SmartBoard Training
This week we were given training on how to use the SmartBoard to enhance our lessons. I had used a SmartBoard previously in all my placements (to great extent whilst at college) and I pressumed I was quite well informed when it came to using them within a lesson. I was mistaken.
The training focused on the Smart Notebook software, which is something I have not used before. I found it very interesting to see all the different things that can be achieved and different ways to engage the children in lessons which otherwise could be very boring and repetitive. The way it was being explained it seemed like an easy task to organise your slides to reveal things as and when you want them, but in practise it was harder and more fiddly than I anticipated. When creating my task I only got a couple of slides together (due to trying to find photos to use and using the tools on Notebook). I feel that I went into the task a bit too confident as I thought it looked very simple to do and I did not put my full effort into it from the beginning. If I were to use this with a class I would ensure that I allowed enough time to organise the slides exactly how they needed to be. Therefore reducing the time spent messing around during the lesson.
The training this week has definitely brought me around to thinking about the need for SmartBoards in the classroom. Whereas before I felt that teachers could often use them to 'spice up' their lessons, but for no real reason within the lesson. This is something that I always tried to avoid in practice and so rarely used the SmartBoard for anything other than showing PowerPoints or videos. Now though, I can see a way to use the technology in an engaging way throughout the lesson. Also, I think that children (and teachers) need to become familiar with the boards, to enable them to overcome the novelty of using the SmartBoard and to focus on the lesson content. I have read many articles online that discuss the use of interactive whiteboards in the primary classroom, many with lots of benefits of doing so. This Get Smart site discussses the use of SmartBoards and continues to give some lesson ideas along with a pros & cons section. On the whole, this training has increased my confidence to use the SmartBoard as a lesson tool and not just as an add on towards the end.
Here are some teachers' views on using the SmartBoard.
1 comment:
I am pleased to read that you have now become more aware of the real use of the interactive whiteboard. You rightly point out that teachers require to become more familiar with the tools on the IWB and the need to be prepared before hand.
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