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Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of Smart Boards

Technology Reflection Assignment

Friday, Mr. Graham did a presentation on white boards/smart boards during our seminar. This is a topic that we are all fairly familiar with, but it was definitely beneficial to hear someone who is very knowledgeable about smart boards lecture about them. I learned how great they are in classrooms. I did not know that you could download apps for smart boards, and I thought that was very useful for classrooms.  


Application

I would use the application that phonics offers which allows students to pick the selected words and put them in one of two different bags. Each bag has an initial letter on it. For example, one bag could have a “p” on it and the other bag could have a “b” on it. The students are given a list of vocabulary words in which they all start with “bs” or “ps”. This activity is Clifford themed, so the students will really enjoy it.  

This activity would be designed for kindergarten-first graders who are learning to read. The goal of this smartboard activity is that the students will be able to identify the initial sounds of vocabulary words. By the end of the activity, students should thoroughly know the initial sound of the two letters that were practiced. After the students all participated with the initial-sound activity, I would ask every student individually to identify the initial sound of a different word that would fit in with the two initial sounds that we covered so that I could be sure that all students learned the content.

• This lesson would start off by having the children come sit at the group carpet near the smart board and then I would introduce what initial sounds actually are. I would show the students numerous examples of how different words have the same initial sound.
• I would ask students to give me examples of words that they thought might have the same initial sounds.
• I would show the students the phonics application; I would place the first word in the correct initial sound’s bag.
• Next, I would allow every student to take a turn with the smartboard and drag the word into the correct bag
• Finally, I would let the students return to their seats individually after they correctly identified the initial sound of the word that I provide.

--Pedagogical-Content:

I decided to use a phonics application which allows my students to interact directly with their peers as well as the white board application. This pedagogy allows students to visually see the initial letters on the words and the sound that they make. They can connect the letter with the sound that those letters make. I will be sure to put most emphasis on the initial sound and have students repetitiously sound it out for the class and I. Some students have a difficult time pronouncing words; therefore, they may have a tough time with this activity. Some students from diverse cultures may have a slight altercation of word pronunciation because of their accents, so I will have to be clear and distinctive with the chosen words and initial sounds. The students will be motivated by this activity because it has a fun theme and they all get their own turn to interact with the smart board.

--Technological-Pedagogical:

Using technology, in this case, the white board really helps students to be more involved with their learning. Because students are infatuated with the technology of smart boards and are anxious to have their turns, it keeps the students focused on task. It also motivates them to learn the material so that they can choose the initial sound correctly once it’s their turn. The phonics application for smart boards is exceedingly appropriate for students’ learning how to identify initial sounds because they have put it into a format that is very appealing to students and have made it like a fun game. It also provides students with the visual of the words as well as corrects pronunciation of every word. I will definitely have to consider classroom management with this activity. Students will be very anxious to have their turn, and may become impatient which could cause them to act out. I would inform my students that they would be chosen to take turns by their behavior; whoever has the best behavior will go first and the students with the worst behavior will have to go last.

--Technological Pedagogical Content:

Like I have stated previously, this application offers students both visuals of the vocabulary words and the different initial sound choices they have as well as the voice pronunciation of the words. If the students cannot appropriately pronounce one of the vocabulary words, therefor not identify which bag the word should be placed in, all the student has to do it click the word and a voice assistance will pronounce the word. If the students were not able to use the white board to learn initial sounds, they would have to watch me do examples would be restricted to be more involved. By using the whiteboard to learn the initial sounds, the students are able to watch their peers participate and also be involved themselves.

Use of IPads in Classrooms

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience

In our last seminar, we learned how IPads can be used in classrooms to help students enjoy and learn new content, and a special emphasis was put on learning literacy skills. Although many people believe that elementary students are too young to use IPads; however, we were shown that it is absolutely not true and that the elementary students made great academic progress by using the IPads. There are many apps that can be downloaded for every imaginable learning objective. These IPads also act as a motivator for the students to behave and have academic success because the IPads can be used as rewards. 

Application

I would use the IPads in my 2^nd grade classroom as a group activity. Since we would only have five IPads to work with, I would put about five students in five separate groups and have them work together. I would use the an app that focuses on spelling words. The students would have to spell the word that they hear from the IPad, and once they spell it correctly, they pass it to the next student in the group. The group that has 5 complete circulations would win. By the end of the activity, the students should know their spelling words much better. I would asses this by giving the students a pretest before the activity, and then test them again after the activity. Not only are the tests evaluating their knowledge of the correct spelling, but it’s also reinforcing practice.

The students will be given five minutes to review their spelling words before they take a pretest. After their pretest, they would watch me do the IPad activity on the whiteboard so that they would be familiar with how it works. Once all students understood how to do the spelling activity, they would all get in their groups and begin. The first group who finished the five circulations first would win. This would act as a second motivator. After all groups successfully completed their five rounds, I would give them another test on the same words to assess how helpful the IPad spelling application was.

--Pedagogy-Content:

The good thing about this spelling application is that it is very simple and designed for elementary students. I would connect my IPad to the whiteboard so that my students could watch how the activity is done. I would let them hear the word that the IPad says and show them how I use the keyboard to type it. I would show them what happens if I misspell a word; it beeps and clears the word I typed incorrectly. I then would show them that I have unlimited attempts to correct the word. I would have to consider that most students have probably not dealt with an IPad prior to this activity; however, it is very easy to maneuver, so the students would catch on quickly. The IPad itself is a motivation. It seems appealing to students; therefore, I would not have to provide much more additional motivation to get them to become excited about using them.

--Technology-Pedagogy:

The IPad would serve as the main component to the activity that I planned for the students. It provides my students with an exciting and fun way to really learn their spelling words. It’s repetitive; they must take however many times needed to spell the word correctly. They can’t misspell the word and move on, they must learn where they’re making their mistakes and correct them. Doing a spelling activity on the IPad application makes learning really fun for the students and helps motivate them to do the best they can because they know their group is depending on them. When considering classroom management, I would have to think about students getting too loud, becoming impatient with peers, or shouting out answers. I would explain to the class prior to the activity that if they wish to proceed with the IPad activities, than they must follow the rules, or else the IPads will be removed from the classroom. I would explain that getting to use the IPads is a privilege so, they shouldn’t take advantage of it.

--Technology-Content:

By using the IPads, spelling can seem exciting and the students will look forward to participating. Typically, spelling becomes boring because the strategies of teaching it become repetitious; however, by using the IPad application, spelling seems much more appealing and it helps to motivate the students to try their best. Usually, students say their spelling words aloud every day and take one or two pretest to help prepare them. IPads can make learning spelling words much more fun and exciting. By using this activity, the students are forced to learn to spell the words correctly because they must keep attempting the word until all errors are fixed; their group cannot progress until each student finishes his/her word, so the all students are dependent on each other’s’ success.

--Technology-Pedagogy-Content:

Like I stated previously, I think that the students will learn their spelling words much better by using this technology because they are forced to learn where they are making errors in the spelling of the words. The application will not allow the students to move on until they correctly spell the word, regardless of how many trials are needed. While the IPad itself is very effective, the strategy that I chose is also effective.  By making the students work in groups, they know that their peers are relying on them to successfully spell the word so that they can move on and be the first group to finish all five circulations. If the students worked individually, it would be much more time consuming, and more importantly, the students would not feel the pressure to try their hardest, so they may slack off and not give their full effort. I think that spelling is a perfect fit for an IPad application because it can be designed to make the students learn the correct spelling in repetitious and really fun way.