IWB Reflection
Completing the Interactive White Board activity was another first for me. Although using the SMART software is similar to creating a PowerPoint, it has its differences too. PowerPoint does not really have anything that sparks active user involvement. Having PowerPoint experience defiantly helped me to complete the IWB and now this new experience with creating an IWB will help me when I create an IWB for my actual classroom.
I can save this presentation for when I do teach about erosion and deposition to an 7-8th grade class. Depending on the background knowledge and abilities of the students in my class I may need to tweek it a little bit but not too much.
I can have my students do an activity similar to what I was required to do for this class. My students can create their own activities and then peer review each other’s smart board presentations. From what I have observed, I think that many teachers who are new to using SMART board find it very foreign and are using them as expensive non-interactive traditional projectors. They are not grabbing on to the true usefulness that the IWBs are built for. As we have evaluated many other tools in Edu331, it is important to continue to evaluate the tech tools we choose to use for instruction. If the IWB lesson can be done just as well in PowerPoint, then it is being wasted. The key is to make it meaningful.
In order to make an IWB meaningful, I think that it should require the student to use it. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. By requiring the student to actually use the IWB I will be helping the student become more actively involved in their learning.
Normally here is where I reflect on the experience and tell what its future applications will be once I am a teacher. True I will need to know how to use it in my own classroom, but I have found out that both of my co-operating teachers nest semester have SMART Boards, and they are expecting me to utilize them! So this new tool will be affecting my teaching even before I have my own classroom. I cannot imagine trying to wing it and begin learning about SMART during student teaching. I am glad that I got some exposure during this class.