Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are making the classroom a more exciting environment to learn in.  Regular whiteboards do not have the same attraction as the interactive boards simply because electonics and technology is involved in every use we make of it.  The many different options and activities that can be done while using them keeps the students involved and interesed in what is actually happening in the lesson.  This technology was not difficult to use for a daily basis types of activities, however as we get more and more complex with the different games and tools that can be utilized.  I found certain aspects of the interactive whiteboard to be very difficult to make those tools do exactly what you intend for them to do.

Pros: Students respond well to it, it accomidates to many different types of learning styles, it makes accomadations for students with poor motor skills.  Having it as a teacher, most of your lessons can be planned and saved through the computer, lessons can be adjusted and saved for later use, students who may be absent can get the notes directly from the computer, passing lessons between teachers is easy, and others.

Cons: Motivation can where off on the students, setting up the board for each lesson can be time consuming, if the board is not working properly all of the lessons have to be adjusted to another board which could be difficult, and the location of the board may not be ideal for classroom management.

I would try to adjust as many lessons to the smart board as possible so that way they can saved and used the following year and adjusted for the best possible learning for all students.  I taught a multiplying decimals lesson last week in Ed Communications and I now moved to a smart board lesson and will be teaching the same content a little differently on Wednesday.

Software Skills

While in class, we went over several different types of software and how to properly use each one in an effective manner once were in the professional environment.  I think learning how to use all the different tools has been very benificial to my teaching career because without them, I wouldn't be able to be an efficiant teacher without the uses of these technologies.  It is important for us students to learn how to use the technology that we will have access to in our profession.  If we can't use it, then we are not using all of our tools and resources to their maximum potential.

I think learning all of the different smart board software and tools will be the most benificial because that is most likely the tool that we will be using the most often in our future everyday classrooms.  I think this will help me be a good long term teacher, because although I may fumble and stumble my way through my first few years of teaching, as I continue to learn from my students and learn how they learn best i will be able to adjust my smart board lessons over the course of a few years and perfect them for my future students.