Description/ExperienceThe technology demonstrated in seminar last week was Smart Boards or “White Boards”. They are projected computer interactive board that allows students and teachers to give them information being presented life and make it a little more interesting as well as “hands on”. In my experience as a student, I have seen Smart Boards in the classroom at my PDS as well as my classrooms at West Virginia University. However, I have rarely seen them being used. Originally, I had thought that Smart Boards were simply bigger screens to present information on from a computer and that the only technological aspect of them was that they allowed you to move to the next slide or prior slide by pressing buttons on the board. I assumed that these buttons were somehow connected to the computer that the presentation or information was being transmitted from.
This seminar presentation completely opened my eyes and informed me of information that I was completely mistaken about. The presenter showed us many games and uses for this technology that I was not aware of. The hand held wireless pad that connected to the Smart Board was also an amazing tool he showed us. It is a great tool to really engage students and allow the teacher to walk around and check on the work, participation, and involvement of students.
Application
Learners: The learner age group for my activity would be 6-7 years old in 1st grade, Early Elementary level
Learning outcomes: Through this activity, learners will increase their technology skills by using the smart board and observing its use. They will also learn about letters and the sounds of letters. They will match pictures to beginning letters and use the white board to select these letters in game format.
Assessment: I will allow each student to match a few or more pictures to the beginning letter. The amount that the student answers correctly will allow me to assess their understanding and ability of sounds that letters make and ability to use technology.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/picturematch/ is the website I will use for my Smart Board Activity. It is a game that has students match pictures to the letter that they begin with. This helps students understand sounds that letters make and creates a basic understanding of reading. If the class is working with specific letters, I can assign those letters to be used in the game. I will begin the lesson by having the game up on the Smart Board. The game is called “Picture Match”. I will explain the idea of the game to students. “The game is to see a picture and select the box that has the letter that each picture begins with.”
To demonstrate, I will match a few pictures to the beginning letter by saying the word and letter out loud. Then, I will have the students tell me which letter to choose as pictures come up as a group, announcing the correct letter out loud.
I will have the students take turns individually matching the pictures to letters for 3 or more pictures until I feel they have an understanding of the activity and sounds of letters. This will allow me to correctly assess the students’ abilities.
Reflection
By using this technology, my teaching strategies will be supported, because the technology will present information to the students both visually and verbally. The technology is fast paced and will keep the students actively engaged and will increase their fluency with the letter sounds. Also, this technology activity can be adjusted to use specific letters. I can use this tool if specific letters are being focused on at the time or if students are having trouble with a certain letter.
For this activity, this technology will help to give a visual aspect to the verbal understanding of the sounds of letters. The students’ verbal understanding will be supported by this activity’s audio in repeating words, letters, and sounds of letters. Also, the students will be more interested in the information and engaged in the activity when because it is presented as a game.
Pedagogical-Content:
I believe that many strategies can be used to teach phonics and letter sounds for students. Each child learns differently and is most effective to use multiple techniques to make the lesson work for as many children as possible. In my teaching, I would use demonstration to give students an idea of what is expected and an overall understanding of the process. I would use lecturing to introduce information about letters, sounds, words, combinations, and other aspects of phonics and reading before moving on to further development of understanding and different techniques to implement the information. I would use inquiry-based learning and problem based learning whenever possible to give the students as much involvement as I can and to make them feel like they are a part of the creation of the lesson. By using inquiry-based learning and problem based learning, the students will become more interested in the information as they feel that they have a choice as to what they are learning and are building self guided learning by figuring concepts and understanding out by their own means or process.
Students in early Elementary level classes that would be learning this kind of information would vary greatly in their background knowledge and experience. Students may have a great understanding of letters and phonics. They may even already read with great skill. However, students may also come from a home that doesn’t have much reading material to introduce students to this information and may have guardians that don’t have much concern for academics. I would introduce the information for this topic slowly as to make those students with low understanding not feel completely left out at the beginning. This would also give students with high abilities a confidence and comfort boost. I would progress at which ever speed the students seem comfortable with overall and review and repeat information for students who may be receiving lots of new information.
Technological-Pedagogical:
By using the technology that the Smart Board offers, students will be more engaged in the lesson. They will view the information as a game rather than a drilling practice for reading. Also, this technology will allow me to gain knowledge of the level of understanding that each student has individually about the content. The students will also gain a connected, group engaged feeling with this technology as they work together to answer correctly occasionally. This technology will really help to make simple lessons and information into a game by simply putting on a digital screen. By changing this presentation of information, students will see it as exciting, new, and interesting.
The students that will be working with this technology will be very young. At this young age, they have most likely not had much experience with this technology. To prevent misbehavior and damage, I would demonstrate the appropriate use (touch gently, where to touch, clean hands, only using fingers), inappropriate use (dirty hands, punching, kicking, bad places to touch, using sharp objects, using markers that might be permanent, etc.), and how the game works. I would also have to limit students individual time with the technology as to avoid over excitement and possible misbehavior. If students prove to be considerate, careful users of the technology, I can use this technology as a reward and allow further use. For example; Students who misbehaved or did not use it appropriately will be the only students who do not get to continue to game or another activity using the Smart Board.
Technological Pedagogical Content:
The technology will present information to the students both visually and verbally. The technology is fast paced and will keep the students actively engaged and will increase their fluency with the letter sounds. Also, this technology activity can be adjusted to use specific letters. I can use this tool if specific letters are being focused on at the time or if students are having trouble with a certain letter.
By using this technology, I will be able to implement simple drill practice techniques for reading and letter sounds that students will not find as repetitive and boring. They will see it as a game simply because it uses technology rather than just paper or oral. Technology helps to add a visual aspect to learning and creates more engagement and interest by turning simple techniques and information into a game or exciting presentation simply because it is different.
