| Whiteboards In The Elementary Classroom |
| Editorial - Practical Tips & Tools | ||||
| Written by Matt Silverman | ||||
| Tuesday, 06 January 2009 00:06 | ||||
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Children are growing up as “digital natives,” and don’t remember a time when the technologies they use every day were not a part of life. Even young children are spending large amounts of time interacting with multimedia at home through computers, hand-held devices, cell phones, video gaming machines, digitized toys and other products. One way educators can transfer such home-based interactive experiences into the classrooms is via electronic whiteboards. Not only do whiteboards offer the opportunities for user input that students have come to expect from technology, but they also address a broad range of learning modalities, including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. Children love to move, touch, see and listen their way into learning. When teachers incorporate these characteristics into their instructional delivery models, students are more engaged. A Sampling of Whiteboard LessonsEarly Literacy Teachers often use workbooks and other stagnant materials to emphasize map skills. However, with interactive whiteboard technology, a 4th grade classroom teacher can use the board to reinforce the location of states in the U.S. Regions of the country can be outlined on the interactive board with the actual states off to the side (of the board). Students come to the board and literally move the states into the matching part of the grid. Students are employing visual, tactile, and auditory skills as they learn geographical information and mapping skills. Measurement can be a challenging skill for elementary students, but technology can help make measurement concepts much easier to learn. For example, a 5th grade math teacher can use an interactive board to teach/reinforce measurement by presenting different shapes of various sizes and colors on a virtual ruler. Students can work in pairs at the board to manipulate the ruler in order to work with the digital shapes. This virtual learning environment can be manipulated by the children to make enhance conceptualization of shapes in space. Identifying Prepositions Most second grade teachers introduce and reinforce the idea of telling time throughout the year. Traditionally, plastic gear clocks are used by students to manipulate the long and short hands. An interactive whiteboard can be a giant game-based learning tool. For instance, a second grade teacher might have the class play time-telling games in a large-group setting using the whiteboard. One such game includes a clock displayed on the interactive board in which the hands move randomly to different times. Students press a virtual button so that the clock stops at a specific time. Students then input the time on the interactive whiteboard and click another button to see if they had the correct answer. Three levels of engagement and excitement are at work: first, anticipating when the clock will stop; second, writing the answer on the interactive board; and finally, the final check for right answer understanding. Technology Bridges Divide
Now more than ever, it is important that teachers facilitate the use of technology in classrooms. There are many different ways technology can be integrated into daily practice so that students are continually exposed to a variety of modalities. Specifically, interactive whiteboards can be an engaging, hands-on experience for children from telling time to mathematical skill acquisition. Bring these experiences to your children – bridge the digital divide in your classroom.
Resources:InterWrite: Find out more about this interactive whiteboard solution and other technologically advanced learning systems from InterWrite. Specific products such as the Interwrite Board, Interwrite Cricket, Interwrite Pad, and others can be found at http://www.interwritelearning.com/solutions/k12/index.html. Luidia: Create an interactive whiteboard on any flat surface using your PC and your digital projector. Learn more about the eBeam. Find additional information on eBeam whiteboards, click on eBeam interactive response systems. Promethean provides a number of technology based solutions for interactive classrooms. Visit Prometheanworld.com for an introduction to all of the products Promethean has to offer. Or, visit the largest interactive whiteboard community with over 200,000 members. SMART Technologies Web site offers teachers and administrators a wealth of knowledge regarding SMART Boards and accompanying software for application of the boards in the classroom. SMARTer Kids Foundation provides information on funding and grants for this type of classroom technology, please go to http://www.smarterkids.org/index.asp for potential funding opportunities.
Dr. Matt Silverman is currently the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at River Trails School District 26 in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. He has implemented numerous instructional technology programs for students, teachers and parents and his doctoral degree focused on the development and analysis of an engaged learning professional development model for teachers.
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