them and allow them to use regular manipulative until they really grasp the concept, then they can incorporate that to the technology to really have a good basis of understanding.

--Technological-Pedagogical:

The main teaching strategies that this technology would support in this case would be math.  They get to use the different counters to add and subtract, and it also tells them immediately if their answer was correct or not.  If it was incorrect they know that they did something wrong and can go back to fix it.  It is also good because it had a timer.  For the students who are ahead of the game and are doing very well, they can time themselves and try to beat their best score, which makes it more of a game then just doing the math.  I think the classroom management will be pretty good because a few students will be up at the smart board, while the others will be at the computers and I will be walking around checking on both groups of students and helping them along.

--Technological Pedagogical Content:

This technology will enhance the content of my activity by allowing the students some freedom and some fun.  They always have to do math problems and use manipulative’s and write down their answer.  With this technology they get to do it in a different way that seems like more of a game, which still teaching them the same content.  The geometry part is also beneficial because they always have to just draw out the different shapes and match them to the other shape that’s the same.  This website allows them to not only make the shapes, but put different shapes together to see how each one is made, and why it works that way.  By drawing they can’t get the full concept of the shapes going together.  With this technology they can really see and understand the different angles.  Other then the content area, students could also use this technology for review and practice.  Even on the main screen of the white board, they can write on their, or highlight different areas, or pull down the shade to cover up the answer until they are ready for it.  I think smart boards are a very good idea for students and it gives them another way to learning different skills.  It lets them do things differently and use technology and hands on skills together.