Our school currently has about 16 classrooms equipped with boards. The biggest obstacle I am currently facing is training teachers to use the boards as tool to help facilitate learning, instead of as an electronic whiteboard to help with lectures. My lead teacher and I have been conducting staff development where we are incorporating interactive white board training into the content. For example, two weeks ago we worked with each grade level in 3 hour workshops focused on science. Four of my six 5th grade teachers are equipped with ActivBoards. They currently do an amazing job facilitating inquiry based science instruction. With such a firm foundation in the instructional methods, we were able to spend our three hours looking at the inquiry based teaching approach and seeing how we could incorporate their Activboards effectively into their instruction. The teachers began to create multimedia powerpoint presentations, put videos together, and create an electronic Science Notebook, that could help them model correct notebooking procedures. It was pretty amazing to for me to see the teachers gather and create so much media that could be delivered via their boards. I guided the process, but they really understood their teaching objectives and did an amazing job of using the media to enhance their teaching. They really were true users of instructional technology.
In the future, eventually all of our classrooms will be equipped with boards and I see it becoming more difficult to make sure that the technology is used with best teaching practices. A lot of teachers continue to do things the way they have always done them, so it will take some work to guide them to look at the ADDIE process and the most effective teaching practices. Even more difficult, will be working with the teachers who want nothing to do with interactive white boards (I have converted one, but I have about 5 to go!). It is becoming an expected way of delivering instruction at our school, so I hope to bring them along and get them to understand and take advantage of the ease of the media, instead of them being forced to use media they don't want to. However, I believe that is our duty to teach students with 21st century technology and meet them at their level. I hope to spread that passion and belief to our teachers so that they embrace the interactive white boards and the methods of teaching that should be used with it.
6 comments:
Which brand do you prefer?
I like how you try to incorporate the new media with sound instructional principles, not just as a prop to support old ways of doing things. You bring up a great point in "...[making] sure that the technology is used with best teaching practices." I'm glad that you are focussed on that aspect.
In regards to teachers yet to be converted, I guess I have a tiny concern that perhaps they don't need to be converted. I say this not knowing the specific circumstances at all, so I'll create a hypothetical for your thoughts and comments.
What if you had an "old school" teacher who prefers to focus more on the old media: text, lecture, dry erase/chalk boards, but presents insightful, engaging instruction none-the-less. This person would not necessarily reject the new media, but feels that through years of experience and a proven record of success, that the old ways work best for him/her. Also, this hypothetical would be a veteran teacher, not someone recently licensed. I agree that all newer teachers should be conforming to the current standards. What would be your thoughts on letting sleeping dogs lie?
Also, what are some of the basic characteristics of these teachers yet to be converted? Do they possess any of my hypothetical characteristics, or are they just stubborn and resistant to change for no valid reason.
Thank you for engaging my question. I'm just curious because I don't know.
I wish I could attend your training. It sounds like it was very productive.
I would absolutely love to use a smart board in my classroom but our school only has one. I can understand how some teachers use technology effectively in their classrooms and some just use it to assist in their lectures. Some teachers are just resistant to change. It is good to hear that some of your teachers have come around. Hopefully that trend will continue.
Mike - you bring up a good point. I guess it really comes down to if whether or not students are engaged, learning, and being successful in regards to the current standards. If those things are being met then excellent.
However, as I think about it, I feel that the purpose for school is to prepare kids for the world. Yes we have standards to teach students, but I also feel students need to be able to function in society. What happens when the majority of jobs in the market have technology components and students do not know how to work with this technology, or technology at all. Just like a student should know how to read, I also feel students should know how to use a computer and be able to interact with the technology they will come across in their lives and possibly in their future jobs. If we are preparing students for jobs that most likely do not even exist right now, I think it is important to stay on top of technology. I think we would be doing students a disservice by ignoring technology, just because a teacher doesn't want to learn something new. Times change and with that, jobs also change. I think it's just part of the work we live in.
Really I could talk about this for hours and now my brain in turning as I think about it. Thanks for bringing it up.
The problem with hesitant teachers is that they don't want to change because they want to continue to do things the way they have always done it. There is comfort in what is familiar. They have yet to be convinced that technology might actually make their job easier or more efficient. The question is, will is for these "old school" teachers? That, I do not know.
Debbie, I used to be an avid Activboard user and wanted nothing to do with SMART. Our former TF and I actually fought strongly for Promethean when our district was deciding which boards we would make as the directive for the county.
However, SMART won, and in my job and I have to learn it and train on it. Now I see the advantages and disadvantages of both systems. I'm still a little partial to Activ because it was created for education and Smart has recently moved from business to education (they are catching up quick). I also like that Promethean was created from former Apple employees and I am a huge Mac fan.
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