The use of SMART Boards for Smarter Teaching and Smarter Learning

Ladislaw ? SMART Board

The use of SMART Boards for Smarter Teaching and Smarter Learning

Janette Ladislaw Regional Training Center/The College of New Jersey "We often think of the learning process as a mosaic: lots of tiny pieces finally come together to form a picture. Learners are often scrabbling around, with their noses so close to the grindstone, trying to shape the fragments they have so that they can fit together ? somewhere ? that they take a long time before the picture falls into place. If it does. An IWB (interactive whiteboard) enables the teacher and learners to locate each fragment ? the learning object ? and show how it fits in

the big picture" (How do interactive, n.d., p. 2).

Table of Contents

Ladislaw - SMART Board

Content........................................................................................................2

Literature Review............................................................................................7

Methodology.................................................................................................17

Findings and Implications..................................................................................20

Obstacles......................................................................................................29

Emerging Questions.........................................................................................32

Conclusions...................................................................................................35

References....................................................................................................37

Appendix A (Implementation Plan).......................................................................38

Appendix B (Subjectivity).................................................................................40

Appendix C (Surveys, Student Observation Sheets and Interview Questions).....................43

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Ladislaw - SMART Board

Context What happens to struggling learners with attention problems when I incorporate

the use of a SMART Board interactive whiteboard in my teaching?

Even though I am a third year teacher and have many aspects of my teaching that I would like to explore and improve upon, I have always found the integration of teaching and technology fascinating. As luck would have it, I was placed in a first grade classroom across the hall from the Computer Technology teacher during my first year. Not only was she a wonderful person with helpful ideas and suggestions (and previously a first grade teacher), she also showed me the "latest and greatest" in the technology world. Last year, our school purchased a SMART BoardTM to be shared among all of the teachers in the school. A SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard, that, when used with a computer and a projector, enables students to interact with the material presented in ways that would otherwise be impossible. After using the SMART Board for just one week in my classroom, I began researching various grants and other avenues to obtain additional units for our elementary school.

I am currently teaching first grade in a class consisting of 19 students. Presently, I only have one classified student. There are ten boys and nine girls in my classroom. At the beginning of the school year, my students were considered exceptionally low, as over half my class fell below the average reading level for first graders in September. The remainder of the students were reading at a first grade level. At this point in time, all of my students are reading at or above grade level, except those that are currently receiving basic skills instruction. Additionally, I have several students with extremely low self-confidence, as well as several others with severe attention and distractibility issues. All in all, however, my students get along well with each other and thrive when given positive praise.

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This school year, a SMART Board and projector have been installed in the computer lab and my school has purchased three "traveling" SMART Boards, one for each grade level. Since I attended the two training sessions offered by our computer teacher and previously used the SMART Board in my classroom, I was given the responsibility of and opportunity to "house" the interactive whiteboard for first grade this year. I set up a sign-out schedule for the board and have offered to assist members of the first grade team in finding easy and appropriate ways of using the technology in their classrooms.

At the beginning of this school year, I was excited to use the SMART Board with the students in my class. I figured that I would be able to catch students' attention and motivate them to learn using this new technology. The use of interactive technology relates to the educational goals of the community and school district because we are continuously trying to find better and more innovative ways to teach our students. When students are involved in every second of the lesson, they know that their response is important and are excited to come up and interact with the SMART Board (write a response, move correct coins, circle nouns, etc.). Even before meeting my students, I knew that the use of a SMART Board would benefit each of the students in the class because this teaching tool appeals to kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners, as well as learners with special needs. Although appealing to these multiple intelligences is not ignored in the general curriculum at the first grade level, a SMART Board enables teachers to incorporate these multiple intelligences into their lessons effortlessly.

Finding ways to reach all of the students is always important but was especially crucial this year with the diversity in learning styles, distractibility issues and self-confidence troubles in my classroom. I did not use the SMART Board during the first two weeks of school because we were still learning and reviewing routines, basic letters and sounds. This, however, was a huge

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Ladislaw - SMART Board

mistake! I should have been using this technology from day one, as the first time I incorporated it into our day, students were much more engaged in the lessons. The more attentive they are, the more they will learn. When using a SMART Board during my lessons on any topic, I see students that are eager to be personally involved in the lesson. That excitement clearly transfers to enthusiasm about the material presented and seems to ripple through the classroom.

Because students are growing up in a world filled with technology, it is important to change our teaching methods to include technology-based instruction. Many children spend hours each week in front of the television, playing video games, or playing on the computer. When they come to school and are asked to listen to their teacher read a story or complete a worksheet every single day, I feel the concepts will not be retained as much as they would be if we incorporated technology, especially technology they could interact with and touch. Technology is their world ? we need to instruct them in the most effective way possible. SMART Boards are avenues that make learning come alive for all students! I am excited to explore the effects of this technology on two struggling students who are highly distractible and have difficulty sustaining attention during instruction.

Even though I will specifically be focusing on the effects of SMART Board based instruction on two specific students, I will also be looking at the class as a whole to help gain some background information to generalize for all students. I will specifically observe the behaviors and actions of one boy, "Alex", and one girl, "Erin" in my class in response to the SMART Board (all names have been changed). Both students are experiencing a great deal of difficulty completing class assignments. Alex's and Erin's reading levels (as obtained by the Developmental Reading Assessment ) are slightly below grade level. Scores on recent reading and math assessments have also shown areas in need of improvement.

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