Smartboards

Many districts across the state have begun incorporating Smartboards into their classrooms. These interactive white boards can be used for a variety of purposes with age groups ranging from kindergarten to college students. I recently observed a class at the middle school level that used these boards for an interactive lesson on geometry. I found this to be an effective way of engaging students and increasing their interests and desire to learn.

For the lesson, the teacher allowed different students to come to the board and draw various figures. Students were able to work through problems with the aid of their classmates. Other students in the class would instruct their peer as to what steps needed to be taken in order to find the missing side of a triangle. Students were able to color code their work and change the color of the pen as needed. This proved to be particularly useful when students were using the Pythagorean Theorem because students were able to differentiate the various values in the equation. For side “a” students used blue, for side “b” students used red, and for side “c” students programmed the marker to be bright purple. I found that this helped visual learners since it became easier to follow the steps for finding the missing side.

This technology is something I would like to use in my classroom for several reasons. One, I can save my students’ notes and refer back to them at any time to review a concept. In addition, it will save me time erasing because I observed that the student was able to select the whole area and erase it with one click instead of wasting time erasing a chalkboard. Furthermore, because students were engaged in the lesson, they understood more of the material being covered and this is important in any class.