After reading the article Teaching With Interactive Whiteboards by Robert Marzano, many of my thoughts and opinions were reaffirmed. Since I have started my teaching career in Gretna there has been a lot of talk about technology and there has been a big push for it district wide. This article stated that there has been a big push all over the country. People are finally beginning to realize how technology driven this generation of kids is and that if we want to reach them we have to be technology driven as well.
I was not surprised by the results of the study. It showed some increases in student achievement and participation. If used correctly, I think technology such as interactive whiteboards can have a huge impact on student learning. One thing that interactive whiteboards provide is a huge visual for the visual learners in the classroom. I teach kindergarten so our communication with them is so strongly visual, especially at the beginning of the year since they cannot read. After sitting in class only one day, I have thought of many ways I can use the whiteboard to visually enhance activities we do daily. One part of our daily routine I could see the whiteboard being very beneficial for is calendar. Calendar is flashy and fun at the beginning of the year but it starts to wear on the kids AND the teacher halfway through the year. It becomes so routine that they do not get the learning components out of it that they need to. I think by having the calendar on the interactive whiteboard it would be less monotonous and activities could easily be switched up or added depending on what we are focusing on at the time.
The study also showed that some classrooms did not benefit from the interactive boards. I can see this happening to any teacher first using technology if they do not take the time to really plan out their lessons. There are going to be growing pains with new technology, just like there are growing pains with any new curriculum you get in your school. I think it is all about the attitude teachers have about the technology and the collaboration that occurs. Teachers need to be willing to ask each other questions and to share ideas. We had a select few teachers at our school with some great technology this year and one of them was great about sharing ideas, he even offered clicker trainings afterschool to interested staff. The other teachers were not as open. I truly believe if it is made into a collaborative effort the transition into the world of technology will be much smoother and enjoyable.
I won’t lie; I have been scared to use technology in my classroom. I have felt like my first two years I have just been trying to get my feet set and really understand our curriculum. I had no time to even think about incorporating any crazy technology. Our district got a large technology grant in the middle of last year and asked all the teachers what kind of technology they would like to have in their classrooms for the 2011-2012 school year. At first, I was hesitant to request anything. I felt that I was not comfortable using it and it would just be a waste to have it in my room. After talking to a few other teachers, my principal and registering for this class my view changed. You have to start somewhere and I had to take the first step to learn more about this technology because I didn’t want my students to fall behind or miss out on the great things technology can do for them. So instead of being scared I am ready to embrace the ups and downs of having new technology and I look forward to having my smart board in my classroom next school year!
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