I feel that interactive whiteboards are a great enhancement to the classroom. They are a great way to keep kids interactive and many of them involved in the lesson. Students who may normally find it hard or boring to pay attention in a lecture-based classroom, may find that the interactive whiteboards are much easier to grab attention. Students now days come from an era of technology. They are all used to it and are often shy to jump in and play around with new technology. This helps them stay in their digital-age and helps to make them feel less like they are going back in time as they enter the classroom. I also feel that it enhances teaching because it is a great way to evaluate the students. It is a great tool whether the students are participating in a quiz that the teacher creates using the Smartboard, and doing it at their desks and going up to the board to answer the questions, or if it is used to anonymously, to see how well the students understand the topic at hand.
It was definitely interesting when creating and practicing my lesson, seeing, as I have never used an interactive whiteboard before. It was a little challenging to think of ways to use the Smartboard within my lesson and how to incorporate interactive activities that would keep all children involved, not solely the students that came up to the board. However, as I got used to the way that Smartboard operates and the many various ways that children can be involved interactively with the lesson, the planning went a little easier. I think it was mainly difficult because a teacher cannot depend on the programs and activities that Smart software has included with the Smartboard. It is important that teachers learn how their students learn, and be creative with incorporating different techniques into their lesson using interactive whiteboards.
Many pros and cons come with having an interactive whiteboard installed in your classroom. A few cons revolved around technological literacy among individuals. Although the students are born into a technological age, it is important that teachers do not assume that all students are comfortable with technology and have grown up with it in their houses. Another con is if a teacher is out sick and relies on a substitute to fulfill their place in the classroom. If a substitute has never been educated on interactive whiteboards, it could create a chaotic classroom. They are also very expensive to install in the classroom. Although the whiteboards may help cease distraction, it can also create some distractions of its own. Students may begin to bicker or argue to go up to the board, or the students may not listen to their teacher if they are involved in an activity at the board.
Some pros include they are entertaining and can make teaching more efficient. The interactive whiteboards are definitely fun to play with, even for a college age student--this was evident as we were all teaching our lessons and how some people always wanted to go up to the board and use the technology. It can also make teaching more efficient because everything a teacher needs can be right in front of them: a teacher can evaluate their students within their same lesson and without the use of normal quizzes. The interactive whiteboards can also link to the internet through placing a hyperlink right into the lesson plan! The interactive whiteboards also provide for a more interactive, more hands-on way of teaching. Those students, who learn better through being involved, will definitely be able to concentrate and learn more through using an interactive whiteboard. However, this previous point can create one final con. Although the students are involved, it is important that teachers continue to speak orally, not simply through their lesson, so that those students whom are auditory learners do not lose their ability to learn the best way they can.
Learning about interactive whiteboards has definitely been a great thing that I have learned that I will need to include my knowledge about in portfolio for future employers. The knowledge that I now currently have about the Smartboard would have definitely helped in writing various other lesson plans. For example, while writing my science unit on matter, the Smartboard would have been a great asset. It would have been nice to have various other interesting ways to assess the "students" in my lesson. In addition, since every lesson was required to be interactive, the Smartboard would have been a great tool to help make each lesson that way. Through the Smartboard, I could have put up the instructions for an experiment using the pull-tabs to ensure that no student got too far ahead in the experiment. The Smartboard would have also been a great help when I was teaching math lessons in math, I could do a lesson similar to Chris'.
Overall, I am very glad that I learned how to use and utilize the technology of an interactive whiteboard. It will definitely help me when I am looking for jobs or looking for more interesting ways to involve my students.
